In the following essay, Bonnycastle provides a structural analysis of MacLennan's novel, focusing on the protagonist's consciousness and MacLennan's recurring passages of lyrical description.

In the following excerpt, Morley discusses MacLennan's treatment of puritanism and sexuality in Barometer Rising, Two Solitudes, and The Precipice.

In the following excerpt, Cameron examines MacLennan's thematic treatment of technology and power.

In the essay below, Chambers discusses The Precipice as an examination of "developments in modern North American consciousness."

In the following interview, MacLennan discusses various influences on his writing.

In the following excerpt, Lucas remarks on the main themes of MacLennan's fiction.

The reason for MacLennan's reputation, and for his undoubted importance as a novelist, are to be found in the original way in which he has interpreted the Canadian scene to his fellow countrymen rather than in any originality of approach to the art of the novel itself. Indeed, if we are concerned with fictional technique, one of the most striking characteristics of Barometer Rising and MacLennan's four later novels is their relative conservatism. They are unashamedly didactic; they rely heavil...

[Return of the Sphinx] contains a great many insights which are pertinent and valuable…. [It] is probably the most important Canadian novel to appear for many years. I emphasize the word Canadian, and I am going to make a general observation about the works of Hugh MacLennan which may disturb some critics in this country. As I have become more and more deeply involved and conversant with Canadian literature in both languages, it has become increasingly evident to me that Hugh MacLennan is one of the ...

[The] charge of turgidness or parochialism which comes from misunderstanding MacLennan's novels cannot in all fairness be levelled at [the essays in The Other Side of Hugh MacLennan]. Indeed, what he seems best at is the light, the witty, and the exotic. The evocations of English eccentrics are delightful and precise, the recreations of the Halifax past acknowledge that it has all fled and gone, while even the high-table pieces on "Literature and Technology" or "Scotland's...