André Alexis
Author of Fifteen Dogs: An Apologue
About the Author
André Alexis was born in Trinidad and raised in Canada, where he has lived since he was three years old. His works include Despair and Other Stories of Ottawa, Childhood, and Fifteen Dogs, which won the 2015 Scotiabank Giller Prize. His short fiction has appeared in literary journals and show more anthologies and he has also written extensively for radio and theater. Several of his plays have been produced in Vancouver and Toronto, and he has been a playwright-in-residence for the Canadian Stage Company. Alexis also writes reviews for The Globe and Mail, and he is a contributing editor to This Magazine, a bimonthly Canadian alternative journal. (Bowker Author Biography) Andre Alexis was born in Trinidad in 1957 & grew up in Canada. Alexis lives in Toronto. (Publisher Provided) show less
Image credit: Sari Ginsberg
Series
Works by André Alexis
The Journey Prize Anthology: Short Fiction from the Best of Canada's New Writers: 14 (2002) — Editor — 5 copies
Quindici cani 1 copy
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Canonical name
- Alexis, André
- Birthdate
- 1957-01-15
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- writer
- Organizations
- This Magazine
- Awards and honors
- Windham–Campbell Literature Prize (2017)
- Short biography
- Host and creator, CBC Radio’s Skylarking. Following his parents, who left Trinidad in the late 1950s, André Alexis and his younger sister immigrated to Canada in 1961. After a short stint in the southwestern Ontario town of Petrolia, Alexis and his family moved to Ottawa, where he subsequently spent most of his youth.
Alexis began his artistic career in the theater, and has held the position of playwright-in-residence at the Canadian Stage Company (CanStage) - Nationality
- Trinidad and Tobago (birth)
Canada (naturalized) - Birthplace
- Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago
- Places of residence
- Trinidad and Tobago
Toronto, Ontario, Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, Canada - Associated Place (for map)
- Ontario, Canada
Members
Reviews
André Alexis is such a fine writer, full of subtlety and insight, that it is not surprising to find the stories collected here to be models of the story-telling art. They are also a touch eerie, sometimes frightening, and, when he wishes, can evoke almost any era. There is something almost 19th century about his style. You may also, like me, encounter diction that is new to you, despite never having experienced that in years of reading. It almost makes you feel young again.
I especially show more liked “Contrition: An Isekai,” and “Houyhnhnm.” The first finds a 70-year-old magic man from old Trinidad awakening in the body of a 7-year-old boy in Petrolia, Ontario. Somehow Alexis makes such a transformation utterly believable. In the latter story, a father and later his son talk to a horse who loves bad dad-jokes. Is it strange that such a story could also be filled with sentiment and longing?
All of the stories here are excellent and the elegy that ends the collection is especially worth reading as it gives an insight into Alexis’ development as a writer, reader, and linguist.
Warmly recommended. show less
I especially show more liked “Contrition: An Isekai,” and “Houyhnhnm.” The first finds a 70-year-old magic man from old Trinidad awakening in the body of a 7-year-old boy in Petrolia, Ontario. Somehow Alexis makes such a transformation utterly believable. In the latter story, a father and later his son talk to a horse who loves bad dad-jokes. Is it strange that such a story could also be filled with sentiment and longing?
All of the stories here are excellent and the elegy that ends the collection is especially worth reading as it gives an insight into Alexis’ development as a writer, reader, and linguist.
Warmly recommended. show less
The Publisher Says: Parkdale’s Green Dolphin is a bar of ill repute, and it is there that Tancred Palmieri, a thief with elegant and erudite tastes, meets Willow Azarian, an aging heroin addict. She reveals to Tancred that her very wealthy father has recently passed away, leaving each of his five children a mysterious object that provides one clue to the whereabouts of a large inheritance. Willow enlists Tancred to steal these objects from her siblings and help her solve the puzzle.
A show more Japanese screen, a painting that plays music, a bottle of aquavit, a framed poem and a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater: Tancred is lured in to this beguiling quest, and even though Willow dies before the puzzle is solved, he presses on.
