The memoirs of John Metcalf, Canadian writer and literary editor, who always looks for elegance, sophistication, and invention, and who believes in promoting the shockingly new. Since the 1960's, he has helped get Canadian writing into schools, organized readings and conferences, helped found the Writer's Union of Canada, and documented the history of Canadian publishing. Metcalf has also nurtured many writers, among them Leonard Rooke, Alice Munro, Matt Cohen, and Rohinton Mistry.