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Genni Gunn

Author of Solitaria (Signature Editions)

11+ Works 50 Members 2 Reviews

About the Author

Genni Gunn was born in Trieste, Italy and emigrated to Canada in 1960. She studied music, creative writing and translation at the University of British Columbia, and received her M.F.A in 1984. Gunn was was a professional musician who performed extensively in Canada and did studio work before she show more turned to writing. She has published novels, poetry, short fiction, and translation, as well as an opera libretto, Alternate Visions, which was commissioned by the Vancouver Opera. Gunn was a member of The Writers Union of Canada, The Literary Translators Association of Canada, and Pen International. Gunn's work, Devour Me Too was a Finalist for The John Glassco Translation Award in 1987. Thrice Upon a Time was a Finalist for Best First Novel Canada/Caribbean Division for The Commonwealth Prize in 1991, and Mating in Captivity was a Finalist for The Gerald Lampert Poetry Award in 1993. (Bowker Author Biography) show less

Works by Genni Gunn

Tracing Iris : a novel (2003) 4 copies
Permanent Tourists (2020) 4 copies
Hungers (2002) 3 copies
On the Road (1991) 2 copies
Thrice upon a Time (1990) 2 copies
Faceless (2007) 1 copy

Associated Works

Exotic Gothic 4 (2012) — Contributor — 12 copies
Exotic Gothic 2: New Tales of Taboo (2008) — Contributor — 6 copies

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Reviews

Travel for me is a comfortable state, a detachment from the trappings of a physical place. It’s the motion I crave, the to-and-fro, taking flight and landing, going to cities or countries, towards new landscaped and emotional terrains, because when one travels, the unknown awaits to be discovered - about one’s self, about others, about one’s relationship to time and place. – from Tracks -

Genni Gunn currently lives in Canada, but she grew up thousands of miles away in Italy – separated at a young age from her parents and sister, until at age eleven she was reunited with them in North America. She is a traveler, a seeker, a deeply introspective person. In her newest book, Tracks, Gunn takes the reader to Canada, Italy, Mexico, and the politically charged environment of Myanmar (formally Burma). This is no ordinary book of travel essays – it is a deeply personal journey into Gunn’s childhood memories and relationships – memories triggered by travel.

In the opening chapters, Gunn grounds the reader in her past and introduces her parents – two people living in an unconventional marriage, wedded to restlessness and rootlessness. It is perhaps this early dislocation which surrounded Gunn that informs her obsession to travel. In fact, by the end of the book, Gunn makes a full circle and shares her mother’s constant migration from one home to the next…a behavior which leaves nothing behind, a gathering of the detritus of a life lived, boxed and labeled and forced into a moving truck.

But it is the chapters that take the reader to Myanmar which are perhaps the most powerful. Gunn has reason to travel to this difficult country – her sister now lives and teaches there – and it is here that perhaps she discovers the most important parts of herself.

And as we progress – across the water in the black, black night, I also think about Conrad, and Heart of Darkness, and how this journey is a literal journey into darkness, but I have no foreboding, no fear. I am exhilarated by the wind, by the spray of water at our sides, by the brilliant sky and by the darkness itself, which envelops me, ushering me forward. – from Tracks -

Gunn’s writing is exquisite and beautifully rendered. She transports the reader to foreign lands by rooting her language in the senses – visual, auditory, tactile. It is this which transforms her narrative into an emotional journey through time and space.

I was first introduced to Gunn’s writing back in 2011 when I read and reviewed her Giller nominated novel, Solitaria. Although I enjoyed that book, I found myself more connected to the writing in Tracks. With her travel essays, I found myself fully immersed in the personal reflections, the beautiful descriptions of place, and the ultimate message of dislocation, searching for self, and restlessness. In Tracks, Gunn captures the essence of travel – a journey which does not just introduce new places, but exposes relationships. When Gunn’s beloved aunt lays changed from a stroke, it is this idea of travel – whether it be physical or through the pages of a favorite book – which informs their relationship.

