My essay, "Toronto's Literary Intersections" appears in the new issue of Spacing Magazine (Winter/Spring 2007; available at your local newsstand or by subscription).The article explores how literary intersections "mark the city's encounter with itself as a hybrid, multiple, layered collection of beings, places, motion, and meaning" and argues that "paying attention to literary intersections ... helps us recognise and render legible the city as an organic and contested space where cultural and literary genealogies jostle for position, not unlike traffic at an intersection.".
In it I refer to a number of Toronto literary works, including bpNichols' The Martyrology Book 5 (1982), Stephen Marche's Raymond and Hannah (2005), Darren O'Donnell's Your Secrets Sleep with Me (2004), Richard Scrimger's Crosstown (1996), Ted Plantos' The Universe Ends at Sherbourne and Queen (1977), Dionne Brand's What We All Long For (2005) and Thirsty (2004), and Gwendolyn MacEwen's "The Music" from Afterworlds (1987).
This issue of Spacing also includes fascinating discussions on the myriad facets of Toronto's character that are revealed at its crossroads, including commentaries on Parliament & Carlton, Gerrard & Coxwell, Bloor & Lansdowne, Dundas & Roncesvalles, Albion & Finch, Dupont & Dufferin, Allen & Eglinton, and Yonge & Eglinton. Other intersections are featured, too, alongside considerations of the ways the city's intersections are planned and what they develop into and mean. A more fully annotated discussion of the contents is provided here, or you can pick one up (or subscribe) and find out for yourself!
[Beautiful cover art for the new issue of Spacing is by Matt Borrett. It shows the intersection of Yonge & Eglinton.]
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