Montreal – an island at the confluence of two rivers, adorned with an unspoiled mountain at its centre has been the inspiration of poets, novelists, playwrights, and memoirists since the time of Cartier and is the only city in the world with a flourishing literary tradition in English and French. Its landscape, history, and cultures have been immortalized by Hugh MacLennan, Gabrielle Roy, Mordecai Richler, Michel Tremblay, Yves Beauchemin, and scores of others; the characters of Duddy Kravitz, Athanase Tallard, Florent Boissonneault, The Fat Woman Next Door, and Leonard Cohen’s Suzanne have rooted themselves in the imagination of countless readers.

Elaine Kalman Naves and Brian Demchinsky

Storied Streets is an illustrated celebration of this rich heritage, in which the reader is lead by authors Demchinsky and Naves through the history and literary byways of Montreal’s neighbourhoods, from their beginnings to the present, with evocative passages from favourite books helping to paint the scene. With its arresting and rare archival photographs, Storied Streets is an irresistible treasure for bibliophiles everywhere.

From the Introduction:

“A great city is twice built: once of wood, brick, and stone and once as an act of the imagination. The imagined city is configured in words and pictures, and exists in a more enduring realm.

“Montreal belongs among the twice built cities. For all its latter-day troubles … it is a city bountifully, often brilliantly imagined. From the first description of the mountain at its centre, written before the city was conceived, to the most recent postmodern incarnation, Montreal continues to fascinate the beholder.”

What the critics have said

Thank you so much for sending me a copy of Storied Streets.  It is a splendid volume -- text, layout, selection of photographs, research -- tout.  Would you be kind enough to pass on my congratulations to Bryan Demchinsky and Elaine Kalman Naves?  Not they need them.

-Mavis Gallant, personal letter.  click to see the original letter.