I’ve stood at railway tracks, my toes against the ties, while trains approach. Now I sit at my aunt’s bedside, my hand in hers, and hold my breath as years lumber past, tuned to the whine of flesh and bone. Today, we journey together through Dante’s Inferno, through his Purgatory and Paradise, our eyes wet, our hearts open to each other, to the magic that is poetry – a language through which we can finally communicate. - from Tracks -

Tracks is a very personal collection of travel essays. Lovingly penned, it is a book which deserves a slow reading.

Highly recommended.
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½
 
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writestuff | Jan 3, 2014 |
Vito Santoro’s body is unearthed at an Italian villa and this discovery sends shock waves through his large, extended family. For decades, Vito’s sister, Piera, has been telling the family Vito was sending her letters from Argentina – so what is the truth about his death? Piera seems to be the only one with answers, but she is refusing to talk to anyone except her Canadian nephew, David. Eager to solve the mystery, Vito’s siblings, wife, nephews and nieces converge on Piera’s villa in Italy where long ago secrets are revealed, rivalries are re-established, and the answers to Vito’s apparent murder become murkier than ever.

Genni Gunn’s novel, Solitaria, is told primarily during the 1940s in the first person voice of Piera, a solitary and intractable woman who is the matriarch of her family.

Donna Piera – La Solitaria, as she is referred to by the townspeople – is not docile or senile, ill or still. She rarely goes out of her house, yet people of her generation cross themselves when they hear her name – either as a protection against her or as a benediction towards her. She is not bedridden, penniless, or feeble. She interacts with the world outside her house through the telephone, with a tongue so sharp and barbed, people inspect their ears after a call, looking for puncture marks. – from Solitaria, page 136-7

Piera is controlling, manipulative and weaves tales from her childhood which at times seem hardly believable. In fact, Piera as narrator is unreliable. Her sisters and brothers have different memories of the same events and her sister-in-law (Vito’s wife, Teresa, who barely tolerates Piera) remembers Vito as a dedicated and devoted husband. The reason for the conflict between Piera and Teresa becomes more clear as the story unspools. Through Piera’s voice, Gunn explores the unreliability of memory, creating an uneasy novel where the truth is always a little out of reach.

Piera’s story is not the only thread which weaves through this literary novel. David, her nephew, is revealed in alternating chapters which take place in modern times. David is a man unsettled. He carries on a long-distance relationship with a woman named Bernette who is still a mystery to him. David seems to be as solitary in nature as Piera.

Two marvelous years of nothing. They hardly know each other. Three times this past year, they’ve met in a city mid-way between their homes and fucked for a weekend. Weak. Weak. End. – from Solitaria, page 10 -

Gunn meshes the lives of David and Piera to reveal the underpinnings of a complicated family. Vito’s murder becomes the lynchpin around which the lives of the characters spin. Through the memories of Vito, the reader begins to get a glimpse of the convoluted family relationships. If the characters cannot agree as to what happened to Vito, they can agree that he was the catalyst for the drama and dysfunction in a family whose lives were dictated by tradition, family secrets, and political and social upheaval in 1940s Italy.

The children were all seated in a circle around Vito. He was the stranger they feared and wanted to become. He was their black sheep, the disgraced one, their brother, their hero. – from Solitaria, page 95-

Gunn’s novel is an elaborate narrative which is quite literary in style. The pace of the book is slow at times, especially those chapters which deal with the modern day relationships. The sections where the reader gets to hear Piera’s unique voice are more compelling. Despite an ending which I could see coming, the novel manages to keep the reader engaged until the final page.

Readers interested in Italian history during the 1940s, and those who enjoy family sagas and literary fiction will find Gunn’s novel an interesting look at the complexities of human behavior within a family.

Solitaria was long-listed for the prestigious Giller Prize this year.
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½
 
Flagged
writestuff | Oct 27, 2011 |

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Works
11
Also by
2
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50
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#316,248
Rating
½ 3.3
Reviews
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ISBNs
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