Hugh MacLennan
Encyclopedia
John Hugh MacLennan, CC
, CQ
(March 20, 1907 – November 9, 1990) was a Canadian
author and professor of English at McGill University
. He won five Governor General's Award
s and a Royal Bank Award.
, Nova Scotia
on March 20, 1907. His parents were Dr. Samuel MacLennan, a colliery
physician, and Katherine MacQuerrie; Hugh also had an older sister named Frances. Samuel was a stern Calvinist
, while Katherine was creative, warm and dreamy, and both parents would be large influences on Hugh's character. In 1913, the family spent several months in London
while Samuel took on further study to become a medical specialist. On returning to Canada, they briefly lived in Sydney
, Nova Scotia
before settling in Halifax
. In December 1917, young Hugh experienced the Halifax Explosion
, which he would later write about in his first published novel, Barometer Rising
. From the ages of twelve to twenty-one, he slept in a tent in the family's backyard, even in the cold winter, possibly as an escape from his strict father. Hugh grew up believing in the importance of religion; he and Frances regularly went to Sunday School, and the family attended Presbyterian church services twice each Sunday. He was also active in sports, and became especially good at tennis, eventually winning the Nova Scotia men's double championship in 1927.
. While this was very difficult for Frances, who had no interest in Greek, Hugh grew to enjoy this field of study. Their father had an ambitious educational path planned for Hugh: studying the Classics at Dalhousie University
, getting a Rhodes Scholarship
, and then continuing his studies in England. MacLennan received top marks at Dalhousie and succeeded in winning a Rhodes Scholarship, allowing him to go on to Oxford University.
While at Dalhousie, he realized that his inner wish was to pursue an artistic career, the influence of his creative mother. At Oxford, he struggled with balancing his passion for Greek and Latin studies with these artistic instincts. In his first year, MacLennan worked incredibly hard at his Classics courses, but was only able to achieve second-class
. By his second year, he had resigned himself to such results, and while still working diligently, decided not to overwork himself as before. In his fourth year, he was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on his studies, and spent more and more time at tennis and writing poetry. In letters to his family from around this time are hints that he hoped to be a successful writer. In late 1931, MacLennan sent some of his poetry to three publishers, including the firms of John Lane
and Elkin Mathews, but it was turned down.
MacLennan's four years in Oxford gave him the opportunity to travel throughout Europe, and he visited countries such as Switzerland, France, Greece and Italy. He spent some of his holidays lodging with a family in Germany, through which he acquired a very good proficiency in German. His travels and his exposure to different political ideas caused MacLennan to begin to question his father's puritanical, Conservative
attitudes that he had until then taken for granted.
MacLennan won a $400 scholarship to continue his studies at Princeton University
, and despite his growing disinclination to keep studying the Classics, he decided to go there. This was partly to appease his father, and partly because the Great Depression
meant that there were few jobs available. In June 1932, while sailing home from England, he met his future wife, American Dorothy Duncan. Falling in love with her made him change his mind about Princeton. For one thing, his father insisted he should not get married before becoming financially independent, which would mean delaying marriage at least until his graduation. In addition, MacLennan was already unhappy about having to accept money from his father for the part of his Princeton studies that would not be covered by his scholarship. However, his applications were rejected from both of the Canadian universities he applied to that had Classics Department positions opening; thus, he grudgingly agreed to go to Princeton after all.
His three years at Princeton were unhappy. The style of classical study there was very different from what he was used to at Oxford, with Princeton's scholarship "consist[ing] of extremely detailed analyses of classical texts and sources—thorough, but unoriginal." He began to rebel against his father's ideals: he stopped going to church and put increasing energy into his writing at the expense of his studies; furthermore, in addition to resenting his financial dependence on his father, he continued his relationship with Dorothy even though he knew his father would not approve of her American, Lowland Scottish
, Christian Science
, business-world background. During this time, MacLennan also began to be influenced by Marxism
.
and reprinted in 1968 by A.M. Hakkert.
