Winter: Five Windows on the Season
Encyclopedia
Winter: Five Windows on the Season is a book written by Adam Gopnik
for the 2011 Massey Lectures
. Each of the book's five chapters was delivered as a one-hour lecture in a different Canadian city: Montreal
on October 12, Halifax on October 14, Edmonton
on October 21, Vancouver
on October 23 and ending in Toronto
on October 26. The book was published by House of Anansi Press
while the lectures were broadcast on CBC Radio One
's Ideas
between November 7–11.
was selected to deliver the 2011 Massey Lectures
by a panel of representatives from Massey College
, House of Anansi Press
and the CBC
. This would be the 50th anniversary of the Massey Lectures and coincide with the 75th anniversary of the CBC. Ideas
executive producer Bernie Lucht contacted Gopnik by email to inform him of the panel's decision and to ask if he would accept. At the time Gopnik was living in New York City
, working as a staff writer for The New Yorker
magazine. He had previously authored several books on different topics, the most successful being Paris to the Moon
, a collection of essays published in 2000. Gopnik read Lucht's email while waiting for a bus on Madison Avenue. By the end of a 20-minute bus ride, Gopnik claims that he had already selected a topic and had a good idea of the issues he would address. He understood the Massey Lectures were part of the Canadian culture and Gopnik, who was born in Philadelphia but lived in Montreal
for 15 years, between the ages of 10 to 25, wanted a topic that would be relevant to Canadians but also have universal appeal: winter. Winter had appeared as a theme or setting in many of his previous writings, and he especially looked forward to talking about ice hockey. Gopnik spent the next year researching and writing the book, along side another non-fiction book he was working on at the time: The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food. This other book was released shortly after Winter, and purposefully contained one identical sentence.
. Though several reviewers referred to them as essay
s, Gopnik made the distinction between an essay which is written to be read silently while a lecture is meant to be spoken and keeps some of the rhythm of speech. Gopnik purposefully tried "to keep them as conversational as possible [and so] they lack the polish of his New Yorker
essays". The lecture's conversational tone, with both common and arcane references, was meant to appeal to a "middlebrow
" audience; they were designed to be "profound and significant" but not academic.
The book was called an "elegy
for a season". Encyclopedist James Harley Marsh
believes that the central theme was, as Gopnik himself writes, that "winter started as this thing we had to get through; it has ended as this time to hold on to". The Edmonton Journal
reviewer identified Gopnik's guiding metaphor
for his approach to winter as "ice wine: sweetness made from stress", that the perceived benefits of winter come directly from the hardships it brings. Ian McGillis in the Montreal Review of Books identifies "two simple ideas that govern and unite the five lectures": first that the view from inside can provide a better developed idea of what is outside and that winter continues to defy the human need to consistently name and organize the world.
and released on September 26, 2011. The five chapters/lectures were delivered by Gopnik in five locations across Canada: the first chapter was delivered in Montreal
on October 12, the second in Halifax (Dalhousie Arts Centre) on October 14, the third in Edmonton
(University of Alberta
) on October 21, the fourth in Vancouver
(Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
) on October 23, and the final chapter in The Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto
on October 26. Gopnik was in Guelph on October 25 where he recited passages and promoted the book. An excerpt was published in the October 3 edition of Maclean's
magazine.
Reviewers variously described the book as "interesting", "charming" and "fascinating" and the prose as "eloquent", "thoughtful", but sometimes slow. The Publishers Weekly
review noted that "Gopnik leavens dense material with humor, and makes unwieldy concepts accessible through modern-day comparisons". Bill Rambo in the Winnipeg Free Press
said that it "reads smoothly and effectively [and demonstrates] encyclopedic knowledge and incisive research into a subject", concluding that the chapter Recreational Winter about sports was the most passionate. Charles Wilkins in The Globe and Mail
found Remembering Winter, the chapter about cultural and social memories of winter to be the "most personal and poignant" and entertaining. Helen Gallagher in the New York Journal of Books "highly recommended" the book.
Adam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik, is an American writer, essayist and commentator. He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker—to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism—and as the author of the essay collection Paris to the Moon, an account of five years that Gopnik, his wife...
for the 2011 Massey Lectures
Massey Lectures
The Massey Lectures are an annual week-long series of lectures on a political, cultural or philosophical topic given in Canada by a noted scholar. They were created in 1961 to honour Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada...
. Each of the book's five chapters was delivered as a one-hour lecture in a different Canadian city: 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...
on October 12, Halifax on October 14, Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
on October 21, Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
on October 23 and ending in Toronto
Toronto
Toronto is the provincial capital of Ontario and the largest city in Canada. It is located in Southern Ontario on the northwestern shore of Lake Ontario. A relatively modern city, Toronto's history dates back to the late-18th century, when its land was first purchased by the British monarchy from...
on October 26. The book was published by House of Anansi Press
House of Anansi Press
House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction....
while the lectures were broadcast on CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One
CBC Radio One is the English language news and information radio network of the publicly-owned Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. It is commercial free and offers both local and national programming...