As he tracks down the treasure, he must enlist the help of Alexander von Würfel, conceptual artist and taxidermist to the wealthy, and fend off Willow’s heroin dealers, a young albino named ‘Nigger’ Colby and his sidekick, Sigismund ‘Freud’ Luxemburg, a clubfooted psychopath, both of whom are eager to get their hands on this supposed pot of gold. And he must mislead Detective Daniel Mandelshtam, his most adored friend.
Inspired by a reading of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, The Hidden Keys questions what it means to be honourable, what it means to be faithful and what it means to sin.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I'm not sure how to tell you about this book. Let me tell you about honorable-thief Tancred:
This, I believe, explains Author Alexis's project nicely. He makes a mythic figure, of prodigious endowments of soul and talent, and sets him down at a nexus of Toronto's many worlds. He then seems to stand back and let 'er rip. It feels to me as though Author Alexis more or less "took dictation" when writing this story, and its immediate predecessor Fifteen Dogs (which I read almost a decade ago). The less-than-propulsive pace and the slightly meandering sense of place are, in my observation, best explained by this reality of the creative process. A more plot-driven project, one that was constructed not discovered, wouldn't keep this:
But, in this structure of discovery, Tancred's observation goes a long way towards making it plain that we are on a quest that surpasses its material goals. Part of the manifestation of this is the quite long time frame of the story...there is time, between Tancred meeting the woman on whose behalf he goes on this quest for and the time he actually begins the quest, for him to suffer an acutely painful personal tragedy...and its, politely said, abrupt ending.
It's a sad, death-haunted quest. It's a life-affirming choice for Tancred to take it on. It's amazing how much fun it is to watch a character decide to give up a past of anti-social thievery and remain a thief, only pro-social now. It's a book with a lot of good aperçus, and a few moments where one wonders what the heck Author Alexis was thinking. Tancred isn't a traditional series-mystery sleuth. The two books featuring him I've read aren't really properly series mysteries. They're no less delightful for that. The puzzle set by, and for, Tancred's client is resolved neatly at the end. Permaybehaps a bit too neatly...the source of the missing star.
But the reason it's got four of 'em is down to moments like this:
Heady stuff, philosophically in my wheelhouse, and not the only example I could've chosen. Spoiled for choice gets a book a good rating. show less
A show more Japanese screen, a painting that plays music, a bottle of aquavit, a framed poem and a model of Frank Lloyd Wright’s Fallingwater: Tancred is lured in to this beguiling quest, and even though Willow dies before the puzzle is solved, he presses on.
As he tracks down the treasure, he must enlist the help of Alexander von Würfel, conceptual artist and taxidermist to the wealthy, and fend off Willow’s heroin dealers, a young albino named ‘Nigger’ Colby and his sidekick, Sigismund ‘Freud’ Luxemburg, a clubfooted psychopath, both of whom are eager to get their hands on this supposed pot of gold. And he must mislead Detective Daniel Mandelshtam, his most adored friend.
Inspired by a reading of Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island, The Hidden Keys questions what it means to be honourable, what it means to be faithful and what it means to sin.
I RECEIVED A DRC FROM THE PUBLISHER VIA NETGALLEY. THANK YOU.
My Review: I'm not sure how to tell you about this book. Let me tell you about honorable-thief Tancred:
Tancred was a tall and physically imposing black man, but he was also approachable. He could not sit anywhere for long without someone starting a conversation. This was, his friends liked to say, because his blue eyes were startling and his voice deep and avuncular. So, when he wanted to be alone without necessarily being alone, Tancred answered in French—his maternal tongue—when spoken to by strangers. Few who came into the Dolphin knew the language.
This, I believe, explains Author Alexis's project nicely. He makes a mythic figure, of prodigious endowments of soul and talent, and sets him down at a nexus of Toronto's many worlds. He then seems to stand back and let 'er rip. It feels to me as though Author Alexis more or less "took dictation" when writing this story, and its immediate predecessor Fifteen Dogs (which I read almost a decade ago). The less-than-propulsive pace and the slightly meandering sense of place are, in my observation, best explained by this reality of the creative process. A more plot-driven project, one that was constructed not discovered, wouldn't keep this:
The city had been built by people from innumerable elsewheres. It was a chaos of cultures ordered only by its long streets. It belonged to no one and never would, or maybe it was a million cities in one, unique to each of its inhabitants, belonging to whoever walked its streets.
