CanLit 161/162: On Thomas King
The Canada Council for the Arts announced the results of the Governor General’s Literary Awards 2014 last week, and we are pleased to congratulate Canadian Literature contributor Thomas King on winning the fiction prize for his novel, The Back of the Turtle (2014).
Thomas King is a long-time figure of study for Canadian Literature scholars, among them Margaret Atwood, who have produced a significant body of critical work that includes articles, interviews, and a dedicated special issue.
Our online teaching resource, CanLit Guides, includes a module on King’s Green Grass, Running Water (1993). The guide provides an overview of key themes, critical questions, and suggested assignments, as well as an exercise on how to participate in/respond to journalistic academic discourse.
See below for a catalogue of work about and by Thomas King from our archives:
Poetry by Thomas King
Coyote Learns to Whistle.
By Thomas King. #124-125 Native Writers and Canadian Writing (Spring/Summer 1990): 250-51.Coyote Goes to Toronto.
By Thomas King. #124-125 Native Writers and Canadian Writing (Spring/Summer 1990): 252-53.Coyote Sees the Prime Minister.
By Thomas King. #124-125 Native Writers and Canadian Writing (Spring/Summer 1990): 252.The City on the Hill.
By Thomas King. #124-125 Native Writers and Canadian Writing (Spring/Summer 1990): 265.
Articles
A Double-Bladed Knife: Subversive Laughter in Two Stories by Thomas King.
(PDF) By Margaret Atwood. #124-125 Native Writers and Canadian Writing (Spring/Summer 1990): 243-50.‘Everybody knows that song’: The Necessary Trouble of Teaching Thomas King’s Truth and Bright Water.
By Tanis Macdonald. #201 Disappearance and Mobility (Summer 2009): 35-51.Happy Trails to You: Contexted Discourse and Indian Removals in Thomas King’s Truth & Bright Water.
(PDF) By Robin Ridington. #167 First Nations Writing (Winter 2000): 89-107.There Is No Bentham Street in Calgary: Panoptic Discourse and Thomas King’s Medicine River.
(PDF) By Florence Stratton. #185 (Summer 2005): 11-27.
Book Reviews of Thomas King’s Works
Making Associations.
By Jennifer Andrews. Review of Truth and Bright Water by Thomas King. #168 Mostly Drama (Spring 2001): 151-52.Smack! Whup! Honk!
By Duffy Roberts. Review of A Short History of Indians in Canada by Thomas King. #191 (Winter 2006): 175-76.The Trickster Discourse of Thomas King.
(PDF) By Coral Ann Howell. Review of The Native in Literature: Canadian and Comparative Perspectives edited by Thomas King, Helen Hoy, and Cheryl Calver. #183 Writers Talking (Winter 2004): 307-308.
Reviews of Scholarship on Thomas King’s Works
The Trickster Discourse of Thomas King.
By Marlene Goldman. Review of Border Crossings: Thomas King’s Cultural Inversions by Arnold E. Davidson, Jennifer Andrews, and Priscilla L. Walton. #183 Writers Talking (Winter 2004): 117-18.
Transcripts and Videos
An Interview with Thomas King.
Interview by Margery Fee and Sneja Gunew. Interviews. Canadian Literature, Aug. 1999.Another Interview with Thomas King.
Interview by Jordan Wilson. Interviews. Canadian Literature, Oct. 2009.Thomas King at the Museum of Anthropology.
Museum of Anthropology, Vancouver. 1 Oct. 2009. Address.
Also see our reviews of other works by Governor General’s Literary Award winners José Acquelin, Carole Fréchette, André A. Michaud, and Arleen Parée:
José Acquelin
Fantômes glissant.
(PDF) By Anthony Raspa. Review of Tout Va Rien by José Acquelin. #124-125 Native Writers and Canadian Writing (Spring/Summer 1990): 376-78.
Carole Fréchette
Nouveautés théâtrales.
By Alain-Michel Rocheleau. Review of Jean et Béatrice by Carole Fréchette. #178 Archives and History (Autumn 2003): 101-03.After the Apple: Women and Power.
By Anne Nothof. Review of John Murrell’s translation of The Small Room at the Top of the Stairs/Thinking of Yu by Carole Fréchette. Web.
Andrée A. Michaud
Ravissements et exils.
By Marie Carrière. Review of Le ravissement by Andrée A. Michaud. #181 (Summer 2004): 166-68.Trois Histoires.
By Agnès Whitfield. Review of La Femme de Sath by Andrée A. Michuad. #122-123 The Long Poem/Remembering bp Nichol (Autumn/Winter 1989): 265-67.
Arleen Parée
- Review of Lake of Two Mountains by Arleen Parée. Upcoming in 2015.
The Art of Work.
By Crystal Hurdle. Review of Paper Trail by Arleen Parée. #205 Queerly Canadian (Summer 2010): 136-37.