's Ideas
Ideas (radio show)
Ideas is a long running scholarly radio documentary show on CBC Radio One. Co-created by Phyllis Webb and William A. Young, the show premiered in 1965 under the title The Best Ideas You'll Hear Tonight...
between November 7–11.
Background
Adam GopnikAdam Gopnik
Adam Gopnik, is an American writer, essayist and commentator. He is best known as a staff writer for The New Yorker—to which he has contributed non-fiction, fiction, memoir and criticism—and as the author of the essay collection Paris to the Moon, an account of five years that Gopnik, his wife...
was selected to deliver the 2011 Massey Lectures
Massey Lectures
The Massey Lectures are an annual week-long series of lectures on a political, cultural or philosophical topic given in Canada by a noted scholar. They were created in 1961 to honour Vincent Massey, Governor General of Canada...
by a panel of representatives from Massey College
Massey College
Massey College is a postgraduate residential college at the University of Toronto, established in 1963 with an endowment by the Massey Foundation. Similar to All Souls College, Oxford, members of Massey College are nominated from the university community, and are elected by and as fellows of the...
, House of Anansi Press
House of Anansi Press
House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction....
and the CBC
Canadian Broadcasting Corporation
The Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, commonly known as CBC and officially as CBC/Radio-Canada, is a Canadian crown corporation that serves as the national public radio and television broadcaster...
. This would be the 50th anniversary of the Massey Lectures and coincide with the 75th anniversary of the CBC. Ideas
Ideas (radio show)
Ideas is a long running scholarly radio documentary show on CBC Radio One. Co-created by Phyllis Webb and William A. Young, the show premiered in 1965 under the title The Best Ideas You'll Hear Tonight...
executive producer Bernie Lucht contacted Gopnik by email to inform him of the panel's decision and to ask if he would accept. At the time Gopnik was living in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, working as a staff writer for The New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
magazine. He had previously authored several books on different topics, the most successful being Paris to the Moon
Paris to the Moon
Paris to the Moon is a book of essays by The New Yorker writer Adam Gopnik. The essays detail life in Paris, France by a North American transplant and explain the difference in culture, including the differences in physical fitness attitudes .Another essay called "The Rookie" details...
, a collection of essays published in 2000. Gopnik read Lucht's email while waiting for a bus on Madison Avenue. By the end of a 20-minute bus ride, Gopnik claims that he had already selected a topic and had a good idea of the issues he would address. He understood the Massey Lectures were part of the Canadian culture and Gopnik, who was born in Philadelphia but lived 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...
for 15 years, between the ages of 10 to 25, wanted a topic that would be relevant to Canadians but also have universal appeal: winter. Winter had appeared as a theme or setting in many of his previous writings, and he especially looked forward to talking about ice hockey. Gopnik spent the next year researching and writing the book, along side another non-fiction book he was working on at the time: The Table Comes First: Family, France, and the Meaning of Food. This other book was released shortly after Winter, and purposefully contained one identical sentence.
Content
There are five chapters, each of which consider a different aspect of winter. The first chapter, "Romantic Winter", describes how winter has been portrayed throughout history from the point-of-view of artists and writers. The second "Radical Winter" recounts the history of polar expeditions. "Recuperative Winter" goes over the cultural and social history of winter festivals and holidays, like Christmas. "Recreational Winter" is about winter sports, like ice hockey. The final chapter, "Remembering Winter", discusses the memory or perception of winter and its future in the age of climate change.Style and themes
The chapters are written so that they could be read as a lectureLecture
thumb|A lecture on [[linear algebra]] at the [[Helsinki University of Technology]]A lecture is an oral presentation intended to present information or teach people about a particular subject, for example by a university or college teacher. Lectures are used to convey critical information, history,...
. Though several reviewers referred to them as essay
Essay
An essay is a piece of writing which is often written from an author's personal point of view. Essays can consist of a number of elements, including: literary criticism, political manifestos, learned arguments, observations of daily life, recollections, and reflections of the author. The definition...
s, Gopnik made the distinction between an essay which is written to be read silently while a lecture is meant to be spoken and keeps some of the rhythm of speech. Gopnik purposefully tried "to keep them as conversational as possible [and so] they lack the polish of his New Yorker
The New Yorker
The New Yorker is an American magazine of reportage, commentary, criticism, essays, fiction, satire, cartoons and poetry published by Condé Nast...
essays". The lecture's conversational tone, with both common and arcane references, was meant to appeal to a "middlebrow
Middlebrow
The term middlebrow describes both a certain type of easily accessible art, often literature, as well as the population that uses art to acquire culture and class that is usually unattainable. First used by the British satire magazine Punch in 1925, middlebrow is derived as the intermediary between...
" audience; they were designed to be "profound and significant" but not academic.