In 1935, there were very few teaching jobs available as a result of the Depression, and MacLennan's field of study, the Classics, was in particular becoming less significant in North American education. He took a position at Lower Canada College
in Montreal
, even though he felt it was beneath him, as just his Dalhousie BA would have been a sufficient qualification for the job. He generally did not enjoy working there, and resented the long hours required of him for low pay, but was nonetheless a stimulating teacher, at least for the brighter students. MacLennan would later poke fun at Lower Canada College in his depiction of Waterloo School in The Watch That Ends the Night. On June 22, 1936, he and Dorothy were wed near her home in Wilmette
, Illinois
, and settled in Montreal.
Meanwhile, in 1934–1938, MacLennan was working on his second novel, A Man Should Rejoice. Longman, Green and Company
and Duell, Sloan and Pearce
both showed strong interest in the novel, but in the end neither published it.
In February 1939, MacLennan's father died after suffering from high blood pressure. It was a huge shock to MacLennan, as in the previous year they had just begun to become closer and to reconcile their opposing views. For several months after his father's death MacLennan continued to write letters to him, in which he discussed his thoughts on the possibility and implications of a war in Europe
.
Barometer Rising
, his novel about the social class structure of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Explosion
of 1917, was published in 1941.
, a literary allegory for the tensions between English and French Canada, followed in 1945. That year, he left Lower Canada College. Two Solitudes won MacLennan his first Governor General's Award for Fiction
.
In 1948, MacLennan published The Precipice, which again won the Governor General's Award. The following year, he published a collection of essays, Cross Country, which won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction.
In 1951, MacLennan returned to teaching, accepting a position at McGill University
. In 1954, he published another essay collection, Thirty and Three, which again won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction
.
One of MacLennan's students at McGill was Marian Engel
, who became a noted Canadian novelist in the 1970s. Another notable student was Leonard Cohen
, the popular songwriter, poet and novelist.
Duncan died in 1957. MacLennan married his second wife, Aline Walker, in 1959. That same year, he published The Watch That Ends the Night
, which won his final Governor General's Award.
In 1967, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada
. In 1985 he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec
.
MacLennan continued to write and publish work, with his final novel Voices in Time appearing in 1980. He died in Montreal, Quebec.
The Canadian band The Tragically Hip
, on their album Fully Completely
, have a song called "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
". A passage from The Watch That Ends the Night
is adapted for use in the song.
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
, CQ
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
(March 20, 1907 – November 9, 1990) was a Canadian
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
author and professor of English at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. He won five Governor General's Award
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
s and a Royal Bank Award.
Family and childhood
MacLennan was born in Glace BayGlace Bay, Nova Scotia
Glace Bay is a community in the eastern part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality in Nova Scotia, Canada. It forms part of the general area referred to as Industrial Cape Breton....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
on March 20, 1907. His parents were Dr. Samuel MacLennan, a colliery
Coal mining
The goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
physician, and Katherine MacQuerrie; Hugh also had an older sister named Frances. Samuel was a stern Calvinist
Calvinism
Calvinism is a Protestant theological system and an approach to the Christian life...
, while Katherine was creative, warm and dreamy, and both parents would be large influences on Hugh's character. In 1913, the family spent several months in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
while Samuel took on further study to become a medical specialist. On returning to Canada, they briefly lived in Sydney
Sydney, Nova Scotia
Sydney is a Canadian urban community in the province of Nova Scotia. It is situated on the east coast of Cape Breton Island and is administratively part of the Cape Breton Regional Municipality....
, Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia
Nova Scotia is one of Canada's three Maritime provinces and is the most populous province in Atlantic Canada. The name of the province is Latin for "New Scotland," but "Nova Scotia" is the recognized, English-language name of the province. The provincial capital is Halifax. Nova Scotia is the...
before settling in Halifax
City of Halifax
Halifax is a city in Canada, which was the capital of the province of Nova Scotia and shire town of Halifax County. It was the largest city in Atlantic Canada until it was amalgamated into Halifax Regional Municipality in 1996...
