It is with great sadness that we at Canadian Literature mark the passing of Herb Wyile, Editorial Board member since 2012. Herb published his first book review in the journal in 1991 and has contributed valuably ever since. He was a kind man with a lovely chuckle, a fierce intellect, incredible generosity, and a compassionate pen. He was always willing to help when asked and was as sharp and compassionate a reader of articles as he was of literary works. Canadian literary studies has lost a good friend. Herb was a professor of Canadian literature in the Department of English and Theatre at Acadia University with research on regionalism, historical fiction, Atlantic Canada, globalization, and neoliberalism. Herb’s influential publications included Speculative Fictions: Contemporary Canadian Novelists and the Writing of History (2002), Speaking in the Past Tense: Canadian Novelists on Writing Historical Fiction (2007), and Anne of Tim Hortons: Globalization and the Reshaping of Atlantic-Canadian Literature (2011). He was also committed to the Waterfront Views: Contemporary Writing of Atlantic Canada project. A consummate academic citizen, Herb served as the co-editor of Studies in Canadian Literature/Études en littérature canadienne since 2014. Cynthia Sugars, his co-editor at SCL/ÉLC, remembers Herb as “an exemplary scholar, a wonderful editor and collaborator, a generous colleague and mentor, and a treasured friend.” Herb’s life and work touched many people, including those of us lucky enough to work with him at this journal. He will be deeply missed.
Beyond being a long-time friend of the journal and member of our Editorial Board, Herb was also a significant contributor to Canadian Literature, having published four articles and numerous book reviews over the past 25 years. See below for a list of works published by and about Herb Wyile in Canadian Literature.
Articles
- “‘I questioned authority and the question won’: Transnational Muscle Cars and the Neoliberal Order” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Canadian Literature 216 (Spring 2013): 67-83.
- “As For Me and Me Arse: Strategic Regionalism and the Home Place in Lynn Coady’s Strange Heaven“ by Herb Wyile originally appeared in The Literature of Atlantic Canada. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 189 (Summer 2006): 85-101.
- “Doing the Honourable Thing: Guy Vanderhaeghe’s The Last Crossing“ by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Canadian Literature 185 (Summer 2005): 59-74.
- “‘Trust Tonto’: Thomas King’s Subversive Fictions and the Politics of Cultural Literacy” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in On Thomas King. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 161-162 (Summer/Autumn 1999): 105-124.
Book Reviews by Herb Wyile
- “Lost in Transit” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Canadian Literature 184 (Spring 2005): 132-133. of Elle by Douglas H. Glover.
- “Intersections” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Remembering the Sixties. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 152-153 (Spring/Summer 1997): 251-253. Rev. of National Culture and the New Global System by Frederick Buell and Thinking Through by Himani Bannerji.
- “Framing Muliticulturalism” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Women and War. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 151 (Winter 1996): 199-201. Rev. of Framing Marginality by Sneja Gunew and Unthinking Eurocentrism by Ella Shohat and Robert Stam.
- “Re/appraisals” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Urquhart and Munro. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 150 (Autumn 1996): 199-200. Rev. of Hugh MacLennan by Frank M. Tierney and Context North America by Camille La Bossiere.
- “Extremities” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Postcolonial Identities. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 149 (Summer 1996): 195-196. of Extremities by Michael Winter and Survival Gear by Rita Moir.
- “Home & Abroad” by Herb Wyile originally appeared in Discourse in Early Canada. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 131 (Winter 1991): 235-237. Rev. of In Transit by Mavis Gallant and Writing Home by Barry Dempster.
Book Reviews of Herb Wyile’s Works
- “Questioning the Past” by Gordon Bölling originally appeared in Predators and Gardens. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 197 (Summer 2008): 197-198. Rev. of Speaking in the Past Tense by Herb Wyile.
- “Canaries in the Coalmine” by David Leahy originally appeared in Canadian Literature 214 (Autumn 2012): 192-93. Rev. of Anne of Tim Hortons: Globalization and the Reshaping of Atlantic-Canadian Literature by Herb Wyile.
- “High-Stakes History” by Kevin Flynn originally appeared in Archives and History. Spec. issue of Canadian Literature 178 (Autumn 2003): 179-180. Rev. of Speculative Fictions by Herb Wyile.