The book was called an "elegy
Elegy
In literature, an elegy is a mournful, melancholic or plaintive poem, especially a funeral song or a lament for the dead.-History:The Greek term elegeia originally referred to any verse written in elegiac couplets and covering a wide range of subject matter, including epitaphs for tombs...
for a season". Encyclopedist James Harley Marsh
James Harley Marsh
James Harley Marsh, CM is a Canadian editor, writer and encyclopedist.After a spotty educational history Marsh found his métier in a summer job with educational publisher Holt, Rinehart and Winston, learning all aspects of the business from copy editing to the inner workings of the typesetting and...
believes that the central theme was, as Gopnik himself writes, that "winter started as this thing we had to get through; it has ended as this time to hold on to". The Edmonton Journal
Edmonton Journal
The Edmonton Journal is a daily newspaper in Edmonton, Alberta. It is part of the Postmedia Network.-History:The Journal was founded in 1903 by three local businessmen — John Macpherson, Arthur Moore and J.W. Cunningham — as a rival to Alberta's first newspaper, the 23-year-old...
reviewer identified Gopnik's guiding metaphor
Metaphor
A metaphor is a literary figure of speech that uses an image, story or tangible thing to represent a less tangible thing or some intangible quality or idea; e.g., "Her eyes were glistening jewels." Metaphor may also be used for any rhetorical figures of speech that achieve their effects via...
for his approach to winter as "ice wine: sweetness made from stress", that the perceived benefits of winter come directly from the hardships it brings. Ian McGillis in the Montreal Review of Books identifies "two simple ideas that govern and unite the five lectures": first that the view from inside can provide a better developed idea of what is outside and that winter continues to defy the human need to consistently name and organize the world.
Publication and reception
The book was published by House of Anansi PressHouse of Anansi Press
House of Anansi Press is a Canadian publishing company, founded in 1967 by writers Dennis Lee and Dave Godfrey. The company specializes in finding and developing new Canadian writers of literary fiction, poetry, and non-fiction....
and released on September 26, 2011. The five chapters/lectures were delivered by Gopnik in five locations across Canada: the first chapter was delivered 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...
on October 12, the second in Halifax (Dalhousie Arts Centre) on October 14, the third in Edmonton
Edmonton
Edmonton is the capital of the Canadian province of Alberta and is the province's second-largest city. Edmonton is located on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Capital Region, which is surrounded by the central region of the province.The city and its census...
(University of Alberta
University of Alberta
The University of Alberta is a public research university located in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Founded in 1908 by Alexander Cameron Rutherford, the first premier of Alberta and Henry Marshall Tory, its first president, it is widely recognized as one of the best universities in Canada...
) on October 21, the fourth in Vancouver
Vancouver
Vancouver is a coastal seaport city on the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. It is the hub of Greater Vancouver, which, with over 2.3 million residents, is the third most populous metropolitan area in the country,...
(Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
Chan Centre for the Performing Arts
The Chan Centre for the Performing Arts is located on the campus of the University of British Columbia near Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is situated within the natural landscape of the campus and is surrounded by evergreens and rhododendrons...
) on October 23, and the final chapter in The Royal Conservatory of Music at the University of Toronto
University of Toronto
The University of Toronto is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, situated on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution of higher learning in Upper Canada...
on October 26. Gopnik was in Guelph on October 25 where he recited passages and promoted the book. An excerpt was published in the October 3 edition of Maclean's
Maclean's
Maclean's is a Canadian weekly news magazine, reporting on Canadian issues such as politics, pop culture, and current events.-History:Founded in 1905 by Toronto journalist/entrepreneur Lt.-Col. John Bayne Maclean, a 43-year-old trade magazine publisher who purchased an advertising agency's in-house...
magazine.
Reviewers variously described the book as "interesting", "charming" and "fascinating" and the prose as "eloquent", "thoughtful", but sometimes slow. The Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly
Publishers Weekly, aka PW, is an American weekly trade news magazine targeted at publishers, librarians, booksellers and literary agents...
review noted that "Gopnik leavens dense material with humor, and makes unwieldy concepts accessible through modern-day comparisons". Bill Rambo in the Winnipeg Free Press
Winnipeg Free Press
The Winnipeg Free Press is a daily broadsheet newspaper in Winnipeg, Manitoba. Founded in 1872, as the Manitoba Free Press, it is the oldest newspaper in western Canada. It is the newspaper with the largest readership in the province....
said that it "reads smoothly and effectively [and demonstrates] encyclopedic knowledge and incisive research into a subject", concluding that the chapter Recreational Winter about sports was the most passionate. Charles Wilkins in The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail
The Globe and Mail is a nationally distributed Canadian newspaper, based in Toronto and printed in six cities across the country. With a weekly readership of approximately 1 million, it is Canada's largest-circulation national newspaper and second-largest daily newspaper after the Toronto Star...
found Remembering Winter, the chapter about cultural and social memories of winter to be the "most personal and poignant" and entertaining. Helen Gallagher in the New York Journal of Books "highly recommended" the book.