Synopses & Reviews
New from the Winner of the Writers' Trust of Canada Marian Engel Awardand the Governor General's Award for English Fiction
Once touted as compendiums of human knowledge, the encyclopedias and handbooks of bygone eras now read quaintly, if not comicallyand#151;yet within their musty pages are often found phrases of uncanny evocative power. Scrupulously stitching such fragments together, in a sequel to the Governor Generaland#8217;s Award-winning Forms of Devotion, By The Book is a collection of verbal and visual collages whose alchemies transform long-dead texts into tales of enduring vitality. With her visually witty full-colour artwork and stories like and#147;What Is A Hat? Where Is Constantinople? Who Was Sir Walter Raleigh? And Many Other Common Questions, Some With Answers, Some Without,and#8221; and and#147;Consumptives Should Not Kiss Other People: A Handy Guide to the Care and Maintenance of Your Familyand#8217;s Good Health,and#8221; Schoemperlenand#8217;s irreverent and ironic brand of nostalgia combines vintage kitsch with comic, creepy, unexpectedly moving yarns.
Praise for By The Book
and#147;Diane Schoemperlen's By The Book is a bravura performance. Fragments, collage, assemblage, found poetry - none of the conventional words cover it for they miss the fantastic wit, the energy of humour, the divine ability to find comedic ore in the print detritus of our culture. She doesn't rescue texts; with her wicked sense of irony, she actually puts thought where there was none. She infects the banal with the virus of her own brain and makes it into art. Then she makes a picture of itand#151;oh, dwell upon the details; there are whole novels lurking in the details.and#8221;and#151;Douglas Glover
Praise for Diane Schoemperlen
"Schoemperlen's inventive language and narrative structures encourage readers to be free 'from the prison of everyday thinking."and#151;New York Times Book Review
"Lovely, clever [and] imaginative."and#151;Wall Street Journal
and#147;Cuttingly witty ... Schoemperlen could almost form a school of piquant and inventive fiction with Julie Hecht, Janet Kauffman, and Lydia Davis.and#8221;and#151;Booklist
"There is no mistaking a Schoemperlen storyand#151;devoted to form, faithful to the mysteries of the everyday."and#151;The Globe and Mail
Review
Praise for By The Bookand#147;By the Book suggest[s] ways old texts might speak to us today, chopped up, reordered, tweet-ready. Schoemperlen works in a tradition that recalls, in addition to [Jonathan] Lethem and [David] Shields, the cubist fictions of Lydia Davis, David Markson and Padgett Powell. The most effective stories here affirm the notion and#133; that and#145;the beauty of a fragment is that it still supports the hope of a brilliant completeness.and#8217;and#8221;and#151;Mark Sarvas, The New York Times Sunday Book Review
and#147;[Schoemperlen] breaks her readers out of the present to give them more insight into who they are and how they live.and#133; A meditative, poetic journey and#133;and#8221;and#151;Stacey May Fowles, The Globe and Mail
and#147;One of the reasons for the popularity of Schoemperlenand#8217;s inventive work ... is that she seems to be having so much fun creating it. ... Schoemperlen wants us to consider the randomness, absurdity, and militant certainties not only of another eraand#8217;s texts and images but of our own.and#8221;and#151;The Toronto Star
and#147;The stories are illustrated by beautiful, hand-assembled visual collages and#133; [which add] a levity of spirit that would be missing if the book were nothing but text and#133; By the Book contains rewards aplenty for the reader adventurous enough to engage it on its own unique terms.and#8221;and#151;Winnipeg Review
and#147;By the Book is a witty, imaginative, and sometimes whimsical journey through words and pictures.and#8221;and#151;This Magazine
"Strangely appealing ... an extremely clever and often graceful collection that rewards the curious reader."and#151;Kirkus Reviews
"Charming and cool ... Schoemperlen's re-mixed antique illustrations delight the eye, and yet also provoke laughter, close study, and further examination ... By The Book is unusual, witty, and whimsical. Add to that the high production value of the volume itself ... and you have a terrific gift for a book, art, or ephemera lover."and#151;Fine Books and Collections Magazine
and#147;The accompanying collages are bright and colourfuland#133; [and] although made recently, stylistically, textually, and playfully reflect the eras of the publications.and#8221; and#151;kolaj Magazine
Praise for Diane Schoemperlen
and#147;Beautifully written and brimming with complexity.and#8221;and#151;Boston Globe
and#147;One of the most charming novels you're likely to read this year.and#8221;and#151;New Orleans Times-Picayune
and#147;A book about believing in something bigger than oneself and putting faith in what we can't fully know ... a look at the search for meaning.and#8221;and#151;Philadelphia Inquirer
and#147;A thoughtful and intelligent writer. Readers who enjoy unconventional fiction will find food for thought here.and#8221;and#151;Publishers Weekly
and#147;Highly intelligent and unique.and#8221;and#151;Library Journal
and#147;A holy hoot.and#8221;and#151;Elle
Synopsis
The strangest sentences and illustrations from 19th-century encyclopedias, etiquette books, and travel guides, snipped into stories and full-page colour collages.
Synopsis
Once touted as compendiums of human knowledge, the encyclopedias and handbooks of bygone eras now read quaintly, if not comicallyyet within their fustian pages are often found phrases of uncanny evocative power. Scrupulously stitching such fragments together, By the Book is a collection of verbal and visual collages, whose prestidigitations have transformed long-dead texts into stories of enduring vitality.
Synopsis
"Schoemperlen's inventive language and narrative structures encourage readers to be free 'from the prison of everyday thinking.'"—The New York Times Book Review
"Lovely, clever, [and] imaginative."—The Wall Street Journal
Once touted as compendiums of human knowledge, the encyclopedias and handbooks of bygone eras now read quaintly, if not comically—yet within their pages are often found phrases of uncanny evocative power. Scrupulously stitching such fragments together in a sequel to the Governor General's Award-winning Forms of Devotion, By the Book is a collection of verbal and visual collages whose prestidigitations have transformed long-dead texts into tales of enduring vitality. With stories like "What Is a Hat? Where Is Constantinople? Who Was Sir Walter Raleigh? And Many Other Common Questions, Some With Answers, Some Without" and "Consumptives Should Not Kiss Other People: A Handy Guide to the Care and Maintenance of Your Family's Good Health," Diane Schoemperlen's irreverent brand of nostalgia combines vintage kitsch with comic, creepy, unexpectedly moving yarns.
Diane Schoemperlen has published several collections of short fiction and three novels. Her 1990 collection, The Man of My Dreams, was shortlisted for both the Governor General's Award and the Trillium. Her collection Forms of Devotion: Stories and Pictures won the 1998 Governor General's Award for English Fiction. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.
About the Author
Born and raised in Thunder Bay, Ontario, Diane Schoemperlen has published several collections of short fiction and three novels, In the Language of Love (1994), Our Lady of the Lost and Found (2001), and At A Loss For Words (2008). Her 1990 collection, The Man of My Dreams, was shortlisted for both the Governor-Generaland#8217;s Award and the Trillium. Her collection, Forms of Devotion: Stories and Pictures won the 1998 Governor-Generaland#8217;s Award for English Fiction. In 2008, she received the Marian Engel Award from the Writersand#8217; Trust of Canada. In 2012, she was Writer-in-Residence at Queenand#8217;s University. She lives in Kingston, Ontario.