Jen Calleja on Bear

At just 176 loosely-fonted pages and ostensibly about a woman who has a holiday romance with a grizzly, you might think the appropriately titled Bear sounds somewhat “throwaway.”

A bit weird. A bit surreal. Even a bit pervy.

You probably wouldn’t think it serious literature.

But there you’d be wrong.

The book works on several levels, raising thought-provoking questions about male violence, patriarchy, and colonialism. It ain’t throwaway, my friend. It’s a potential classic.

Thankfully, I had the excellent author, translator, and publisher, Jen Calleja, to guide me through the myriad interpretations of this strange and only recently rediscovered novel.

Indeed, welcome to The Library of Lazy Thinking Podcast, with me, your host, Glenn Fisher.

In each episode, I'm joined by a guest from the world of books to talk about a specific book they'd like to put in the library.

There's no plan and no agenda, just two people lazily thinking about literature.

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In this episode, my very special guest is, as I say, the brilliant Jen Calleja discussing her pick for the library, the 1976 novel Bear by Marian Engel.

About Jen

Jen Calleja is the author of Goblinhood: Goblin as a Mode, Vehicle, Dust Sucker, I’m Afraid That’s All We’ve Got Time For, and Serious Justice. She is a literary translator from German and has translated the work of authors such as Wim Wenders, Marion Poschmann, Gregor Hens, and Michelle Steinbeck (who was shortlisted for the Man Booker International Prize). She is also a publisher at Praspar Press. You can find out more about Jen by visiting her own website at JenCalleja.com.

About Marian

Marian Engel was a Canadian novelist and a founding member of the Writers' Union of Canada. Her most famous and controversial novel was Bear (1976), a tale of erotic love between an archivist and a bear.

Links to obscure (and not so obscure) things mentioned in this episode

* Order Bear by Marian Engel and Jen’s own most recent book Goblinhood: Goblin as a Mode from my local independent bookshop in Sheffield here.

* You can read the New Yorker article we mention in the episode by Claire Cameron here.

* You can watch an interview with Marian Engel discussing Bear here.

* Find Jen on Instagram here.

* Find Glenn on Instagram here.

About the Library

The Library of Lazy Thinking is a place to hang out and learn more about books. The library is free—like all libraries should be. But if you’d like to support the library, you can make a small monthly donation by becoming a paid member (and get an exclusive The Library of Lazy Thinking bookmark, sticker, and pin badge). All donations go back into the library, helping to organize live events, exclusive merchandise, and more podcasts.

About Glenn

Glenn Fisher is a writer—wait, Glenn Fisher is me. I’m the one writing this. Let’s drop the third-person act. My writing has been published in online literary journals Lunate, The Paris Bitter Hearts Pit, 3am Magazine, Dogmatika, and Litro Magazine. I am currently working on my first novel. I write about books and interview other writers and creatives here in The Library of Lazy Thinking. I live in Sheffield and work as a freelance copywriter. I have had a best-selling non-fiction book published on the subject called The Art of the Click. It was published by Harriman House and shortlisted for Business Book of the Year. It has been translated into Simplified Chinese and Korean. I also have a dog called Pablo. He is harder to translate. Indeed, most of my life revolves around trying to understand his often unreasonable demands.

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