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These stories deal
with matters of identity and the fact that identity matters.
Especially Canadian identity, which some people think
doesn’t even exist – such as those who believe that we went
from being a British/French colony to becoming an American
colony without any intervening period of independence.
Renowned Canadian
thinker Northrop Frye has declared that the real question
defining Canadian identity is not ‘Who are we?’ but ‘Where
is here?’
These stories explore
both questions.
Roger C. Lewis
*****
This collection features Canadian characters and settings,
mostly the Maritime Provinces, Ontario and British Columbia,
some mixed with international settings in the USA,
Caribbean, UK, Europe and Asia. Genres include action and
adventure, romance, mood pieces, flash fiction, dystopian
sketches and satire.
A leitmotif running through the book is the issue of
identity, whether personal, ethnic or national. A series
about Maurice, who defines himself from early childhood as a
bad boy, depicts his pursuit of a more satisfying identity.
The longest story, a novella in 16 episodes, follows a
couple from courtship at college to retirement in Eastern
Europe, a series of hilarious misadventures. Another,
Gone Like A Train, tells of a small boy neglected and
abused by his mother who is arrested and jailed, losing her
son to adoption, yet many years later they are reunited.
De Profundis details the sorry career of a
tormented homosexual who is tempted by both murder and
suicide. Cursed is the story of two backpackers who
desecrate a sacred Muslim site in the Atlas Mountains of
Morocco; as a result, they become victims of a curse. In
Vaya con Dios a hapless older woman is hustled and
deserted by a Cuban fortune hunter. Added at London
tells of a retired man who, like King Lear, fails in his
attempts to live in his retirement with his adult children.
Review by Art Joyce
Exploring
identity in a new collection of stories
With
global geopolitics unleashing a new wave of desperation that
has created millions of refugees, it’s the right time to
question the politics of identity. New Denver resident Roger
Lewis has just released a new collection of short stories,
Identity Matters, that explores these themes. Lewis
takes as his basic point of entry a quote from renowned
author and academic Northrop Frye, who once declared that
the issue of Canadian identity is not a question of ‘Who are
we?’ but of ‘Where is here?’
The
book is divided into four sections, the first three of which
mimic the progress of a life from childhood to retirement,
with a large middle section titled ‘Clifford and Maureen’
that has strong overtones of autobiography. Actually a
novella, it tracks the career of a young couple setting out
in the 1960s on an academic career that takes them to
universities in Canada, Britain, Eastern Europe and the US,
while starting a family. Their academic work puts them in
contact with people from cultures around the world. And
despite the ‘sunny ways’ narrative of Canada’s official
multiculturalism policy, it doesn’t always go smoothly. At
one point, when Clifford and Maureen are offered a research
post in Texas, the couple’s children beg them to move into a
white suburban neighbourhood. There’s a reason history is
littered with the victims of cultural clashes that erupt
into wars, and Lewis explores these subtle undertones in
depth.
Identity
is central to our conception of ourselves in the world, even
our basic self-esteem. It’s also tied into group dynamics,
since humans are tribal animals. “In becoming passively
aware of one’s identity, or actively constructing it,”
writes Lewis, “an individual notices a number of traits that
make him identical with other members of the group with
which he identifies himself. Nevertheless these identical
features make him different from others outside his group.
Thus identity is a paradox made up of similarities and
differences,” making it dangerous to assume homogeneity
amongst any national or ethnic group. It makes a mockery of
the very notion of racism. The book’s final section is a
chance for the author to offer stories with a broad range of
themes, drawing on his love of short story masters such as
Edgar Allen Poe, Ernest Hemingway, O. Henry and Graham
Greene. In the vein of Poe, Cursed tells the story of
two backpackers who desecrate a sacred Muslim site in the
Atlas Mountains of Morocco and become victims of an ancient
curse. Lewis raises questions that challenge the
conventional narrative of Islam. In Vaya con Dios a
hapless older woman is hustled and deserted by a Cuban
fortune hunter in a kind of karmic rebound. Added at
London tells of a retired man who, like King Lear, fails
in his attempts to live in retirement with his adult
children. De Profundis echoes the title
and theme of the famous letter written by Oscar Wilde from
Reading Gaol during his imprisonment for homosexuality
in the 1890s. Rather than being merely a
retrospective trashing of a now-outmoded social morality,
Lewis portrays a conflicted character whose 21st
century life as a gay man is anything but a
happily-ever-after story. If it could be said that one of
the prerequisites for great literature is that it overturns
our comfortable expectations of the world, then Lewis is on
the right track. While not a stylist in the manner of a Kurt
Vonnegut, Tom Wolfe or Hunter S. Thompson, Lewis writes in
an unadorned prose that cuts to the chase and moves the
reader along rapidly.
In addition to writing short
fiction and literary essays, Lewis is Professor of English
Literature (Emeritus) at Acadia University in Nova Scotia,
teaching online courses (including graduate studies) there
and at Athabasca University in Alberta. He was born in
Ottawa, Ontario, and was educated at the University of
Toronto (BA, MA, Ph.D). Anyone who hails from this part of
Canada will enjoy the cultural references to central Ontario
braided throughout these stories, including canoeing in
Algonquin Park. He has published many articles and books
including Poems and Drawings of Elizabeth Siddal,
The Collected Poems of Robert Louis Stevenson and A
Variorum Edition of Dante Gabriel Rossetti’s Sonnet Sequence
‘The House of Life’ with an Introduction and Notes. He
was Editor-in-Chief of the last eight volumes of The
Correspondence of Dante Gabriel Rossetti, a huge
accomplishment in itself.
A reading and book launch
will be held at Villa Dome Quixote in New Denver at 4 pm on
August 16. The book is available locally at Raven’s Nest
Gifts in New Denver and Otter Books in Nelson.
Online the book can be ordered from
Amazon.com, also from
bookorders@custombookpublications.com.. Summary of review of
Roger C. Lewis’s Identity Matters: Canadian Stories
by Salah Eldeib, author of The Novel World of Angela
Crown. Full review posted on blog Torches and
Pitchforks short link
https://wp.me/p9vGGL-1bj]
Lewis has the ability to delve
into unique hypotheses. His ideas are brilliant. A range of
well-balanced stories begins with “Gone Like A Train,” a
tale about a boy who yearns to escape his troubled life in a
Northern Ontario mining town by boarding one of the express
trains that speeds through every night. These
stories pack the necessary passion and authenticity to keep
the reader engaged. Narratives are tragic, unusual,
touching, delightful or facetious. Captivating and very
real. I can't wait for his next book. Highly recommended!
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Published:
OCTOBER 2017
Release April 2018
ISBN 978-1976578984
PRINT
Format:5.25" x8"
133 x 203 mm
US Trade Paperback
Extant 262pp
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