(no subject)

[felis_ultharus]

Lit

So, another precious, precious book is about to fall into my lap -- sort of a holy grail for me, except that Dan Brown is not involved, and it was not written by Mary Magdalene.

This one is Place d'Armes. The deified inventor of Canadian Literature, Malcolm Ross, said that after 1969, all Canadian novels were influenced by either Beautiful Losers or Place d'Armes.

But while those of you with a taste for Canadian culture (watches tumbleweed, listens to crickets) have likely heard of Beautiful Losers, no one's heard of Place d'Armes now unless they're a gay man who grew up in Canada in the 1960s or 1970s.

That's because Place d'Armes was a gay coming-out novel -- first of its kind in this country -- before that was really possible. I didn't find out about it myself until openly-gay politician Bill Siksay told me about it at a fundraiser. After that, I researched it.

The guy from the used bookstore I bought it from online is delivering it to me personally -- he does this apparently. I love living in an age where literature is delivered to your door as promptly as a pizza ^_^

News of the Weird

I'm not so sure I want to be connected to Laval anymore. They seem to have a slave trade operating there. Well, okay, it was only one household, but the poor woman was locked away in the house 2 years until one of the neighbours called.

Comments

[rougemacabre.livejournal.com]

I think any book described as "precious" automatically excludes anything involving Dan Brown.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

True enough. But now when the word "grail" is mentioned, it seems necessary to make the distinction.

[em-fish.livejournal.com]

Apparently slavery is more common than you would think in Britian - not forced prostitution or indentured servitude or sweatshops - actual old-fashioned slavery.

I remember reading of one woman in the news who was captured in a slave raid that Muslims from the north were carrying out in the African countries just south of them. She was a slave in the Middle East to a Muslim family, then sent to work in the British home of someone related to the family who owned her. Her life was much like the one described in the Montreal case. I can't find it online right now because my google-fu is weak, but I'll keep looking.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

I knew there was still slavery outside the West, but I thought it was one of those plagues like polio that belonged to history books :(

This is the closest to home it's ever come. It's scary.

[foi-nefaste.livejournal.com]

"I love living in an age where literature is delivered to your door as promptly as a pizza"

Well, Montreal has a pot delivery sevice. We should have a book delivery service, too. I'd be up for that.

[felis-ultharus.livejournal.com]

Where Fairlane Used Books (where I ordered Place d'Armes from) has a book-delivery service. I got Place d'Armes the day after I ordered it.

His entire stock is on Biblio.net.