Apocrypha

Spring 2003

Paperback 272 pages

Non-Fiction

Writer as Critic

Apocrypha, a shaped collection of writing by Stan Dragland produced over two decades, joins the NeWest Press Writer as Critic Series. A passionate meditation on the meeting of life and literature, and a text of rumination, invention, and rhapsody, Apocrypha celebrates tradition while going its own way, crossing genres and at times stretching out the sentence.

Throughout the book, Dragland explores literary criticism that is personal in response, connecting with a thread of life-writing falling on many subjects, including learning and teaching, reading and writing. Dragland looks at the texts of strangers and colleagues, including Michael Ondaatje, Roy Kiyooka, Robert Kroetsch, Fred Wah, Matt Cohen, Agnes Walsh, and others, weaving together personal reminiscences with theoretical and critical looks at their work. Apocrypha is also touched with the landscapes of Dragland’s own life—from Alberta to Ontario to Newfoundland, and his travels through India, Germany, and England.