Home Truths, by Mavis Gallant (Toronto, 1981; repr 1982), winner of the Governor General's Award, is a collection of 16 previously published stories about Canada and Canadians. Prefaced by an introduction in which Gallant defends her status as an expatriate writer, the chronologically arranged stories simultaneously depict her precocious talent as a writer of flawless prose and her attempts to come to terms with her past and her country. Each of the book's 3 sections presents recurring Gallant motifs: the first examines the tortured relationships between parents and children; the second features young Canadians abroad in varieties of exile; and the final, the best in the collection, deals with memory. While the latter stories are not purely autobiographical, they are as close as Gallant has come to a precise evocation of her Montréal childhood and the wartime experiences of her youth. Occasionally finding us conservative, reticent and single-minded, Gallant nonetheless looks homeward with humour, compassion and grace.
-
- MLA 8TH EDITION
- Coates, Donna. "Home Truths". The Canadian Encyclopedia, 04 March 2015, Historica Canada. www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/home-truths. Accessed 28 March 2024.
- Copy
-
- APA 6TH EDITION
- Coates, D. (2015). Home Truths. In The Canadian Encyclopedia. Retrieved from https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/home-truths
- Copy
-
- CHICAGO 17TH EDITION
- Coates, Donna. "Home Truths." The Canadian Encyclopedia. Historica Canada. Article published February 07, 2006; Last Edited March 04, 2015.
- Copy
-
- TURABIAN 8TH EDITION
- The Canadian Encyclopedia, s.v. "Home Truths," by Donna Coates, Accessed March 28, 2024, https://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/home-truths
- Copy
Thank you for your submission
Our team will be reviewing your submission
and get back to you with any further questions.
Thanks for contributing to The Canadian Encyclopedia.
CloseArticle
Home Truths
Article by Donna Coates
Published Online February 7, 2006
Last Edited March 4, 2015
Home Truths, by Mavis Gallant (Toronto, 1981; repr 1982), winner of the Governor General's Award, is a collection of 16 previously published stories about Canada and Canadians.