Product details
Biographical note
No one has a clearer view of Atlantic Canada's literary endeavours over the past twenty years than Lesley Choyce. He is the founder of the literary journal Pottersfield Portfolio, and the publisher of Pottersfield Press. He has edited several fiction anthologies and has been the in-house editor of many books from Pottersfield Press including Making Waves, a collection of stories by emerging authors from Atlantic Canada. He is the author of more than fifty books in genres ranging from poetry and essays to autobiography, history and fiction for adults, young adults, and children. Among his recent books are the novels The Republic of Nothing, World Enough, and Cold Clear Morning, and the story collection Dance the Rocks Ashore. Choyce is the writer, host, and co-producer of the popular literary show television program, Off the Page with Lesley Choyce, which is broadcast across the country on Vision TV. He also teaches in the English department of Dalhousie University in Halifax and is leader of the rock band The Surf Poets. Neil Peart is the drummer for the Canadian band Rush."A little gem of a story that should be granted its appropriate label as a Canadian version of [Salman Rushdie's] <i>Midnight's Children</i>."
<i>Montreal Gazette</i>
"<i>The Republic of Nothing</i> is an unpredictable universe ... It's this unpredictability that makes the novel a success."
<i>Calgary Herald</i>
"<i>The Republic of Nothing</i> definitely has something to it."
<i>FFWD</i>
"<i>The Republic of Nothing</i> is the product of a sprawling and original literary imagination, bustling with colourful and sympathetic characters, bursting with fanciful incident, and propelled by a relentless narrative drive. It is, quite simply, a good read."
<i>Pottersfield Portfolio</i>
"If you need a little Zen in your life, <i>The Republic of Nothing</i> is a good way to learn to extricate yourself from the beaten path and find the wonder of nothingness."
<i>Brunswickan</i>
"Don't miss <i>The Republic of Nothing</i>."
<i>The Guardian</i>
"<i>The Republic of Nothing</i> weaves an intricate, sometimes hilarious, sometimes tragic narrative."
<i>Daily Gleaner</i>
"<i>The Republic of Nothing</i> ... stamps the eccentricity of the rugged Eastern Shore in a reader’s mind forever."
<i>Atlantic Books Today</i>
Winner, Dartmouth Book Award
Finalist, Atlantic Booksellers Choice Award
A small Canadian island declares its independence to the world and benign anarchy reigns. A god-like ocean deposits many a thing, yet it also takes away. The 1960s blaze off shore and draw the island's inhabitants into politics, the Vietnam War, and the peace movement.
Sound impossible? Not on Whalebone Island, AKA the Republic of Nothing. Where else can a dead circus elephant, a long-dead Viking, the discovery of uranium, a raven-haired castaway who may be psychic, an anarchist turned politician, and refugees fleeing from the United States all be part of everyday life? Where else is eccentricity embraced with such open arms?
In this new readers' guide edition, complete with an afterword by Neil Peart, Lesley Choyce's novel about resilience, independence, and anarchy comes alive, leading readers to discover once again that everything is nothing and nothing is everything.
A small island off the coast of Nova Scotia declares its independence to the world. In this Utopian world, the ocean delivers many a curiosity, including a dead circus elephant and a raven-haired woman. When the turbulence of the 1960s draws the island's inhabitants into politics, the Vietnam War, and the peace movement, and when civilization lays siege, an unexpected character comes to the rescue.
Sound impossible? Not on Whalebone Island, a.k.a. the Republic of Nothing. Where else could a psychic castaway, an anarchist-turned-politician, and American refugees cultivate their eccentricities?
This new edition of Lesley Choyce's celebrated novel features an afterword by Rush drummer and lyricist Neil Peart, leading readers to discover once again that nothing is everything.