Dear Life

Dear Life

First edition
Author Alice Munro
Country Canada
Language English
Genre Short story collection
Publisher McClelland and Stewart
Media type Print (hardcover)

Dear Life is a short story collection by Canadian writer Alice Munro, published in 2012 by McClelland and Stewart.[1]

The book was to have been promoted in part by a reading at Toronto's International Festival of Authors, although the appearance was cancelled due to health concerns.[2]

Publication History

Most of the stories collected in Dear Life had previously been published elsewhere. Amundsen, Corrie, Dear Life, Gravel, Haven and Leaving Maverly were all originally published in The New Yorker. "Dolly" was first published in Tin House.

Critical reception

Kate Kellaway in the Guardian describes these stories as "concise, subtle and masterly" noting that they have a "subtle, unshowy, covert brilliance".[3]

Ruth Scurr, writing in the Telegraph, points to the autobiographical aspect of the collection and declares the collection to be "a subversive challenge to the idea of autobiography: a purposeful melding of fact fiction and feeling".[4] The reviewer goes on to suggest the collection might be Munro's last, but if so would be a "spectacular" finale.


References

  1. "Alice Munro's Dear Life underscores her illuminating prowess with the pen". Ottawa Citizen, October 16, 2012.
  2. "Alice Munro reading cancelled amid health concerns". CBC News, October 12, 2012.
  3. Kellaway, Kate (29 December 2013). "Dear Life by Alice Munro – review". The Guardian. Retrieved 8 February 2014.
  4. Scurr, Ruth (21 November 2012). "Dear Life by Alice Munro: review". The Telegraph. Retrieved 8 February 2014.