Shaping a World Already Made

dennis cooley was born in Estevan, Saskatchewan. He later moved to Manitoba, where he helped to start the Manitoba Writers' Guild and was a founding member of Turnstone Press. He taught Canadian literature, poetry, creative writing, and literary theory at the University of Manitoba. He has published widely, including well over a dozen volumes of poetry, notably Bloody Jack (2002), and the bentleys (2006). A recipient of the Manitoba Writers' Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, dennis cooley lives in Winnipeg.

"...He is to be congratulated on producing a work ofconsiderable scholarship, with copious footnotes and a comprehensive index, vital for awork of this structure. Inevitably, with the thematic approach it is possible to detect someoverlap and repetition. Also some more expanded quotations of the verse might help thereader, unfamiliar with the works, to enjoy any music and rhythm in the poetry. Overallthis is a significant volume for geographers, students of literature, and, not least, thoseprairie scientists known to the reviewer who also like to express themselves in verse!" - Ken Atkinson, York St John University. British Journal of Canadian Studies, vol. 31, no. 1