Collected Works

Canadian writer Norman MacDonald’s complete literary oeuvre in one electronic edition!

The “Collected Works” contains four full-length novels, many short stories and essays, plus personal writing.

The novel “Lost Magnificence” carries the reader to logging camps, where the author spent formative years, with this entertaining tale of adventure and romance. Readers who have enjoyed “The Old Man and the Sea” for its simplicity and reflective insights will be attracted to “Lost Magnificence”.

"The Bugle Trilogy" is Norman MacDonald's epic story of a young man who resists his country's push towards police-state militarization and war. Written at the height of the Cold War, this timeless work draws the reader in, and remains sharply relevant as social commentary. Its powerful and narrative invites comparison to Solzhenitsyn's "The Gulag Archipelago" and other works of conscience.

MacDonald was captivated by Hemingway's suggestion that there was "A literature that has not yet been written": one that extends beyond superficial characteristics and finds its ground more purely in a place where people of all cultures find relevance and affinity.

MacDonald’s novels and short stories go beyond Hemingway’s later writing style, completely omitting such usual defining details as the proper names of characters and locations. Though some might think these particulars are essential to storytelling, MacDonald proves that by not “nailing down” the narrative to a specific time and place, an even more compelling narrative may be achieved.

In his Essays, MacDonald describes his writing techniques in detail, and argues that the result (“Humanilit”) is a completely new world literature.