Survey of Authors & Secondary Sources

Author: Timothy Findley

Title: The Wars

I found myself interested in Timothy Findley as soon as I picked up The Wars.  This author is different in the way of how he writes his novels and what he writes about. I typically only read books that connect to me in some way and this novel has with the aspect of war and mental illness. I heard many good reviews about this author and after some research, found myself even more interested in him. According to this research, Findley has a very unique style of writing that I have noticed after reading Part 1 of his novel. I was interested in Findley since day one of reading The Wars and hopefully won’t be disappointed by the buildup of the achievements of this author so far. 

Timothy Findley
1930-2002

Timothy Findley was born in Toronto, Ontario and was always intrigued by literature and the arts. At a young age Findley was surrounded by distress and sorrow after a sibling past away and his father abandoning him at a time of need to join the Canadian Armed Forces. This memory at such a young age may account for the styles of writing that Findley has pursued in as a career. Findley never finished high school, but instead pursued his dream in acting. Years after Findley started acting; he began to write short stories that progressed to his writing career today. In addition to his novel writing, he also wrote scripts, plays, and the occasional fiction novel. Findley has received many awards over the span of his career in writing such as the Governor General’s Award for the novel The Wars. Findley is a well renowned author in North America and in Europe and has touched many people lives with his exceptionally written books.

Findley has produced dozens of novels and scripts over his career with many different genres and themes of interest. The types of genres that Findley writes consist of novels, fiction, screenplays, short stories, nonfiction, etc. Findley has a wide variety of published works starting from 1967 to 1995. Findley’s major works are The Wars, which I am currently reading, Famous Last Words, The Butterfly Plague, etc. Most of his stories follow the same concept of themes of war and insanity of the mind.

Findley has a very unique style of writing in his novels in where a major influence of this style is portrayed through his childhood. As stated above, Findley’s childhood was filled with despair and sorrow in the passing of his sibling and the abandonment of his father at a time of need. His father joined the Canadian Armed Forces, which also could have influence on why he wrote so many books about war and mental illness of war on the mind. I believe that Findley’s childhood was the foundation of the style of writing that he chose to portray to the North American audience. Findley chose a good time period to write many of these war books because WWI and WWII had just ended and people were intrigued in that time period about the unknowns of war and also the effects of it and history fanatics now-a-days as well. There is a large audience that deals with these styles of books I believe Findley captured that outlook of war with his many writings.

Trench Warfare

There are many reoccurring themes that come up in Timothy Findley’s novels. Findley’s works naturally centers out on the past of history, isolation, war, madness, and authority. The Wars really focuses on, of course, war and history. Through some research I found that other themes in this novel later on in the story are isolation, murder, and the authority of one’s place in a war like situation. Findley tends to focus on historical events throughout history and the significance of animals to portray symbolism of the point of view the novel is based on.  He also uses the effect of conflicts in society and mental illness cases throughout his writing to feel for not only the story line of history, but also the whole picture of what it was like in those times and what tension of society brings to the storyline.

Timothy Findley is a well known author in North America and in Europe and has a hefty reputation for his novels. Many independent writers and the society appreciate Findley’s writing and compare him to works of those of Margaret Atwood. It is argued that Findley’s international reputation is second in Canadian authors, next to Atwood. Findley has such a distinctive style of writing that he really cannot be compared to other authors. No author has captured, in essence, what Findley has contributed to the world of literature.

Source for Literary Biography

"Timothy Findley." Gale Databases n. pag. Gale Literary Databases. Database. 6 Oct 2011. http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&h=CLC0184BIO0184&c=1&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Timothy Findley.

Critical Authors, Secondary Sources

John F. Hulcoop, "'LOOK! LISTEN! MARK MY WORDS!': Paying Attention to Timothy Findley's Fictions," in Canadian Literature, No. 91, Winter, 1981, pp. 22-47. Reproduced by permission. <http://galenet.galegroup.com/servlet/GLD/hits?r=d&origSearch=true&o=DataType&n=10&l=d&h=CLC0184DOC01690&c=1&locID=stc23378&secondary=false&u=CLC&t=KW&s=3&NA=Timothy+Findley

Williams, David. "A Force of Interruption: The Photography of History in Timothy Findle'ys The Wars."Issue 194 Autumn 2007. pp.54. eLibrary. Database. 6 Oct 2011. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculumca/do/document?set=literature&groupid=3&requestid=literature&resultid=1&urn=urn:proquest:US;CH;pqllit_crit_lib;criticism;1412128791;

 Gabriel, Barbara. "Situated history and the novels of Timothy Findley." Essays on Canadian Writing. 01 Apr. 1999: 122. eLibrary. Web. 07 Oct. 2011. <http://elibrary.bigchalk.com/elibweb/curriculumca/do/document?set=search&dictionaryClick=&secondaryNav=&groupid=1&requestid=lib_canada&resultid=18&edition=&ts=7EA6E2C7B223EF723DA17A2685DC76BB_1317998743836&start=1&publicationId=&urn=urn:bigchalk:US;BCLib;document;29526329>.