Julian Barnes, The Sense of an Ending (Random House Canada, 2011)
Barnes is a truly great writer, but I do not think that this slim volume deserved the Man Booker Prize. Characteristic of Barnes is the precise sketching of scene and character, the sense of wistfulness that accompanies all attempts to recreate (or at least to unearth) the past. The central character, Tony, digs deep into […]
Alice Munro, Dear Life (McClelland & Stewart Doubleday Canada, 2012)
I think that Munro is, quite simply, the best writer that Canada has yet produced. Her prose is tight but fluid, and her characters rich and complex within the narrative discipline required of the short story form. Despite the extraordinary resilience of her mostly female protagonists, there is always something brittle and fragile on the […]
Vikram Seth, From Heaven Lake (Vintage Departures, 1987)
Seth is best known as the author of the sprawling novel of Indian family life, A Suitable Boy, which I loved despite its messiness. From Heaven Lake is an entirely different beast, a taut travelogue of a hitchhiking journey through China in the early 1980s. Seth was a graduate student in China, and near the […]
HRH The Duke of York visits UBC
The University of British Columbia and the Djavad Mowafaghian Foundation today welcomed His Royal Highness The Duke of York, KG.
Coat of Arms Refinements
The Coat of Arms has been an integral part of the university since its 1915 inception by UBC’s first president Frank Wesbrook. It has now been restored to its original splendor and elegance in time for our new-look 2013 graduation. While the elements and the meaning of the Coat of Arms have not changed, the […]
UBC hosts gathering of international university presidents, students
Presidents and students from universities around the world will be at the University of British Columbia May 8-10 to explore the impact of new technology on learning and research for the annual meeting and presidential symposium of Universitas 21 (U21).