But, in this structure of discovery, Tancred's observation goes a long way towards making it plain that we are on a quest that surpasses its material goals. Part of the manifestation of this is the quite long time frame of the story...there is time, between Tancred meeting the woman on whose behalf he goes on this quest for and the time he actually begins the quest, for him to suffer an acutely painful personal tragedy...and its, politely said, abrupt ending.
It's a sad, death-haunted quest. It's a life-affirming choice for Tancred to take it on. It's amazing how much fun it is to watch a character decide to give up a past of anti-social thievery and remain a thief, only pro-social now. It's a book with a lot of good aperçus, and a few moments where one wonders what the heck Author Alexis was thinking. Tancred isn't a traditional series-mystery sleuth. The two books featuring him I've read aren't really properly series mysteries. They're no less delightful for that. The puzzle set by, and for, Tancred's client is resolved neatly at the end. Permaybehaps a bit too neatly...the source of the missing star.
But the reason it's got four of 'em is down to moments like this:
“I believe God is an impediment to good. All those people acting in his name don’t bother to think their actions through. They’re incapable of good...No, that’s not right...There are any number of them who accidentally do good. ... What I mean is it’s more difficult to do good with God in the equation.”
Heady stuff, philosophically in my wheelhouse, and not the only example I could've chosen. Spoiled for choice gets a book a good rating. show less
Reading this book was like swinging on a pendulum between wonder and confusion. Alfred Homer, a young man grieving the death of his parents and loss of his girlfriend, agrees to accompany Professor Bruno (a friend of his parents) as the professor searches for a lost poet in order to write a biography. As they travel through southern Ontario, they encounter many strange traditions and institutions that are outrageous. But that outrageousness is well-paced with distance and introspection added show more to the mix to keep the story interesting.
I like the way this book presented the past and present not a separate, but as interwoven. I like the way it showed the corruption of altruism with commercialization and perverse notions of justice. And I especially like Alfie's acceptance of not knowing everything.
The book ends ambiguously but, I think, on an hopeful note, reminding us that we should be open to change and strive to experience wonder in the world. show less
I like the way this book presented the past and present not a separate, but as interwoven. I like the way it showed the corruption of altruism with commercialization and perverse notions of justice. And I especially like Alfie's acceptance of not knowing everything.
The book ends ambiguously but, I think, on an hopeful note, reminding us that we should be open to change and strive to experience wonder in the world. show less
Seldom have I been so impressed by a Giller Prize winner as I have with this book. Perhaps Through Black Spruce by Joseph Boyden comes the closest as I certainly thought about that book for a long time after I read it. But Fifteen Dogs seems to me to be in a class by itself. Well done Andre Alexis.
The story is pretty simple or at least it seems simple on first encounter. The gods Hermes and Apollo are drinking in a tavern in Toronto and wonder what it would be like if animals had human show more intelligence. Apollo wagers a year's servitude that animals with human intelligence would be even more unhappy than humans. Hermes accepts the bet with the condition that if even one animal is happy at the end of its life then he wins the bet. They go to a veterinary clinic that is close and give the dogs that are there human intelligence. With this intelligence it is easy for the dogs to escape the clinic but three of the dogs stay close by so only twelve actually go out in a pack. From then on the dogs struggle with what the intelligence adds to their life as a dog. Some want their life to continue much as before but others want to take their intelligence and do something different. Prince, a mutt originally from Alberta, starts to compose and recite poetry. Majnoun, a black Standard Poodle, wants to use their new thoughts to explore. Atticus, the de facto pack leader who is a Neapolitan Mastiff, decides with his lieutenants Frick and Frack, Labrador Retrievers from the same litter, to get rid of all the dogs that don't want to return to their canine roots. Several dogs are killed and Majnoun is left for dead but he is found by a kind couple, Nira and Miguel, who nurse him back to health. Prince is spirited away by Hermes before he can be assaulted. Throughout the rest of the book all the dogs die and it looks like Apollo may win the bet. Prince, the poet, is the last of the fifteen dogs to die. Read the book to find out which of the gods wins!
