In this study of Alice Munro's writing style, James Carscallen reveals a consistency to her works previously unsuspected, creating an unconscious thread throughout Munro's creations. Carscallen sets out his interpretive model as it applies to individual stories, and then shifts his emphasis from theory to practice and extends his scope from individual stories to the groupings they make. He argues that Munro's work offers the reader the great human myths, but as half-concealed—both from the characters themselves and from the reader—behind a surface ordinariness that seems anything but mythical.

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James Carscallen teaches English at Victoria College, University of Toronto.

“The intellectual energy and depth of insight that Carscallen has brought to this task is truly impressive . . . This is a landmark critical work and will immediately be recognized as such.”  —Lawrence Mathews, Memorial University

“A strikingly comprehensive treatment of [the author's] works . . . The Other Country will appeal to readers who want to learn about Munro's work without wading through difficult theoretical Language and concepts that leave them feeling bewildered and beleaguered.”  —Books in Canada

“A grand tapestry that is one of the richest texts in the Canadian literary criticism canon . . . One leaves Carscallen's book feeling that one need never read another word on Munro.”  —Canadian Forum

“The Other Country has an exceptional comprehension and a monumental inclusiveness. It is a . . . wholly distinctive approach to Munro's fiction; indeed, it is of a critical stature to complement her own high rank in Canadian fiction.”  —Louis MacKendrick, University of Windsor