| Vendor | |
|---|---|
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Liepman Literary Agency
Marc Koralnik |
| Original language | |
| English | |
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THE BIGGEST MODERN WOMAN OF THE WORLD
First published in 1983, The Biggest Modern Woman of the World was a finalist for the Governor General's Award for Fiction. In this exhilarating and profound novel, Anna Swan, the author's real-life ancestor, renders her own autobiographical account as the Giantess of Nova Scotia. (Canada: Lester & Orpen Dennys, 1983; UK: Pandora Press, 1988; US: Ecco Press, 1986; Canada Reprint: Key Porter, 2001)
Born in 1846 (an 18 pound baby) to a family of crofters, Anna Swan had to sit on the floor as a child so that her head would be level with her siblings at the dinner table. Searching for a home that fits, Anna Swan first goes from Nova Scotia to New York, where P.T. Barnum recruits her into his circus of freaks, billing her as The Biggest Modern Woman of the World. Worn down by P.T. Barnum's museum fires, she escapes from New York to Europe and then retreats to a giant farmhouse in the American mid-west, where she hopes to live out the rest of her life like a Victorian lady. Interwoven with both truth and legend, The Biggest Modern Woman of the World is a saucy romp through the traditional categories of gender, art, sexuality and nationality. There never has been a story quite like it.
Journalist, feminist, novelist, activist, teacher. Susan Swan's impact on the Canadian literary and political scene has been far-reaching. Susan Swan's critically acclaimed fiction has been published in twenty countries. She is the author of seven books including the forthcoming The Dead Celebrities Club and her short stories have been published in Granta and in Ms. Magazine. Swan has retired from her position of Associate Professor of Humanities at York University and currently mentors creative writing students at the University of Toronto and Humber College's School of Creative Writing. In 1999-2000, she was awarded York's Millennial Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies and in 2007-2008 was chair of The Writers' Union of Canada. A native of southwestern Ontario and graduate of McGill University, Susan Swan makes her home and garden in Toronto's Annex. neighbourhood.
Journalist, feminist, novelist, activist, teacher. Susan Swan's impact on the Canadian literary and political scene has been far-reaching. Susan Swan's critically acclaimed fiction has been published in twenty countries. She is the author of seven books including the forthcoming The Dead Celebrities Club and her short stories have been published in Granta and in Ms. Magazine. Swan has retired from her position of Associate Professor of Humanities at York University and currently mentors creative writing students at the University of Toronto and Humber College's School of Creative Writing. In 1999-2000, she was awarded York's Millennial Robarts Chair in Canadian Studies and in 2007-2008 was chair of The Writers' Union of Canada. A native of southwestern Ontario and graduate of McGill University, Susan Swan makes her home and garden in Toronto's Annex. neighbourhood.