Toronto: A Literary Guide

By Greg Gatenby and Dashka Slater

A fascinating look at the history of Canadian literature

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1552780732
• ISBN13: 9781552780732
• Release Date: June 1999
• Publisher: Mcarthur & Company
• Length: 622 Pages
• Weight: 1.70 lbs.
• Dimensions: 9.0" x 1.7" x 6.4"

Customer Reviews

in the footsteps of literary greats

I really could have used "Toronto A Literary Guide" when I moved to Toronto in the mid-60's. At the time Toronto was arguably the dullest place in the country. I had little money & I knew almost no one, but I might have amused myself cheaply just walking around in the footsteps of literary greats. Fortunately things improved and I stayed for 34 years. Unfortunately, I didn't discover Mr Gatenby's book until my last year in Toronto when I was too ill to get about on any of the 62 walks laid out by the author. Nevertheless, as I toured from my sofa, I was surprised at what a hotbed of culture Toronto has been throughout its 200 year history. Hardly any street in the City has not been trodden upon by literati, both home-grown & international. Not merely a guidebook of who-slept-where, the closely-printed pages of this hefty tome are crammed with a wealth of biographical and historical information, supplemented with maps, clippings and period photos of people who visited, lived, loved, wrote, prospered or got into trouble in Toronto. Some examples: Opening at random to page 27, I find a short but poignant bio of Clara Morris, one of the great 19th century stage personages, who was born near the intersection of Richmond and Sherbourne Streets. On page 279 a newspaper clipping shows Irish playwright Brendan Behan handcuffed to a policeman after his arrest for assault and public disturbance, prior to his enforced residence at a drying-out facility at 1437 Queen Street West. An apartment building at 35 Walmer Road has been home variously to Giller Prize winner M G Vassanji, poet Mary di Michele, & novelist Neil Bassoondath. Also making an appearance are the likes of Oscar Wilde, Ernest Hemingway, Richard Rohmer, Margaret Atwood, Charles Dickens, Lawren Harris and Mazo de la Roche plus innumerable other less familiar names. No educated Torontonian should be without "Toronto A Literary Guide". You could plan many an entertaining little tour for yourself - in your own neighbourhood or farther afield -- & get some exercise at the same time. If the book is too cumbersome to lug around on a casual walk I suggest photocopying the particular pages you want to use. Although I have no plans ever to return to Toronto I find the book a vastly entertaining and useful reference. For instance, I was reading a Willa Cather novel & the bio info mentioned that Cather spent time in Toronto. I got out my copy of "Toronto A Literary Guide" and looked up Cather in the index. Sure enough, there is half a page about her staying in Toronto in 1919-1920 with an old friend Isabelle McClung. Isabelle lived on the west side of Bay Street, south of Breadalbane (south of Wellesley) at 38 St Vincent Street, a street later absorbed by Bay Street. If St Vincent sounds vaguely familiar to some readers it is because a few doors away in 1894-- at #16 St Vincent -- serial killer Henry Holmes briefly resided ( & buried 2 victims beneath the house) - see my review of