Alberta's contradictory landscape has fired the imaginative energies of writers for centuries. The sweep of the plains, the thrust of the Rockies, and the long roll of the woodlands have left vivid impressions on all of Alberta's writers--both those who passed through Alberta in search of other horizons and those who made it their home. The Literary History of Alberta surveys writing in and about Alberta from prehistory to the middle of the twentieth century. It includes profiles of dozens of writers (from the earnestly intended to the truly gifted) and their texts (from the commercial to the arcane). It reminds us of long-forgotten names and faces, figures who quietly--or not so quietly--wrote the books that underpin Alberta's thriving literary culture today. Melnyk also discusses the institutions that have shaped Alberta's literary culture. The Literary History of Alberta is an essential text for any reader interested in the cultural history of western Canada, and a landmark achievement in Alberta's continuing literary history.

In this, the companion to the landmark volume The Literary History of Alberta, Volume One: From Writing-on-Stone to World War Two, George Melnyk examines Alberta literature in the second half of the twentieth century. At last, Melnyk argues, Alberta writers have found their voice--and their accomplishments have been remarkable. The contradictory landscape, the stereotypes of the Indian, the Mountie, and the Cowboy, and the language of the Other, speaking from the margins--these elements all left their impressions on the consciousness of early Alberta. But writers in the last few decades have turned this inheritance to their advantage, to create compelling stories about this place and its people. Today, Melnyk discovers, Alberta writers can appreciate not only this achievement, but also its essential source: the symbolic communication of Writing-on-Stone. The Literary History of Alberta, Volume Two extends the study of Alberta's cultural history to the present day. It is a vital text for anyone interested in Alberta's vibrant literary culture.

One little question propels both author and reader on a genre-bending quest to find the elusive essence of a Canadian province built on sturdy stereotypes of oil-spoiled, beef-eating, bible-thumping rednecks devoid of class or culture. Through essay, interview, colourful observation, and whatever other exposé it takes to amplify the hyperbolic absurdity of seeking a simple answer to an incendiary question, Geo Takach spotlights the cultural complexity of this perplexing province. Readers will be delightfully edified after a dizzying romp around Wild Rose Country with Geo and a cast of citizens and celebs (alive and dead).

The Poetics of Naming is a fascinating blend of postmodern philosophy and mysticism that challenges our conventional view of language. It begins with the narrator’s discussion of a multi-faceted identity based on his name(s). Because this identity is multi-lingual and multi-national, its layering of the self leads to a confrontation with language. The narrator asks what is the relationship between language and truth? The formative power of language is great, but what happens when we become "languageless?" The book becomes an expression of a mystical experience the narrator calls "poesis" in which he stepped outside of language. Expressing this experience of languagelessness through language is the paradox at the core of the book. To achieve a simulation of languageless reality, the author uses a variety of linguistic techniques that uproot meanings, break-up words, and reconstruct terms in novel ways. Through deconstruction the metaphoric structure of language is revealed. This metaphoric structure is itself approached metaphorically so that the reader begins to sense the trap of a linguistic universe from which there is no escape. The book is a literary exercise that simulates the author’s poesis experience for the reader. Eventually the flood of words on the page begins to go out of focus and dissolve as the reader approaches languagelessness. The Poetics of Naming is not for the faint of heart. It challenges its readers to move away from the comfortable universe of ordinary language and its meanings and enter a world where the boundaries crumble like digital illusions and limitlessness appears on the horizon of consciousness. Poesis is frightening, frustrating and liberating.

Founded in 1905, the High River Times served a community of small town advertisers and an extensive hinterland of ranchers and farmers in southern Alberta. Under the ownership of the Charles Clark family for over 60 years, the Times established itself as the epitome of the rural weekly press in Alberta. Even Joe Clark, the future prime minister, worked for the family business. While historians rely heavily on local newspapers to write about rural and small town life, Paul Voisey has studied the influence of the Times on shaping the community of High River. Foreword by Rt. Hon. Joe Clark, PC CC.

Melnyk argues passionately that Canadian cinema has never been a singular entity, but has continued to speak in the languages and in the voices of Canada's diverse population.

In Metis Pioneers, Doris Jeanne MacKinnon compares the survival strategies of two Metis women born during the fur trade—one from the French-speaking free trade tradition and one from the English-speaking Hudson’s Bay Company tradition—who settled in southern Alberta as the Canadian West transitioned to a sedentary agricultural and industrial economy. MacKinnon provides rare insight into their lives, demonstrating the contributions Metis women made to the building of the Prairie West. This is a compelling tale of two women’s acts of quiet resistance in the final days of the British Empire.