Hugh Hood (1928–2000)
Author of Flying a Red Kite
About the Author
While he is best known as a writer of short stories, Hugh Hood's fourth novel, You Can't Get There from Here (1972), exhibits his usual skill at characterization, and a concern with descriptive prose, dialogue, and ironic humor. Hood's humor features universal themes and a strong moral tone, the show more latter being a product of the author's Roman Catholic sensibility. You Can't Get There from Here is a satirical look at multinational corporations and philanthropists who descend on third world countries. His several collections of short stories include August Nights, Flying a Red Kite (1962), and None Genuine without This Signature. The subject matter of these stories "shapes a chronicle of our age," and their "didactic impulse" and "moral vision" reflect what Hood himself calls "the primal guarantee of the actual, the authentic certificate of its existence which God provides, the signature in the heart of the existent." The first volume in Hood's proposed cycle of 12 novels appeared in 1975: The Swing in the Garden. It was followed by: A New Athens (1977), Reservoir Ravine (1979), Black and White Keys (1982), The Scenic Art (1984), The Motor Boys in Ottawa (1986), and Tony's Book (1988). Under the collective title of The New Age, these novels trace through a character named Matthew Goderich the connected histories of a man and a family from 1880 to 2000. Hood was born in Toronto and received his B.A., M.A., and Ph.D. from the University. He has taught at the University of Montreal. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Series
Works by Hugh Hood
After the Sirens 1 copy
The collected stories 1 copy
Associated Works
Tagged
Common Knowledge
- Legal name
- Hood, Hugh John Blagdon
- Birthdate
- 1928-04-30
- Date of death
- 2000-08-01
- Gender
- male
- Occupations
- novelist
short story writer
university professor - Awards and honors
- Order of Canada
- Nationality
- Canada
- Birthplace
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Places of residence
- Toronto, Ontario, Canada
- Place of death
- Montréal, Québec, Canada
- Associated Place (for map)
- Ontario, Canada
Members
Reviews
Proust/A Dance to the Music of Time, but Canadian. For some, no doubt, a description of Worst Book Ever. I, however am finding The New Age series increasingly engrossing. Religious themes, Toronto landmarks, the persistence of memory.
Still musing on the significance of the title, not immediately obvious to me. Set in a richly evoked Venice, owing nothing to the guidebooks. A movie based on Marcel’s trip to Venice in Albertine Disparue is being filmed on site. Main characters have a sexual interlude of great erotic power. What it all adds up to will perhaps have to wait until further novels in the series.
The Narrator's Oedipal griping set against the backdrop of the Auto Pact and other events on the Canadian federal political scene in the 1960s. Better than it sounds. Reminded me at times of Richard Hughes' The Human Predicament project which I read recently.
Part intensely personal and Torontonian, part philosophical examination of the Holocaust. Both themes deeply, almost painfully felt. A book of textures.
Lists
Awards
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Statistics
- Works
- 40
- Also by
- 10
- Members
- 205
- Popularity
- #107,801
- Rating
- 4.0
- Reviews
- 4
- ISBNs
- 67