{"id":180,"date":"2012-06-14T10:58:39","date_gmt":"2012-06-14T10:58:39","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/library.ryerson.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/neil-bissoondath\/"},"modified":"2024-08-12T12:39:50","modified_gmt":"2024-08-12T16:39:50","slug":"bissoondath","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/authors\/bissoondath\/","title":{"rendered":"Neil Bissoondath"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Neil Bissoondath was born in Trinidad.\u00a0 He came to Canada in 1973 to study French at York University in Toronto.\u00a0 He subsequently taught both English and French. He has written and hosted a documentary on fathers and sons and hosted a television program called Markings<\/em>.\u00a0 Bissoondath lives in Quebec City. He was awarded an honorary Doctor of Letters<\/a> at the June 1999 convocation at Glendon College, York University, and another honorary doctorate in May 2008 from the Universit\u00e9 de Moncton. He was named a Chevalier of the Ordre national du Qu\u00e9bec<\/a> in 2010, and awarded the NALIS (National Library of Trinidad and Tobago) Lifetime Literary Achievement Award in 2012. Bissoondath was appointed an Officer of the Order of Canada<\/a> by the Governor General on 29 December, 2021 “For his contributions to Canadian literature through his groundbreaking examinations of multiculturalism and diversity.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

A Casual Brutality<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Cormorant, 2002. (1st trade pbk. ed.)
PS8553.I8775 C37 1988<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (From the Penguin Books ed., 1989)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

A Casual Brutality<\/em> is a powerful, dark novel about the failure of a decent man to come to terms with the moral disintegration of the Caribbean island of his birth. In this landmark literary achievement, Neil Bissoondath takes the reader into a world in which the future looks only toward a brutal past. In such a world, to what or to whom does a man owe his loyalty?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1988 Books in Canada First Novel Award (Nominated)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction (Short stories)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Digging Up the Mountains: Selected Stories<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Macmillan of Canada, 1986.
PS8553.I8775 D5 1986<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Focussing on contemporary themes of cultural dislocation, revolution, and the shifting politics of the Third World, Neil Bissoondath weaves compelling stories about West Indians in their strife-torn islands, West Indian and other immigrants in Canada, and the victims of violence in nameless, fragile countries around the world.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Doing the Heart Good<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Cormorant, 2002.
PS8553.I8775 D65 2002<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

The beginning of Neil Bissoondath’s Doing the Heart Good<\/em> marks the end of a seventy-year-old man’s independent life.\u00a0 Alistair Mackenzie \u2014 widower, father, grandfather, retired professor, lover of Dickens and good sherry \u2014 is forced to move in with his daughter and her family, bringing with him only a few medals, pyjamas that still bear the smell of smoke, and memory \u2014 that territory, alien and untrustworthy,
unfailingly inhabited by a familiar stranger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2002 Hugh MacLennan Award for Fiction<\/a> (Quebec Writers Federation) (Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Innocence of Age<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Knopf Canada, 1992.
PS8553.I8775 I56 1992<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (Penguin Books, 1993)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

Pasco and his son Daniel live in the same city but in different worlds. Pasco, the owner of a greasy spoon, has old-fashioned standards, while Daniel, a fledgling business tycoon, hungrily pursues a life of wealth, fleeting sexual encounters and quick gratification. Neither is prepared, however, to give up on the other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1993 Canadian Authors Association Award for Fiction (Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

On the Eve of Uncertain Tomorrows<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Penguin Books, 1991.
PS8553.I8775 O5 1991<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n
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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Soul of all Great Designs<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2008.
PS8553 .I8775 S69 2008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

“Alec” is a man who is convinced early on in his professional career that the only way he can achieve success is to fabricate an identity for himself, \u2026
“Sue” is a young woman who, forced to balance her Indian immigrant parents’ strict traditions and the subtler but equally demanding rules of Canadian society, must hide aspects of herself from both worlds.
When Alec and Sue meet, their chance encounter quickly leads to a passionate affair stoked by the thrill of secrecy. But their initial excitement is not to last. \u2026<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Unyielding Clamour of the Night<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2005.
PS8553 .I8775 U69 2005<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

On an island nation where geography and education separate the advantaged from the disadvantaged, a young man of privilege leaves his home in the north to teach the children of the south. Arun, raised in a family made wealthy from its printing business, believes that he can make a profound difference by educating the children of subsistence farmers and cottage industries, caught in the battlegrounds of an undeclared civil war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

