CRITICISM

Carpenter, Dave. “Writing Home.” Canadian Literature 129 (summer 1991): 152-54.

Carpenter evaluates the thematic and stylistic accomplishments of The Lost Salt Gift of Blood: New & Selected Stories, focusing on the postmodern appeal of MacLeod's imagery.

Davidson, Arnold E. “As Birds Bring Forth the Story: The Elusive Art of Alistair MacLeod.” Canadian Literature 119 (winter 1988): 32-42.

Davidson explicates the themes of various stories in The Lost Salt Gift of Blood and As Birds Bring Forth the Sun in terms of MacLeod's narrative method.

Demont, John. “Returning to MacLeod Country.” Maclean's 112, no. 45 (8 November 1999): 88.

Demont offers a positive assessment of No Great Mischief.

“Big Macs.” Economist 355, no. 8175 (17 June 2000): 12.

The critic explores the displacement and loss experienced by the protagonist in No Great Mischief.

Gittings, Christopher. “‘Sounds in the Empty Spaces of History’: The Highland Clearances in Neil Gunn's Highland River and Alistair MacLeod's ‘The Road to Rankin's Point.’” Studies in Canadian Literature 17, no. 1 (1992): 93-105.

Gittings studies themes prevalent in the works of Neil Gunn and MacLeod such as Gaelic folklore, the conflict between man and nature, cultural identity, and the reconciliation of family traditions with twentieth-century expectations.

Melmoth, John. “Here and Now on Cape Breton.” Times Literary Supplement, no. 4625 (22 November 1991): 21.

Melmoth commends The Lost Salt Gift of Blood for its unflinching realism and mythological elements.

Tremblay, Tony. “‘Even More Symmetry Here Than I Imagined’: A Critical Reading of Recent Maritime Fictions.” Dalhousie Review 79, no. 2 (summer 1999): 269-77.

Tremblay favorably reviews three novels that explore maritime themes, including No Great Mischief.

Young, Alan R. “Varieties of Nova Scotian Experience: Thomas Raddall and Alistair MacLeod.” Dalhousie Review 67, nos. 2-3 (summer-fall 1987): 340-44.

Young examines the autobiographical dimension of As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories with respect to the sense of exile that permeates the collection.

Additional coverage of MacLeod's life and career is contained in the following sources published by the Gale Group: Contemporary Authors, Vol. 123; Contemporary Canadian Authors, Vol. 1; Contemporary Literary Criticism, Vol. 56; Dictionary of Literary Biography, Vol. 60; DISCovering Authors: Canadian Edition; DISCovering Authors Modules: Most-studied Authors; Literature Resource Center; Major 20th-Century Writers, Ed. 2; and Reference Guide to Short Fiction, Ed. 2.