Interactions between the dogs are interesting but, at least to me as a person who has had a number of dogs as close companions, it is in the interactions between the dogs and humans that Alexis really shines. Nira and Majnoun have a relationship that is so close they know how the other feels without having to speak a word. At one point another of the dogs from the pack, Benjy, comes to live with Nira, Miguel and Majnoun. Benjy, a Beagle, is a manipulative schemer and he soon has Miguel devoted to him. His personality will have you wondering whether your dog really likes you or is only pretending to in order to get the finer things in life. Prince is a loner but he is willing to spend some time with humans providing they don't hinder his activities. None of the dogs I have known have ever been so independent but this book gives me something to ponder about strays. I always thought they must have difficult lives but maybe they are happy going their own way.
The unexpected bonus in this book is the poetry. Small poems composed by the dogs are sprinkled throughout the book. Here is one:
Longing to be sprayed (the green snake
writhing in his master's hand),
back and forth into that stream--
jump, rinse: coat slick with soap.
All the poems are short and it is not hard to believe that they were composed by dogs as they have a point of view that is like a canine's. Of course, since this is fiction the poems have actually been written by humans. Only when I read the note at the back of the book did I realize that each poem, when read aloud, would have the name of one of the dogs within it. This is a genre of poetry invented by Francois Caradec, a French poet who lived from 1924 to 2008. For me, this discovery pushed the book from the good category into the truly great. show less
The story is pretty simple or at least it seems simple on first encounter. The gods Hermes and Apollo are drinking in a tavern in Toronto and wonder what it would be like if animals had human show more intelligence. Apollo wagers a year's servitude that animals with human intelligence would be even more unhappy than humans. Hermes accepts the bet with the condition that if even one animal is happy at the end of its life then he wins the bet. They go to a veterinary clinic that is close and give the dogs that are there human intelligence. With this intelligence it is easy for the dogs to escape the clinic but three of the dogs stay close by so only twelve actually go out in a pack. From then on the dogs struggle with what the intelligence adds to their life as a dog. Some want their life to continue much as before but others want to take their intelligence and do something different. Prince, a mutt originally from Alberta, starts to compose and recite poetry. Majnoun, a black Standard Poodle, wants to use their new thoughts to explore. Atticus, the de facto pack leader who is a Neapolitan Mastiff, decides with his lieutenants Frick and Frack, Labrador Retrievers from the same litter, to get rid of all the dogs that don't want to return to their canine roots. Several dogs are killed and Majnoun is left for dead but he is found by a kind couple, Nira and Miguel, who nurse him back to health. Prince is spirited away by Hermes before he can be assaulted. Throughout the rest of the book all the dogs die and it looks like Apollo may win the bet. Prince, the poet, is the last of the fifteen dogs to die. Read the book to find out which of the gods wins!
Interactions between the dogs are interesting but, at least to me as a person who has had a number of dogs as close companions, it is in the interactions between the dogs and humans that Alexis really shines. Nira and Majnoun have a relationship that is so close they know how the other feels without having to speak a word. At one point another of the dogs from the pack, Benjy, comes to live with Nira, Miguel and Majnoun. Benjy, a Beagle, is a manipulative schemer and he soon has Miguel devoted to him. His personality will have you wondering whether your dog really likes you or is only pretending to in order to get the finer things in life. Prince is a loner but he is willing to spend some time with humans providing they don't hinder his activities. None of the dogs I have known have ever been so independent but this book gives me something to ponder about strays. I always thought they must have difficult lives but maybe they are happy going their own way.
The unexpected bonus in this book is the poetry. Small poems composed by the dogs are sprinkled throughout the book. Here is one:
Longing to be sprayed (the green snake
writhing in his master's hand),
back and forth into that stream--
jump, rinse: coat slick with soap.
All the poems are short and it is not hard to believe that they were composed by dogs as they have a point of view that is like a canine's. Of course, since this is fiction the poems have actually been written by humans. Only when I read the note at the back of the book did I realize that each poem, when read aloud, would have the name of one of the dogs within it. This is a genre of poetry invented by Francois Caradec, a French poet who lived from 1924 to 2008. For me, this discovery pushed the book from the good category into the truly great. show less
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