The Wars
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| Author | Timothy Findley |
|---|---|
| Cover artist | Unknown. Image courtesy of Library and Archives Canada. |
| Country | Canada |
| Language | English |
| Publisher | Clarke, Irwin |
| Released | 1977 |
| Pages | 226 |
| ISBN | 0-7720-1188-5 (first edition) |
| Preceded by | The Butterfly Plague |
| Followed by | Famous Last Words |
The Wars is a 1977 novel by Timothy Findley telling the story of a young Canadian officer in World War I. First published by Clarke Irwin, it won the Governor General's Award for fiction in 1977.
The novel follows the experiences of Robert Ross, an officer in the Canadian army who was 19 when World War I broke out, and is narrated by a historian who is researching Ross's life, in particular a controversial wartime incident he instigated. The story is told through the memories of the few living people who knew him, and the historian's reconstructions based on archive materials. It portrays the life of a family in Canada in the early 20th century, and warfare on the Western Front.
Robert Ross, the protagonist, was inspired by T. E. Lawrence and the author's uncle, Thomas Irving Findley, to whom the novel is dedicated. Findley named the character after Canadian literary figure Robert Baldwin Ross. Robert Ross's sister, Rowena, was inspired by Mary Macdonald, daughter of Sir John A. Macdonald.
The Wars utilizes first-, second-, and third-person narrative, which is very rare in literature. The novel is also an example of historiographic metafiction.
[edit] Reference
- Brian Busby, Character Parts: Who's Really Who in Canlit, Toronto: Knopf, 2003. p. 221-223. ISBN 0-676-97579-8
- The Wars study page
- IMDB page on The Wars
| Preceded by Bear |
Governor General's Award for English language fiction recipient 1977 |
Succeeded by Who Do You Think You Are? |
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