Giants of the North

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta and
co-author of Imperial Dreams and Colonial Realities: British Views of
Canada, 1880-1914.

One you have freed yourself of the “bias of appearance,” this book
seems like a private production in the worst sense, and when you have
given up trying to determine just what kind of writing this is (are
these short stories? creative-writing exercises? unfinished
novelettes?), you will be surprised to find that Giants of the North
possesses a strange attractiveness. Taken together, it is a hodgepodge
of autobiographical sketches, dreamlike little vignettes, (unsuccessful)
stream-of-consciousness writing, and so forth. But there are occasional
sparks of genuine genius and of stylistic brilliance, and a few rare
insights into the human condition. I’m still not certain that any of
it was ready for publication; it seems all too redolent of the
creative-writing class. It may, however, presage something better to
come from someone who could turn out to be a very talented writer.