The Porcupine's Quill
Celebrating forty years on the Main Street
of Erin Village, Wellington County
BOOKS IN PRINT
Lives of the Mind Slaves by Matt Cohen
Matt Cohen’s stories have been widely anthologized and have appeared in distinguished periodicals and journals in Canada, Britain and the United States. Lives of the Mind Slaves features 7 short stories -- one of which (‘Trotsky’s First Confessions’) was written especially for this book -- and a brilliant novella.
Cohen’s novella, ‘Golden Whore of the Heartland‘, explores the conflict between the spontaneity of passion -- a chance affair -- and the comfort of commitment and belonging. ‘The Sins of Tomas Benares’ explores the theme of love over generations. ’Café Le Dog’ is a celebration of all that remains inexplicable in the attractions between men and women. ‘Racial Memories’ is vintage Cohen -- a story about a not-so-classic Jewish family.
Lives of the Mind Slaves contains the best of Cohen’s two previous short story collections, Café Le Dog and Living on Water.
Review quote
‘For the past two decades Matt Cohen has been one of Canada’s premier writers of fiction, with an impressive list of critically acclaimed and award-winning novels and stories. Lives of the Mind Slaves -- composed of eight stories and a novella, all but one of which were previously published -- is an excellent sampler of his literary sophistication and craftsmanship. This obviously carefully selected collection, emphasizing the author’s conventional rather than experimental production, exhibits the finely tuned and engaging intelligence we have come to expect in Cohen’s fiction, an intelligence that relentlessly probes and exposes the depths of an urbanized, cosmopolitan, transcultural, and permanently uprooted individual who perceives the mind as his last refuge from life’s randomness, instability, and impermanence.’
—World Literature Today
Review quote
‘Most of the stories in this fine collection come from two previous Cohen collections, with the addition of one new story. The pleasure of reading this handsome volume from the Porcupine’s Quill, with its lush cream paper and clear bold type reminds us that some of the most intense literary experiences come in re-experiencing good writing, beautifully presented. ... Lives of the Mind Slaves, at its best, captures in subtle and moving prose the feeling of twilight that seems the right tone for the end of the millennium.’
—Montreal Gazette
Matt Cohen was born in Kingston, Ontario in 1942. He received his B.A. and M.A. from the University of Toronto. In the late 1960s he taught political economy at McMaster University before becoming a full-time writer. Since 1969 he has published twenty books, including novels, short stories, poetry and two books for children.
He received critical acclaim for many of his books, notably ‘The Salem Novels’ - The Disinherited (1974), The Colours of War (1977), The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone (1979), Flowers of Darkness (1981), and Emotional Arithmetic (1990). He was short-listed for the Governor General’s Award in 1979 for The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone and was a finalist for the 1988 Ontario Trillium Award for his short story collection Living on Water. As well, his short stories have twice won National Magazine Awards, and his books have been translated into Dutch, French and Portuguese.
Matt Cohen died in 1999.
The Porcupine's Quill would like to acknowledge the support of the Ontario Arts Council and the Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program. The financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund (CBF) is also gratefully acknowledged.
