Although he has produced two fairly well-received novels, John Metcalf, perhaps more than any other contemporary Canadian writers, is closely identified with the short story and its extended form, the novella. In the latter, his only peer in Canadian writing is Mavis Gallant. He is also unquestionably one of the best satiric and comic writers in the country. As Keith Garebian has said, "Metcalf uses fiction's mirrors like an expert, showing an age its own grimaces, gapes, and follies with witty grace."

Born in Carlisle, England, to a clergyman, Thomas Metcalf, and his wife, Gladys Moore Metcalf, a teacher, John Metcalf came to Canada in 1962, two years after graduation with a B.A. from the University of Bristol. He began to write fiction by entering a CBC short-story contest. Shortly thereafter, at the prompting of Canadian poet Earl Birney, eight of Metcalf's stories were accepted by Prism International...