Stranger Than Fiction (SIGNED COPY)

Mcclelland & Stewart, Toronto, Canada, 1969. First Edition. Hardcover (Original Cloth). Very Good Condition/Good. Inscribed by Author. Inscription to fep reads: "For P. G. & Mrs. Gurney with my compliments & best wishes, Bert Diltz, February, 1969." After a lifetime of presenting to students the best in creative literature, Bert Case Diltz now offers some twenty stories and a dozen poems based on his personal recollections of the past. "While," in the words of the author, "autobiography. like travel has limited appeal for those unfamiliar with the course of events ... some of life's little episodes cannot be so readily dismissed. Whether they are set in the regions of the commonplace or the realms of the outlandish, some of them appear to be stranger than fiction." Gentle, atmospheric, and nostalgic, these episodes are glimpses from the writer's "store¬house of memory “- true stories heightened by the passage of time and the manner of their tell¬ing. There are tales of life in and around Port Credit, Ontario (where the author grew up) at the turn of the century: an eventful night in the life of a lonely telegrapher, the impact of the first automobile in a fishing town, the destruction of a farm boy. the glamour of the railroad. There are stories of the First World War - of courage and cowardice at Passchendaele and a gay wartime leave in Paris - and of incidents from a teaching career, including an embezzling student, a pro¬fessor confronting a hostile PTA audience, a teaching imposter, a rural Scots minister who prefers birds to theology, and many more. The poems with which the book concludes parallel the structure and themes of the stories. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall. 128 pages. Dust Jacket worn at edges & spine ends, small chips and tears. Dust Jacket un-clipped. Brown titles spine. grey cloth. Quantity Available: 1. Shipped Weight: Under 500 grams. Category: Biography & Autobiography; Literature & Literary; Canadian Literature; Canada; Poetry. Inscribed by Author. Inventory No: 4658. .