LITERARY LIFE AFTER DEATH
Literary Life After Death
Commemorations of Writers in English-Speaking Canada
CAROLE GERSON
264 pages | 6 x 8 | 23 b&w illus.
Commemorations of deceased writers can often take on a life of their own—from the stately and serious to the kitschy and commercial. In Literary Life After Death, Carole Gerson categorizes and analyzes the ways in which writers have been commemorated in Canada to show how tributes have changed over time and in response to evolving national and social concerns.
First focusing on officially sanctioned commemorations by governments in objects such as coins, stamps, and plaques, as well as historic sites and place names, the book then turns to commemorations driven by local communities and non-profit organizations in various house museums, literary tourist sites, statues, parks, and other markers. The material culture and online tributes of amateurs and hobbyists are discussed as well as literary commemorations, when later authors incorporate or revisit deceased authors as characters in new works of literature. In doing so, this work identifies commonalities among commemorations as well as the under-representation of groups such as women authors, racialized authors, and Indigenous authors in Canada.
Brimming with examples and discussions of dozens of writers, Literary Life After Death takes an expansive and often-amusing approach to literary studies and cultural history.
“Literary Life After Death is an excellent book: comprehensive, engaging, and timely. It addresses an enduring literary phenomenon: the posthumous commemoration of favourite writers, often as a form of literary tourism. Carole Gerson’s extensive historical research and mastery of detail makes for compelling reading. It is packed with insights, and highly accessible in ways that will appeal to a broad readership.” –Cynthia Sugars, University of Ottawa
“A new book by Carole Gerson is a bit of an event, and Literary Life After Death does not disappoint. Building on a compendious research base developed over decades, Gerson shows us communities and readers in action as they honour and celebrate the authors important to them. Part of the pleasure in reading this book is its treasure trove of examples of imaginative commemorative endeavours, such as homesteads, festivals, souvenirs, and eponymous naming. In the bigger picture, it is a sustained exploration of the ways that towns, regions, and other cultural groups attempt to use the ‘figure of the author’ to define personal and civic identity. This perceptive book will find a ready readership among scholars and students of book history, English Canadian literary studies, and Canadian cultural studies.” –Heather Murray, University of Toronto
The e-book version of this publication will be available in Summer 2026.
List of Figures
Acknowledgments
Introduction
1 Modes of Posthumous Commemoration
2 Writers’ Homes
3 The Phenomenal Appeal of L.M. Montgomery
4 Pauline Johnson’s Multiple Media of Commemoration
5 Afterlives of Canadian Writers on the Page and on the Stage
Conclusion / Reconsiderations / Continuations
Notes
Index