. In December 1917, young Hugh experienced the Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows"...
, which he would later write about in his first published novel, Barometer Rising
Barometer Rising
Barometer Rising is a Canadian novel by Hugh MacLennan. The story takes place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and focuses on the effects of the Halifax Explosion and a romance plot. It is often included in Canadian high school curriculums....
. From the ages of twelve to twenty-one, he slept in a tent in the family's backyard, even in the cold winter, possibly as an escape from his strict father. Hugh grew up believing in the importance of religion; he and Frances regularly went to Sunday School, and the family attended Presbyterian church services twice each Sunday. He was also active in sports, and became especially good at tennis, eventually winning the Nova Scotia men's double championship in 1927.
Education
MacLennan and his sister were pushed extremely hard by their father to spend long hours learning the ClassicsClassics
Classics is the branch of the Humanities comprising the languages, literature, philosophy, history, art, archaeology and other culture of the ancient Mediterranean world ; especially Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome during Classical Antiquity Classics (sometimes encompassing Classical Studies or...
. While this was very difficult for Frances, who had no interest in Greek, Hugh grew to enjoy this field of study. Their father had an ambitious educational path planned for Hugh: studying the Classics at Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University
Dalhousie University is a public research university located in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada. The university comprises eleven faculties including Schulich School of Law and Dalhousie University Faculty of Medicine. It also includes the faculties of architecture, planning and engineering located at...
, getting a Rhodes Scholarship
Rhodes Scholarship
The Rhodes Scholarship, named after Cecil Rhodes, is an international postgraduate award for study at the University of Oxford. It was the first large-scale programme of international scholarships, and is widely considered the "world's most prestigious scholarship" by many public sources such as...
, and then continuing his studies in England. MacLennan received top marks at Dalhousie and succeeded in winning a Rhodes Scholarship, allowing him to go on to Oxford University.
While at Dalhousie, he realized that his inner wish was to pursue an artistic career, the influence of his creative mother. At Oxford, he struggled with balancing his passion for Greek and Latin studies with these artistic instincts. In his first year, MacLennan worked incredibly hard at his Classics courses, but was only able to achieve second-class
British undergraduate degree classification
The British undergraduate degree classification system is a grading scheme for undergraduate degrees in the United Kingdom...
. By his second year, he had resigned himself to such results, and while still working diligently, decided not to overwork himself as before. In his fourth year, he was finding it increasingly difficult to concentrate on his studies, and spent more and more time at tennis and writing poetry. In letters to his family from around this time are hints that he hoped to be a successful writer. In late 1931, MacLennan sent some of his poetry to three publishers, including the firms of John Lane
John Lane (publisher)
-Biography:Originally from Devon, where he was born into a farming family, Lane moved to London already in his teens. While working as a clerk at the Railway Clearing House, he acquired knowledge as an autodidact....
and Elkin Mathews, but it was turned down.
MacLennan's four years in Oxford gave him the opportunity to travel throughout Europe, and he visited countries such as Switzerland, France, Greece and Italy. He spent some of his holidays lodging with a family in Germany, through which he acquired a very good proficiency in German. His travels and his exposure to different political ideas caused MacLennan to begin to question his father's puritanical, Conservative
Conservatism
Conservatism is a political and social philosophy that promotes the maintenance of traditional institutions and supports, at the most, minimal and gradual change in society. Some conservatives seek to preserve things as they are, emphasizing stability and continuity, while others oppose modernism...
attitudes that he had until then taken for granted.
MacLennan won a $400 scholarship to continue his studies at Princeton University
Princeton University
Princeton University is a private research university located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. The school is one of the eight universities of the Ivy League, and is one of the nine Colonial Colleges founded before the American Revolution....
