MacLennan, << muh KLEHN uhn, >> Hugh (1907-1990), was a Canadian author known for his novels about historic events and public issues in Canada. His strengths are his ability to convey the texture and tensions of society and his descriptions of places.
MacLennan based his first novel, Barometer Rising (1941), on an explosion that destroyed much of the city of Halifax, Nova Scotia, in 1917. Two Solitudes (1945) and Return of the Sphinx (1967) deal with conflicts between English Canadians and French Canadians. Each Man’s Son (1951) is set in his native Cape Breton Island. The Watch That Ends the Night (1959) describes how a group of characters were affected by the Great Depression of the 1930’s and by World War II (1939-1945).
MacLennan wrote many essays, including analyses of Canadian culture and sensitive descriptions of landscape. His collections of essays include Cross Country (1949), Rivers of Canada (1974), and The Other Side of Hugh MacLennan (1978). John Hugh MacLennan was born on March 20, 1907, in Glace Bay, Nova Scotia. He died on Nov. 7, 1990.