2005 Hugh MacLennan Prize for Fiction<\/a> — Quebec Writers’ Federation (Winner)
2006 Quebec Writers’ Federation Award for Translation, English to French<\/a> — awarded to Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagn\u00e9 for La clameur des t\u00e9n\u00e8bres<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Worlds Within Her: A Novel<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: A.A. Knopf Canada, 1998.
Toronto: Vintage Canada, 1999.
Toronto: Cormorant Books, 2008.
PS8553.I8775 W6 2008<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (from the Vintage Canada edition, 1999)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

This beautiful novel, \u2026, fuses politics and love in a powerful story set in both the Caribbean and Canada. With a startling grace of language, Neil Bissoondath draws us into the lives of a mother and daughter whose worlds and dreams collide to release deeply buried secrets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1999 Governor General’s Literary Award–English Fiction (Nominated)
1999 Hugh MacLennan Award for Fiction<\/a> (Quebec Society for the Promotion of the English Language, now QWF)(Finalist)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Anthology (Political Satire)<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bissoondath, Neil. “Come, Said the Eagle.” In The Ark in the Garden: Fables for Our Time<\/em>, Collected by Alberto Manguel. Toronto: Macfarlane Walter & Ross, 1998, [24]-33.
PZ8.2 .A74 A74 1998<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Non-fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Age of Confession<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Fredericton, N.B.: Goose Lane, 2007.
PN3383 .N35 B57 2007<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Non-fiction<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Selling Illusions: The Cult of Multiculturalism<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Toronto: Penguin, 1994.
FC105.M8 B5 1994<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rev. and updated edition.
Toronto: Penguin, 2002.
FC105.M8 B5 2002<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher’s Synopsis (1st ed.)<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

\u2026 Bissoondath has consistently refused the role of ethnic, and sought to avoid the burden of hyphenation — a burden that would label him as East Indian-Trinidadian-Canadian living in Quebec. Bissoondath argues that the policy of multiculturalism, with its emphasis on the former or ancestral homeland and its insistence that There is more important than Here, discourages the full loyalty of Canada’s citizens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Awards and Honours<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

1994 Gordon Montador Award for non-fiction (Winner)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Selected Criticism and Interpretation<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Birbalsingh, Frank. Neil Bissoondath: Indo-Caribbean-Canadian Diaspora<\/em>. Jaipur: Rawat Publications, 2005.
PS8553 .I8775 Z35 2005<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genetsch, Martin. The Texture of Identity: The Fiction of MG Vassanji, Neil Bissoondath, and Rohinton Mistry<\/em>. Toronto: TSAR, 2008.
PS8089.5 .S68 G45 2007<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Huggan, Graham. “Exoticism, ethnicity and the multicultural fallacy.” Ch. 5 in his The Postcolonial Exotic: Marketing the Margins<\/em>. London: Routledge, 2001.
PR120.M55 H84 2001<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kandiuk, Mary. “Neil Bissoondath.” In Caribbean and South Asian Writers in Canada: A Bibliography of Their Works and of English-language Criticism<\/em>. Lanham: Scarecrow Press, 2007, 12-18.
PS8089.5 .C37 K36 2007<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mukherjee, Arun. “‘Digging Up the Mountains’: Bissoondath’s Doomed World.” In Oppositional Aesthetics: Readings from a Hyphenated Space<\/em>. Toronto: TSAR, 1994, 152-157.
PS8089.5 .M5 M85 1994<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarbadhikary, Krishna. “Denying the Ancestral: Neil Bissoondath.” In Surviving the Fracture: Writers of the Indo-Caribbean Diaspora<\/em>. New Delhi: Creative Books, 2007, 126-163.
PS8089.5 .S68 S37 2007<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

van Toorn, Penny. “Neil Bissoondath and His Works.” In Canadian Writers and Their Works. Fiction Series. Vol. 11<\/em>, ed. Robert Lecker, Jack David and Ellen Quigley, 23-70. Toronto: ECW Press, 1996.
PS8187 .C375 v.11<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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Links and Other Resources<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Bissoondath, Neil. “Choose a Book, Choose Another.” In More Than Words Can Say: Personal Perspectives on Literacy<\/em>, 15-19. Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1990.
LC149 .M66 1990<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Publisher Cormorant Books<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Neil Bissoondath was born in Trinidad.\u00a0 He came to Canada in 1973 to study French at York University in Toronto.\u00a0 He subsequently taught both English and French. He has written and hosted a documentary on fathers and sons and hosted … Continue reading →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":16,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"class_list":["post-180","page","type-page","status-publish","hentry"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/page"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=180"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18748,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/180\/revisions\/18748"}],"up":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/pages\/16"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/library.torontomu.ca\/asianheritage\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=180"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}