, and despite his growing disinclination to keep studying the Classics, he decided to go there. This was partly to appease his father, and partly because the Great Depression
Great Depression
The Great Depression was a severe worldwide economic depression in the decade preceding World War II. The timing of the Great Depression varied across nations, but in most countries it started in about 1929 and lasted until the late 1930s or early 1940s...
meant that there were few jobs available. In June 1932, while sailing home from England, he met his future wife, American Dorothy Duncan. Falling in love with her made him change his mind about Princeton. For one thing, his father insisted he should not get married before becoming financially independent, which would mean delaying marriage at least until his graduation. In addition, MacLennan was already unhappy about having to accept money from his father for the part of his Princeton studies that would not be covered by his scholarship. However, his applications were rejected from both of the Canadian universities he applied to that had Classics Department positions opening; thus, he grudgingly agreed to go to Princeton after all.
His three years at Princeton were unhappy. The style of classical study there was very different from what he was used to at Oxford, with Princeton's scholarship "consist[ing] of extremely detailed analyses of classical texts and sources—thorough, but unoriginal." He began to rebel against his father's ideals: he stopped going to church and put increasing energy into his writing at the expense of his studies; furthermore, in addition to resenting his financial dependence on his father, he continued his relationship with Dorothy even though he knew his father would not approve of her American, Lowland Scottish
Scottish Lowlands
The Scottish Lowlands is a name given to the Southern half of Scotland.The area is called a' Ghalldachd in Scottish Gaelic, and the Lawlands ....
, Christian Science
Christian Science
Christian Science is a system of thought and practice derived from the writings of Mary Baker Eddy and the Bible. It is practiced by members of The First Church of Christ, Scientist as well as some others who are nonmembers. Its central texts are the Bible and the Christian Science textbook,...
, business-world background. During this time, MacLennan also began to be influenced by Marxism
Marxism
Marxism is an economic and sociopolitical worldview and method of socioeconomic inquiry that centers upon a materialist interpretation of history, a dialectical view of social change, and an analysis and critique of the development of capitalism. Marxism was pioneered in the early to mid 19th...
.
Unpublished novels
At Princeton, MacLennan wrote his first novel, So All Their Praises. He found one publisher who was willing to take the manuscript, as long as he made certain changes; however, this company went out of business before the book could be published. In spring 1935, he finished his PhD thesis, Oxyrhynchus: An Economic and Social Study, about the decline of a Roman colony in Egypt, which was published by Princeton University PressPrinceton University Press
-Further reading:* "". Artforum International, 2005.-External links:* * * * *...
and reprinted in 1968 by A.M. Hakkert.
In 1935, there were very few teaching jobs available as a result of the Depression, and MacLennan's field of study, the Classics, was in particular becoming less significant in North American education. He took a position at Lower Canada College
Lower Canada College
Lower Canada College of Montreal is an elementary and secondary level private school.The college was founded by the Church of St John the Evangelist in 1861 as St. John's School and changed its name to Lower Canada College in 1909, replacing an older school by that name that was founded in...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, even though he felt it was beneath him, as just his Dalhousie BA would have been a sufficient qualification for the job. He generally did not enjoy working there, and resented the long hours required of him for low pay, but was nonetheless a stimulating teacher, at least for the brighter students. MacLennan would later poke fun at Lower Canada College in his depiction of Waterloo School in The Watch That Ends the Night. On June 22, 1936, he and Dorothy were wed near her home in Wilmette
Wilmette, Illinois
Wilmette is a village in New Trier Township, Cook County, Illinois, United States. It is located north of Chicago's downtown district and has a population of 27,651. Wilmette is considered a bedroom community in the North Shore district...
, Illinois
Illinois
Illinois is the fifth-most populous state of the United States of America, and is often noted for being a microcosm of the entire country. With Chicago in the northeast, small industrial cities and great agricultural productivity in central and northern Illinois, and natural resources like coal,...
, and settled in Montreal.
