The healing power of Canadian first novels
If you’ve been following Lynn Johnston’s massively popular For Better or for Worse comic strip lately – and there’s no real reason why you shouldn’t – you’ll know that among the many dozens of soap opera-ish storylines the strip has been dealing with over the past year or two there is the continuing saga of Michael Patterson publishing his first novel (after nearly losing the manuscript in a house fire).
In a recent strip (see below), the book – which has a scarily appropriate title for a Canadian first novel: Stone Season – appears to partly rouse Michael’s grandfather from his coma, proving that literature really does have the power to heal.
Our only worry now is this: what will happen when Michael’s book gets a more realistic reaction – say, a so-so review in the cartoon version of Q&Q? That might just finish off Grampa for good.
Following the Stephen Marche piece last week, I can’t help but picture an advertising campaign built around Michael Patterson’s literary success. Something along the lines of “CanLit: it’s not just for coma patients anymore!”