Robert Paul Kroetsch, novelist, poet, and critic, is remarkable for his preoccupation with the formal problems of literary expression and for his openness to a range of diverse literary models. His interests in narrative and narrative theory have been called "postmodern," a term which, insofar as it implies a purposeful playfulness and an uncompromising refusal to accept literary conventions as givens, is a reasonably accurate designation. In particular Kroetsch's novels indicate a continuing experimentation with narrative form, an exploration of the possibilities of voice in narrative, a complex shifting of narrative levels and types of discourse, a playful undermining of such literary conventions as plot and character, and a flexible use of different narrative models drawn from American, European, and South American literatures. Kroetsch's work is grounded, always and unequivocally, within a national context of Canadian themes and within an international context of self-conscious literariness.

Kroetsch was born...