Typing
by Matt Cohen
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Matt Cohen left us all a gift when he decided, in the last six months of his life, to write a memoir. Typing is an invaluable and touching reckoning of the writing life, funny in many places, brilliant in others. It's also the story of the flourishing of writing in Canada: Cohen was at the centre of our country's cultural life for over three decades. He was one of the founders of the Writers' Union; he was the brains behind many initiatives, including the successful lobbying for the public show more lending right; he was a translator of Quebec writers into English. After his death, it became clear that Cohen was a touchstone for many writers and readers in this country, at the same time as he was a dedicated outsider, a Jewish intellectual moving through a WASPish cultural woods. Typing includes rare and wonderful portraits of George Grant, Hugh Garner, Morley Callaghan and Margaret Laurence, writers who came ahead of him and who posed their own puzzles of recognition and success. Cohen's memoir is rich in recollection, from his early days at Rochdale writing hip, stream-of-consciousness novels to his move to a farm near Kingston, Ontario, where the southern Ontario landscape captured his imagination and inspired such novels as The Disinherited, The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone and, years later, Elizabeth and After. Through the ebbs and flows of literary fashion and worldly acclaim, Cohen stayed constant to the demands of fiction. This memoir ends in the present tense. Cohen had a novel he wanted to finish, and he was certain he wouldn't die before he was done. He wasn't so lucky, but we, at least, have these last pages in which Matt Cohen's voice is utterly alive. show lessTags
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Member Reviews
I loved Matt Cohen's last novel, ELIZABETH AND AFTER, but this so-called memoir, TYPING, was a real disappointment and a chore to read. The first hundred-plus pages seemed a lot of self-pitying philosophical rambling - boring and pretentious gobbledygook. Later on there were some mildly interesting pieces about his encounters and interviews with more famous Canadian writers like Morley Callaghan and Margaret Laurence, then more about his struggles as a writer, drinking and doping and, finally, the diagnosis of his fatal illness. I could not help thinking how much of his life had been simply wasted, drifting and drinking. Took him ten years to complete ELIZABETH, which is, I suspect, his best novel. RIP, Matt, but I cannot in good show more conscience recommend TYPING to a general reading audience, although it could be of interest to students of CanLit and the history of publishing for our northern neighbors.
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less
- Tim Bazzett, author of the memoir, BOOKLOVER show less
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Author Information
51+ Works 1,031 Members
Matt Cohen was born in Kingston, Ontario. He received his bachelors and masters degrees from the University of Toronto. He taught political philosophy at McMaster University in the late 60's. Between 1969 and 1999, he published more than 20 books, including novels, short stories, poetry and two books for children, which won him the Toronto show more Arts Award. He was a two-time winner of the National Magazine Award for short fiction and a recipient of the John Glassco Translation Prize. Matt Cohen was writer-in-residence at several Canadian universities and was a visiting professor at the University of Bologna in Italy in 1985. He taught a number of writers workshops and was a founding member of the Writers Union of Canada, where he serv Matt Cohen passed away on December 2, 1999, from lung cancer. (Bowker Author Biography) show less
Classifications
- Genres
- Biography & Memoir, Literature Studies and Criticism, Fiction and Literature
- DDC/MDS
- 813.54 — Literature & rhetoric American literature in English American fiction in English 1900-1999 1945-1999
- LCC
- PR9199.3 .C58 .Z475 — Language and Literature English English Literature English literature: Provincial, local, etc.
- BISAC
Statistics
- Members
- 27
- Popularity
- 949,494
- Reviews
- 1
- Rating
- (3.67)
- Languages
- English
- Media
- Paper, Ebook
- ISBNs
- 3
- ASINs
- 1