Meanwhile, in 1934–1938, MacLennan was working on his second novel, A Man Should Rejoice. Longman, Green and Company
Longman
Longman was a publishing company founded in London, England in 1724. It is now an imprint of Pearson Education.-Beginnings:The Longman company was founded by Thomas Longman , the son of Ezekiel Longman , a gentleman of Bristol. Thomas was apprenticed in 1716 to John Osborn, a London bookseller, and...
and Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Duell, Sloan and Pearce
Duell, Sloan and Pearce was a publishing company located in New York City. It was founded in 1939 by C. Halliwell Duell, Samuel Sloan and Charles A. Pearce. It initially published general fiction and non-fiction, but not westerns, light romances or children's books...
both showed strong interest in the novel, but in the end neither published it.
In February 1939, MacLennan's father died after suffering from high blood pressure. It was a huge shock to MacLennan, as in the previous year they had just begun to become closer and to reconcile their opposing views. For several months after his father's death MacLennan continued to write letters to him, in which he discussed his thoughts on the possibility and implications of a war in Europe
World War II
World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...
.
Barometer Rising
Dorothy convinced MacLennan that the failure of his first two novels was he had set one in Europe and the other in U.S.A; she persuaded him to write about Canada, the country he knew best. She told him that "Nobody's going to understand Canada until she evolves a literature of her own, and you're the fellow to start bringing Canadian novels up to date." Until then there had been no real tradition of Canadian literature, and MacLennan set out to define Canada for Canadians through a national novel.Barometer Rising
Barometer Rising
Barometer Rising is a Canadian novel by Hugh MacLennan. The story takes place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and focuses on the effects of the Halifax Explosion and a romance plot. It is often included in Canadian high school curriculums....
, his novel about the social class structure of Nova Scotia and the Halifax Explosion
Halifax Explosion
The Halifax Explosion occurred on Thursday, December 6, 1917, when the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, was devastated by the huge detonation of the SS Mont-Blanc, a French cargo ship, fully loaded with wartime explosives, which accidentally collided with the Norwegian SS Imo in "The Narrows"...
of 1917, was published in 1941.
Later novels
His most famous novel, Two SolitudesTwo Solitudes (1945 novel)
Two Solitudes is a 1945 novel by Hugh MacLennan. In 1978 it was made into a motion picture, written and directed by Lionel Chetwynd.The novel's plot evolves around the life and times of the fictional character Paul Tallard and this character's struggles in reconciling the differences between his...
, a literary allegory for the tensions between English and French Canada, followed in 1945. That year, he left Lower Canada College. Two Solitudes won MacLennan his first Governor General's Award for Fiction
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
.
In 1948, MacLennan published The Precipice, which again won the Governor General's Award. The following year, he published a collection of essays, Cross Country, which won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction.
In 1951, MacLennan returned to teaching, accepting a position at McGill University
McGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
. In 1954, he published another essay collection, Thirty and Three, which again won the Governor General's Award for Non-Fiction
Governor General's Award
The Governor General's Awards are a collection of awards presented by the Governor General of Canada, marking distinction in a number of academic, artistic and social fields. The first was conceived in 1937 by Lord Tweedsmuir, a prolific author of fiction and non-fiction who created the Governor...
.
One of MacLennan's students at McGill was Marian Engel
Marian Engel
Marian Engel, OC, née Marian Ruth Passmore was an award-winning Canadian novelist.-Summary:Born May 24, 1933 in Toronto, Ontario, to teacher parents Frederick Searle and Mary Elizabeth Passmore...
, who became a noted Canadian novelist in the 1970s. Another notable student was Leonard Cohen
Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...
, the popular songwriter, poet and novelist.
Duncan died in 1957. MacLennan married his second wife, Aline Walker, in 1959. That same year, he published The Watch That Ends the Night
The Watch That Ends the Night
The Watch That Ends the Night is a novel by Canadian author and academic Hugh MacLennan. The title refers to a line in Isaac Watts' interpretation of Psalm 90...
, which won his final Governor General's Award.
