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Biographical history
Eric McCormack (1938-2023) was a Canadian author, reviewer, and academic. He grew up in the small industrial community of Bellshill in Scotland where his his father worked in the steel mill. Eric McCormack obtained a Masters Degree in English Literature from the University of Glasgow. In 1966 he left Scotland for doctoral studies at the University of Manitoba in Winnipeg, Canada. In 1970 he accepted a teaching post in the English Department of St. Jerome's College (Now St. Jerome's University) at the University of Waterloo, where he specialized in seventeenth-century and contemporary literature.
As an author Eric McCormack began his career writing short stories which appeared in small literary journals including Prism International, West Coast Review, Malahat Review, and The New Quarterly. In 1987 his first book Inspecting the Vaults was released. This is a collection of nineteen short stories, thirteen of which had been previously published in literary magazines. His first novel, The Paradise Motel, was published in February 1989. Eric McCormack became the focus of considerable media interest and his books were translated into many foreign languages. His next novel The Mysterium was released in 1989, and First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women, was published in 1997. The Dutch Wife was published in 2002 and his final work, Cloud was published in 2014. Eric McCormack also frequently reviewed for The Globe and Mail. His works to date have received much critical acclaim.
Eric McCormack had won and/or been nominated for many prestigious literary awards. In 1988 Eric McCormack was one of two recipients of the Commonwealth Writers Prize in the Canada Caribbean Region for his work Inspecting the Vaults. He was awarded the Spring Book Award by the Scottish Arts Council for his novel The Paradise Motel in 1990, and in the same year he was one of the nominees for the People's Prize for Fiction. In 1997 the author was short-listed for the Governor-General Award for his work of fiction First Blast of the Trumpet Against the Monstrous Regiment of Women. In 1999 Eric McCormack was awarded the Literacy Award at the Eleventh K-W Arts Awards Ceremony.
Eric McCormack also read at many international and national literary festivals including Harbourfront, Vancouver, Ottawa, The Eden Mills Writers' Festival and the Elora Writers Festival. He also gave readings at the University of Waterloo, at other universities, in local public libraries, in bookstores, and at other venues.
(Source : GA 117, Series 1, Files 1-1, 1-3 to 1-5, and 1-7 to 1-8 )
Custodial history
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Includes clippings, a small amount of correspondence,and ephemera relating primarily to Eric McCormack's personal interests.
File contains clippings (originals and photocopies) relating to miscellaneous themes. Some of these clippings appear to have been kept by Eric McCormack because they relate to local literary events or other items of literary interest:
- the Spring 1990 issue of Printout, Words Worth Books' newsletter. The events section features information on a Mennonite/s Writing in Canada Conference on Canadian Literature, an event hosted in May 1990 by Conrad Grebel college together with The New Quarterly. Other local literary events listed here include an evening with Robert Kroetsch at the Seagram Museum, and Joseph Gold and Jane Urquhart book launch also at Seagram's.
- the Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, 8 August 1990, page 9, appears to have been kept by Eric McCormack, because of an article featuring the winning entries in this newspaper's inaugural Short Story Contest.
- another clipping featuring information on the 1992 bestsellers (Waterloo Chronicle, Wednesday, 6 January 1993, page 15).
- reviews of works by writers connected with St. Jerome's College. Two clippings feature information on the literary achievements and works of Stan Fogel, a professor of English at St. Jerome's College, and of Kevin Land, a playwright and graduate of St. Jerome's College.
- another clipping, which appeared in The Maclean's Guide to Canadian Universities in 1997 and which was faxed to Eric McCormack by his publisher Penguin Books Canada. This clipping focuses on the University of Waterloo with emphasis on its co-op program and its academic courses.
- a handwritten note (June 19, 1997) to Eric McCormack from Nona Spence Thomas? thanking him for reminding her of the "Scottish character", confirming that she did train at the Western Infirmary as a nurse in the 1950's, and that thereafter she worked as a midwife. She also wishes him every success.
- a short note to Eric McCormack from Paul relates to specifications for the length of a piece to be written by the author, and the date by which it is required. It would seem that the piece in question was most likely a review for Books in Canada.
- a book catalogue from Collins publishers for Jan. - June 1991.
- flyers in the form of advertising/promotional materials for The New Quarterly. These flyers provide information on the goals of this publication, and on the content and themes which are contained in this magazine, which features "new directions in Canadian writing". Among the authors, who write for this magazine who are listed in this advertising material is Eric McCormack. Five of the stories which were published in The New Quarterly, later appeared in his collection of short stories, Inspecting the Vaults.
- applications for subscriptions to The New Quarterly.
- University of St. Jerome's College Calendar (1996-1997). The first page (p. 51) of the section entitled "Course Descriptions and Faculty" features a photograph of Eric McCormack, Professor of English at St. Jerome's College, giving a lecture. Additionally, the information on the English department of St. Jerome's College contained in this calendar (pp. 52-55) includes a portrait photograph of Eric McCormack and information on the courses he teaches.
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- English