Herb Wyile was a professor of English at Acadia University. His books include Speculative Fictions: Contemporary Canadian Novelists and the Writing of History (2002) and Speaking in the Past Tense: Canadian Novelists on Writing Historical Fiction (WLU Press, 2007). He co-edited, with Jeanette Lynes, Surf's Up! The Rising Tide of Atlantic-Canadian Literature (2008) and created the website Waterfront Views: Contemporary Writing of Atlantic Canada.
"As close as you can get to representing the astonishing breadth of
the contemporary English-Canadian historical novel.... Coming
straight from the horse's mouth, the collection provides valuable
insights into the works of Canadian historical novelists and their
abiding interest in things past. Reading these conversations makes
you want to return to the novels at hand. And what more can
possibly be said for the merits of a work of literary criticism."
-- Gordon Bölling -- Canadian Literature, 200810
"Canadian history is alive and well and thriving in Canadian
literature, says University of Acadia CanLit prof Herb Wyile in
these interviews with 11 authors whose novels are based on Canadian
history. These illuminating conversations explore the writers'
motives for writing about history, their research and approaches to
historical material, and the challenges of writing fiction about
real characters and events." -- Kathy English -- Globe and Mail,
20070324
"Speaking in the Past Tense allows fans of such authors as Heather
Robertson, Guy Vanderhaeghe, Wayne Johnston, and Jane Urquhart to
glimpse the research processes behind their successful novels ...
but it also operates on a deeper level, encouraging readers to
interrogate history in all its shapes and proclamations.... Wyile's
books stimulates such creative musings in the reader in part
because it shows how expansive the genre of historical fiction is.
Although staying within the realm of English Canadian literature,
his participants represent a cross-section of social and historical
interests. And just as his interview subjects are not limited in
their craft by convention, nor are the interviews restricted by
Wyile's agenda. Reading through Speaking in the Past Tense, one has
the sense of being privy to real dialogues as opposed to QandA
sessions. This thoughtful book helps us see that ... these authors
are making it [history] live again." -- Andrea Belcham -- Prairie
Fire, 20070711
"While Speaking in the Past Tense will be useful to students of
Canadian literature, general readers who pick up the book for one
favourite writer may find that the rest of the interviews provide a
unique entry point to the discovery of new favourites." -- Bryony
J. Lewicki -- Quill and Quire, 200704
"This book is an excellent resource. Fronted by a substantial
introductory essay.... The interviews bring out an engaging
diversity of ideas about history and about the proper or improper
literary representation of history, on the part of contemporary
writers. They delve substantially, as promised, into class, race,
ethnicity, gender, and post-colonial issues, as well as questions
of hegemonic nationalist as opposed to alternative representations
of history, and the commodification of historical fiction itself.
Wyile's questions are probing and connection-building, and he
elicits detailed, sustained, thoughtful answers. Moreover, while
the topic is historical fiction, its problems and possibilities,
the interviews range across matters intrinsic to each author's
work; they are fertile ground for readers not drawn by genre
interests, and a must-read for scholars dedicated to any of the
eleven writers. Wilfrid Laurier University Press has published the
volume in a finely designed and illustrated, yet affordable, paper
edition." -- Glenn Willmott -- University of Toronto Quarterly,
Letters in Canada 2006, Volume 77, Number 1, 200807
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