Rudy Wiebe

Author of A discovery of strangers

38+ Works 1,190 Members 27 Reviews 1 Favorited

About the Author

A firm belief in the redemptive possibilities of history dominates Rudy Wiebe's fiction. His characters search for community, for a spiritual collective informed and strengthened by historical consciousness. This attempt to unite the present and the past stems from Wiebe's Mennonite religious show more background. Central to the Mennonite belief is the rejection of loyalty to contemporary and worldly government; personal commitment belongs, instead, to the religious community, with its hard-earned historical heritage as a nonconformist movement. Wiebe was born in a northern Saskatchewan farming community; in 1947 the family moved to Alberta, and he completed his education at the University of Alberta, where he teaches. Wiebe's first novel, Peace Shall Destroy Many (1962), addresses pacifism, a belief central to Mennonites. The novel's hero faces a moral quandary when forced to choose between religious convictions and Canadian nationalistic fervor during World War II. While The Blue Mountains of China (1970) records Mennonite history, The Temptations of Big Bear (1973) examines the destruction of Indian culture in white Canada, and The Scorched-Wood People (1977) takes up the plight of the Metis---those with mixed blood; all three novels focus on minorities who must struggle to maintain their sense of community. Ideas repugnant to the Mennonite sensibility, violence and self-destruction, figure in The Mad Trapper (1980), which recounts the hunt for a man whose isolation has driven him into madness. In 1980 Wiebe's short stories were collected in The Angel of the Tar Sands and Other Stories. Stylistically, Wiebe gives little ground to the reader, for his fiction is characterized by difficult dialects, a web of details, and a dense style. (Bowker Author Biography) Rudy Wiebe is the author of several short story collections and essays. He is also the author of eight novels, including A Discovery of Strangers and The Temptations of Big Bear, both winners of the Governor General's Award for Fiction. He lives in Edmonton, Alberta. (Publisher Provided) show less

Includes the names: Rudy Weibe, Rudy Henry Wiebe, Rudy Henry Wiebe, Editor Rudy WIEBE, comp Rudy Henry Wiebe

Works by Rudy Wiebe

Popular Recent

A discovery of strangers (1994) 167 copies, 2 reviews

Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman (1998) 166 copies, 3 reviews

Peace Shall Destroy Many (1962) 152 copies, 4 reviews

The Temptations of Big Bear (1973) 115 copies, 4 reviews

Sweeter Than All The World (2001) 89 copies, 2 reviews

Of This Earth: A Mennonite Boyhood in the Boreal Forest (2006) 88 copies, 1 review

The Blue Mountains of China (1970) 62 copies, 2 reviews

The Scorched-Wood People (1977) 44 copies, 1 review

The Mad Trapper (1980) 38 copies, 1 review

Big Bear (2008) 38 copies, 3 reviews

Come Back (2014) 36 copies, 2 reviews

The Story-Makers (1979) 25 copies

First and Vital Candle (1979) 20 copies, 1 review

Hidden Buffalo (2003) 19 copies

Playing Dead: A Contemplation Concerning the Arctic (1989) 18 copies

River Of Stone (1995) 17 copies

Where is the Voice Coming From? (1974) 14 copies, 1 review

Chinook Christmas (2002) 11 copies

Alberta, a celebration: Stories (1979) 11 copies

Place (2002) 10 copies

Angel of the Tar Sands and Other Stories (New Canadian Library) (1982) 9 copies

Stories from western Canada, (1972) 7 copies

My Lovely Enemy (1983) 6 copies

Rudy Wiebe: Collected Stories, 1955-2010 (Currents in Canadian Literature) (2010) 5 copies

Silence, the word and the sacred essays (1989) 5 copies

More Stories from Western Canada (1980) 3 copies

Where the Truth Lies: Selected Essays (2016) 2 copies

Far as the eye can see : a play (1977) 2 copies

Wie Pappeln im Wind. (2004) 2 copies

in the late, gnat light 1 copy

Wiebe-liedjes 1 copy

Louis Riel: la fin d'un rêve 1 copy

Getting here : stories (1977) 1 copy

Double vision : an anthology of twentieth-century stories in English (1976) 1 copy

Von dieser Erde. Eine mennonitische Kindheit im borealen Urwald Kanadas. (2008) 1 copy

The Blue Mountains of China. , 1970./ McClelland & Stewart, 2008. Pp. 320. 1 copy

The Mennonite church in Taiwan 1 copy

The Western Epistemic Tradition and the Scientific Study of Religion (2023) 1 copy

Work Explorer

Associated Works

Lost Classics: Writers on Books Loved and Lost, Overlooked, Under-read, Unavailable, Stolen, Extinct, or Otherwise Out… (2000) — Contributor — 305 copies, 5 reviews

The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English (1986) — Contributor — 114 copies, 2 reviews

Fruits of the Earth (1933) — Afterword, some editions — 83 copies, 2 reviews

The New Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories (1986) — Contributor — 73 copies, 1 review

Tongue Screws and Testimonies (2010) — Contributor — 21 copies

THE FIDDLEHEAD Mar - Apr 1970, Number 84, 25th Anniversary (1970) — Contributor — 1 copy

Tagged

20th century (9) a:c (6) Aboriginal (7) adult fiction (16) Arctic (10) autobiography (5) biography (26) Canada (54) Canadian (38) Canadian author (8) Canadian fiction (14) Canadian History (4) Canadian literature (38) Christian (6) Cree (15) ebook (7) ebook.epub (6) ebook.mobi (6) explorers (6) fiction (122) First Nations (21) Franklin Expedition (5) historical fiction (21) history (20) indigenous (17) literature (5) memoir (12) Mennonite (50) Mennonites-Fiction (4) New Canadian Library (5) non-fiction (23) novel (28) own (6) prairie (8) religion (4) Rudy Wiebe (4) Saskatchewan (12) short stories (12) to-read (40) women (4)

Common Knowledge

Legal name: Wiebe, Rudy Henry
Birthdate: 1934-10-04
Gender: male
Nationality: Canada
Birthplace: Speedwell, Saskatchewan, Canada
Places of residence: Fairholme, Saskatchewan, Canada
Coaldale, Alberta, Canada
Goshen, Indiana, USA
Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada
Education: University of Alberta
University of Tubingen
Mennonite Brethren Bible College
Occupations: Professor
author
Organizations: University of Alberta
Awards and honors: Lorne Pierce Medal (1986)
Order of Canada (2000)
Western Literature Association's Distinguished Achievement Award (1998)

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Reviews

The Temptations of Big Bear by Rudy Wiebe

A very engrossing read with characters that really come alive.

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charlie68 | 3 other reviews | Apr 25, 2024 |

Come Back by Rudy Wiebe

A very thoughtful, endearing book and at times emotionally raw. About a man and his complex relationship with his son. I live in Edmonton and I can picture all the places this book mentions and Mr. Wiebe manages to capture the ethos of it.

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charlie68 | 1 other review | Apr 17, 2024 |

Stolen Life: The Journey of a Cree Woman by Yvonne Johnson

Autobiography

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BooksInMirror | 2 other reviews | Feb 19, 2024 |

The temptations of Big Bear by Rudy Wiebe

As much as I wanted to keep up with Big Bear I just couldn't handle Wiebe's bizarre array of form, perspectives, and format. I got bogged down, confused with the details, and frankly the moments of lyrical beauty were not worth the work, which started to feel like a trudge. I will never forget the scene where BB's son makes a horse come, even if I wanted to, which I do.

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b.masonjudy | 3 other reviews | Dec 5, 2020 |

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