Toronto Star Article

What's Toronto's Story?

The above linked article was in the online edition of the Toronto Star on Sunday Nov 5. In essence, it raised the question as to why Canadian, and Torontonian, authors did not set their novels in the city of Toronto. Some of the excuses/reasons dumbfounded me.

Not enough writers born and raised here?

So? Neither was I. I was born in Guelph, Ontario. But I've lived here 10 years and trust me, I stopped feeling like an outoftowner 9 years ago.

Too Big?

Ummmm...we're smaller than New York or London, England. So frankly, that doesn't tread water with me. The fact that we have many ethnic neighbourhoods? So? That's what gives us part of our character, the fact that in one 45 minute walk from work to home in the evening, I can go from the Financial district to a shopping district, to Chinatown, Kensington Market, Portugal Village and Rua Acora (a Brazilian neighbourhood). That Little Italy is blocks from my house, as is Roncenesvale, an Eastern European neighbourhood.

I mean, a novel set in New York doesn't encompase the entire city, so why a novel set in Toronto? A novel set in London, England might only focus on the East End or the West End....so why not a novel set in Toronto's Little Dehli or in the University Of Toronto's massive campus along College Street?

Too big doesn't cut it.

Don't want to upset Vancouver/Montreal/other Canadian City.

So? See, the above really is more of a statement of apology for Toronto exisiting if you ask me. "Sorry I'm from Toronto, I'll set my novel in Edmonton.". Fuck that. I don't care if someone I never met in Vancouver gets their knickers in knots because I wrote about vampires in Toronto. If they want a novel set in Vancouver, sit down and write it and don't whine because an author living in Toronto used it for a setting in their own.

Of course, this is pretty typical of Canada. We're always apologizing to each other and the world for who and what we are. And I don't know why.

Toronto doesn't have much of a mythology attached to it.

Alright. So we don't have a "Gangs of New York" kind of history, or the rich tapestry of New Orleans, or the ancient history of London, England. But we have our myths, our local legends, our ghost stories. We had the War of 1812 right here. American forces took over Fort York and burned our parliment buildings, then located here. There's the tale of the lighthouse keeper at Gibralter Point who was murdered over bootleg whiskey. Ambrose Small who disappeared right off the street right here in Toronto. The tale of the University of Toronto stonecutters who fought over the love of a local girl, resulting in the murder of one of them. Lake Ontario has ghost ships, and some would say an area akin to the Bermuda Triangle. There's Cabbagetown, once called the worst Anglo Saxon slum in the colonies back in the 1850's. Underneath a massive skyscraper near the Royal Ontario Museum is a mass grave from a 19th century epedemic.

And that's just the tip of the iceburg.

Too British?

Funny, that never bothers anyone setting a novel in London England.

Brutally ugly?

That particular writer must be blind.

Maybe, just maybe, some writers have blinded themselves to the multiple possibilities that exisit within the boundries of Metropolitan Toronto? Because we aren't New York or London, or Los Angeles or Venice or Tokyo. But we aren't less than them either. And it's time we collectivally admitted to that.