Audrey Thomas Summary

Audrey Thomas's fiction is largely and conspicuously autobiographical. It tends to be woman-centered, although sometimes Thomas adopts a male persona. Her work is often thought of as experimental, mai... Read more

Critical Essay by Anne Montagnes Audrey Thomas has made her bondage as daughter into an entire book [Songs My Mother Taught Me]. It is justifiable to describe it as Thomas' bondage, not that of... Read more

Critical Essay by George Bowering Stories written by Audrey Thomas tell about things happening to one, & the condition of that one, a person very much alone in the world. She is a child alone in a... Read more

Stephens is a Canadian educator, critic, and editor for the journal Canadian Literature. In the following review of Ten Green Bottles, he lauds Thomas as an exemplary practitioner of the short story. ... Read more

In the following review, Barnwell praises The Wild Blue Yonder, observing that Thomas expertly portrays women made cynical by the brutality of the male arena. Audrey Thomas's latest collection ... Read more

In the following essay, Quigley analyzes Thomas's depiction of men in her fiction, as well as her use of a wide variety of ethnicities in her secondary characters. Probably more than one review... Read more

In the following review, Guth finds Graven Images challenging and complex, but somewhat inscrutable for the reader. Audrey Thomas' Graven Images is primarily a novel about writing, about the am... Read more

Tiger is a Canadian writer, educator, and broadcaster. In the following essay, she analyzes Thomas's autobiographical construction of her characters' memories and its effect on her defin... Read more

In the following review, Van Luven praises Thomas's exploration of new themes and subject matter in Coming Down from Wa, but finds the novel "not wholly satisfying." A mystery lie... Read more

Grady is the editor of The Penguin Book of Canadian Short Stories (1980), The Penguin Book of Modern Canadian Short Stories (1982), and the journal Books in Canada. In the following essay, he examines... Read more

In the following essay, Butling argues that Thomas's use of autobiographical details in her short stories allows her to create female characters who are more "real" than those of ... Read more

In the following essay, Thesen recounts teaching the story "Aquarius" to college freshmen, revealing to them the distrust they should have of the story's narrator, a disgruntled h... Read more

In the following essay, Dorscht explores Thomas's interpretation of the notion of self as it is depicted in language. Blank pages, comic strips, quotations, jokes, dreams, rhymes, newspaper cli... Read more

A Canadian poet, educator, and critic, Davey has exerted significant influence on contemporary Canadian literature as the editor of the journal Tish. Davey has stated: "The writing I value unma... Read more

In the following review, Hatch identifies strengths and weaknesses in the collection Goodbye, Harold, Good Luck. In the introduction to her new collection of short stories, Goodbye Harold, Good Luck, ... Read more

In the following review, Mackay praises Thomas's presentation of emotionally scarred women in The Wild Blue Yonder. Pointing out his own romantic shortcomings, a husband in one of Audrey Thomas... Read more

Quigley is an editor for the journal Essays on Canadian Writing and ECW Press, where she works on the Canadian Writers and Their Works series. In the following essay, she studies The Wild Blue Yonder ... Read more

I Canadian educator and critic who has published editions of works by Charlotte and Anne Brontë, Rosengarten served as an editor for the journal Canadian Literature from 1977 to 1986. In the foll... Read more

A commentator on the arts, Wachtel has worked as a writer, broadcaster, and host of radio programs produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. In addition, she has edited two works about domest... Read more

In the following review, Godard explores the relationships of language and narrative to meaning in Real Mothers. Any doubt as to whether Thomas is one of our major writers should be dispelled in this ... Read more

In the following interview, which was conducted in August, 1985, Thomas discusses her literary themes and interests and biographical influences on her writing. [Wachtel]: You describe your own childho... Read more