Reading Alice Munro, 1973-2013

"Reading Alice Munro, 19732013 brings together 16 essays written over four decades and it aims to track a perpetually deepening fascination with Munros writing, and because of that writing and its effects, with her life and the trajectory of her writing career (p. 4). Thacker introduces us to Munro and to Munro criticism and, in so doing, define[s] her emergence and contextualise[s] that emergence within Canadian literature during the last decades of the previous century and the first years of the current one (p. 18). Reading Alice Munro, 19732013 epitomizes the value of scholarly dedication and of single-author studies: Thackers own is a source of considerable inspiration and it is doubly refreshing to see how his voice grew even as Munros did. The critical reflection, a mode that Thacker employed to great effect in both the books introduction and afterword, makesan especially strong case for archival research." - Tom Ue, University of Toronto Scarborough, British Journal of Canadian Studies, Vol. 30, Issue 2.
We have here a retrospective not only of a critical writer but also of a reader - perhaps Munroeâs most public readerâ| Throughout forty years and more, Thacker has devoted the greater share of his career to the study of Munroeâs writingâ| [This] is, in effect, a reassessment of a scholarly life - a professional autobiography in critical essays and reviews - devoted to a writer whose persistent concern was the act of reassessment. - Lorraine York, Canadian Literature
Thacker is distinguished among Munroe critics . . . a valuable scholarly resource. - Sara Jamieson, University of Toronto Quarterly