Fantasy and reality come together in sports, and Jamie Dopp argues that nowhere is this blurring of the borders of reality more evident than in Canadian hockey. Using imagination as a unifying theme, Dopp offers in-depth analyses of key texts of hockey literature, with a focus on how these texts reveal the imaginative possibilities of the game. Popular texts like Stompin’ Tom Connors’ “The Hockey Song,” Scott Young’s Scrubs on Skates trilogy, and Roch Carrier’s The Hockey Sweater, as well as important literary texts like Bill Gaston’s The Good Body, Cara Hedley’s Twenty Miles, and Richard Wagamese’s Indian Horse are examined. Dopp’s analysis draws on literary history and methods and explores broader topics such as the role of imagination in human culture, the significance of play, the evolution of sport in Canada and elsewhere, the history of Canada, and the history and social significance of hockey.

Jamie Dopp is an associate professor of Canadian literature at the University of Victoria. He is the author of two novels, three collections of poetry, and many articles and reviews on Canadian and popular subjects. He has co-edited three collections of essays on sports literature: Now is the Winter: Thinking about Hockey with Richard Harrison; and Writing the Body in Motion: A Critical Anthology on Canadian Sport Literature and Not Hockey: Critical Essays on Canada’s Other Sport Literature with Angie Abdou.

Jamie Dopp's profile page