Sinclair Ross, The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories

Andrew Lesk (University of Toronto)
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It is rare that any English Canadian child will complete his or her formal education without encountering a short story by Sinclair Ross.

The Lamp at Noon

, a 1968 collection of Ross’s stories written between 1935 and 1952, contains some of the most frequently anthologized tales in Canada. The initial impression of these stories is drought and dust, similar to that for Ross’s major work,

As For Me and My House

. Yet these stories, like Ross’s novel, powerfully illuminate the condition of human isolation and fractured communication.

The most significant entries in the collection – “The Lamp at Noon”, “The Painted Door”, “A Field of Wheat”, “Cornet at Night”, and “One’s a Heifer” – reflect upon adversarial relationships fraught with sexual undertones or gender

1146 words

Citation: Lesk, Andrew. "The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 15 June 2005 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=9268, accessed 28 March 2024.]

9268 The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

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