This first reprint of Knister’s verse in more than 20 years represents a major step forward, collecting dozens of poems for the first time in book form and printing 30 additional poems, as well as numerous letters and prose pieces.
Raymond Knister had a strong sense of commitment both to his own career and to literature, particularly Canadian literature. In his ten working years he proved himself a prolific writer with wide-ranging interests. Although his work has appeared in many anthologies of Canadian literature, there remains a great deal of out of print or unpublished material. This volume brings together not only for his more well-known stories but also all his unpublished stories, a few travel pieces, and several examples of his literary criticism. Knister's stories are often strongly regional, and draw on rural Ontario for their setting and characters. Collected together here for the first time is a group of sketches dealing anecdotally with life in a village in southwestern Ontario. Also included are two stories arising from his experiences as a cab driver in Chicago in the 1920s, 'Innocent Man,' and 'Hackman's Night.' His essays focusing on literary matters and the traditions and problems of Canadian literature show a keenly critical mind. The First Day of Spring is an important rediscovery of one of Canada's best writers of the 1920s.
Raymond Knister left behind a number of manuscripts following his sudden dealth. In 2006, Black Moss released the never before published There Was A Mr. Cristi. The novel was, according toKnister's daughter, Imogen Knister Givens, inspired by Knister's sister-in-law Minnie Gamble and her experiences in a Toronto rooming house. Many of the novel's characters and situations are drawn from actual individuals who his sister-inlaw encountered during her stay. The central Ms. Campbell character was inspired by Minnie herself. After Knister's death in 1932, his wife gave her sister, Minnie, the original manuscript in memory of Raymond, as many of the stories he intertwined in the novel were the same stories she had once shared with him regarding her time spent in a Toronto rooming house during the 1920s. Knister's global reputation as an authored was overshadowed shadowed by the Great Depression. With new interest in Canadian heritage since the 1970s, his work is being celebrated and recognized again. This novel was never forgotten but Minnie Gamble Acton-Bond had the only copy. In the 1990s, Imogen Givens asked Mary Harris, Minnie's daughter, to try to locate it, and once the manuscript was found it was returned to Imogen Givens.
Raymond Knister left behind a number of manuscripts following his sudden death at age 33. In 2006, Black Moss released the never before published There Was A Mr. Cristi. This new work, also found and never published, except in part in a short story, places the focus upon Knister's years of driving a taxi in Chicago. This was during the Roaring Twenties, and one can only imagine what life was like in a city dominated by Capone. Where this novel differs from his others is that it examines life in a large American city with all its hustle and drive for success. In the underbelly of a city marked by crime, this young taxi driver ventures, and out of it emerges with vivid memories. Is it autobiographical? It certainly is, including one tale of being abducted by Chicago thugs.
The First Day of Spring is an important rediscovery of one of Canada's best writers of the 1920s. this volume brings together not only Raymond Knister's more well-known stories but also all his unpublished stories, a few travel pieces, and several examples of his literary critcism.
This first reprint of Knister’s verse in more than 20 years represents a major step forward, collecting dozens of poems for the first time in book form and printing 30 additional poems, as well as numerous letters and prose pieces.
Raymond Knister had a strong sense of commitment both to his own career and to literature, particularly Canadian literature. In his ten working years he proved himself a prolific writer with wide-ranging interests. Although his work has appeared in many anthologies of Canadian literature, there remains a great deal of out of print or unpublished material. This volume brings together not only for his more well-known stories but also all his unpublished stories, a few travel pieces, and several examples of his literary criticism. Knister's stories are often strongly regional, and draw on rural Ontario for their setting and characters. Collected together here for the first time is a group of sketches dealing anecdotally with life in a village in southwestern Ontario. Also included are two stories arising from his experiences as a cab driver in Chicago in the 1920s, 'Innocent Man,' and 'Hackman's Night.' His essays focusing on literary matters and the traditions and problems of Canadian literature show a keenly critical mind. The First Day of Spring is an important rediscovery of one of Canada's best writers of the 1920s.
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