Souvenir of Canada - Softcover

Coupland, Douglas

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1550549170 ISBN 13: 9781550549171

Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre, 2004

Synopsis

Full of surprises and insights, Souvenir of Canada presents us as we have never seen ourselves before in an irresistible flow of text and image.

Douglas Coupland offers new ways of seeing and experiencing Canada-looking at how it feels to be a Canadian right now and speculating what it might feel like in the future. From collective memories, he locates objects like stubbie beer bottles and ookpiks, Kraft dinner and maple walnut ice cream. And with the same unique sensibility, he considers significant events and relevant issues, like the flq crisis, Canada's relationship with the United States, medicare and the landscape itself.

In the section humbly titled "Cheese," he writes: "When you assemble them together, foods that feel intuitively Canadian look more like camping trip provisions than actual groceries...Canada is a cold and northern country...from a biological standpoint, it is imperative that Canadians stockpile concentrated forms of sugars, carbohydrates, fats and salt."

The 50 personal categories of the 30,000-word text are arranged alphabetically and matched with 100 illustrations (50 in colour)-new luscious photos taken by Coupland himself, images of Canadian ephemera and icons, historical photos and pictures from other quite startling sources. Included are photos of cultural installations created by Coupland himself.

About this title

About the Author:

Douglas Coupland was born on a Canadian NATO base in Germany and raised in Vancouver, where he still resides. Among his best-selling novels are Generation X, Shampoo Planet, Polaroids from the Dead, Microserfs, Miss Wyoming, Hey Nostradamus! and Eleanor Rigby, altogether in print in some 40 countries. Coupland also exhibits his sculpture in galleries around the world, indulging in design experiments that include everything from launching collections of furniture to futurological consulting for Stephen Spielberg.

Review:

"This may be the best work ever produced by Canadas greatest writer.

About this edition

• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Publication date: 2004
• ISBN 10: 1550549170
• ISBN 13: 9781550549171
• Binding: Paperback
• Edition number: 1
• Number of pages: 160