In 1967, he was made a Companion of the Order of Canada
Order of Canada
The Order of Canada is a Canadian national order, admission into which is, within the system of orders, decorations, and medals of Canada, the second highest honour for merit...
. In 1985 he was made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec
National Order of Quebec
The National Order of Quebec, termed officially in French as l'Ordre national du Québec, and in English abbreviation as the Order of Quebec, is a civilian honour for merit in the Canadian province of Quebec...
.
MacLennan continued to write and publish work, with his final novel Voices in Time appearing in 1980. He died in Montreal, Quebec.
The Canadian band The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip
The Tragically Hip, often referred to simply as The Hip, is a Canadian rock band from Kingston, Ontario, consisting of Gordon Downie , Paul Langlois , Rob Baker , Gord Sinclair and Johnny Fay . Since their formation in 1983 they have released 12 studio albums, two live albums, and 46 singles...
, on their album Fully Completely
Fully Completely
Fully Completely is the third full-length album by Canadian rock band The Tragically Hip. It reached #1 on the RPM Top 100 albums chart, their second album to do so. The album is listed at #5 on The Top 100 Canadian Albums by Bob Mersereau and #9 on The Top 102 Modern Rock Albums of All Time by...
, have a song called "Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
Courage (for Hugh MacLennan)
"Courage" is a song by The Tragically Hip, released as the third single from their 1992 album Fully Completely. The song's bracketed title references the late author Hugh MacLennan, particularly his 1959 novel The Watch That Ends the Night which is paraphrased in the song's lyrics.The song was...
". A passage from The Watch That Ends the Night
The Watch That Ends the Night
The Watch That Ends the Night is a novel by Canadian author and academic Hugh MacLennan. The title refers to a line in Isaac Watts' interpretation of Psalm 90...
is adapted for use in the song.
Novels
- Barometer RisingBarometer RisingBarometer Rising is a Canadian novel by Hugh MacLennan. The story takes place in Halifax, Nova Scotia, and focuses on the effects of the Halifax Explosion and a romance plot. It is often included in Canadian high school curriculums....
(1941) - Two SolitudesTwo Solitudes (1945 novel)Two Solitudes is a 1945 novel by Hugh MacLennan. In 1978 it was made into a motion picture, written and directed by Lionel Chetwynd.The novel's plot evolves around the life and times of the fictional character Paul Tallard and this character's struggles in reconciling the differences between his...
(1945) - The Precipice (1948)
- Each Man's SonEach Man's SonEach Man's Son is a novel by Canadian writer Hugh MacLennan. First published in 1951 by Macmillan of Canada, it takes place in a coal mining town on Cape Breton, Nova Scotia just before the First World War.-Plot summary:...
(1951) - The Watch That Ends the NightThe Watch That Ends the NightThe Watch That Ends the Night is a novel by Canadian author and academic Hugh MacLennan. The title refers to a line in Isaac Watts' interpretation of Psalm 90...
(1957) - Return of the Sphinx (1967)
- Voices in Time (1980)
Non-fiction
- Oxyrhyncus : an Economic and Social Study (1935)
- Canadian Unity and Quebec (1942)
- Cross Country (1949)
- The Future of the Novel as an Art Form (1959)
- Scotchman's Return and other essays (1960)
- Seven Rivers of Canada (1961). American edition: The rivers of Canada: the Mackenzie, the St. Lawrence, the Ottawa, the Red, the Saskatchewan, the Fraser, the St. John. New York: Scribner, 1962.
- The Colour of Canada (1967)
- The Other Side of Hugh MacLennan (1978)
- On Being a Maritime Writer (1984)
- Dear Marian, Dear Hugh:The MacLennan-Engel Correspondence (1995; ed. Christl VerduynChristl VerduynDr. Christl Verduyn is Professor of English Literature and Canadian Studies at Mount Allison University. She is the 2006 recipient of the Governor General's International Award for Canadian Studies, awarded by the International Council for Canadian Studies...
)