Bear

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In this episode, we re-visit the controversial and classic Canadian novel Bear (1976) by Marian Engel. The winner of the Governor General's Award for fiction, Bear is known for its scandalous content and has sparked discussions for decades with its unconventional narrative about a woman's romantic relationship with a bear. We explore Engel's life, as well as the broader feminist and nationalist themes that permeate her book. We also touch on the cultural context of the 1970s, the power of ursine symbolism in Canadian culture, and our own (entirely chaste) encounters with bears in real life. Finally, we wonder if it would be possible to write a sequel to this wild novel.

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