I Don’t Want to Know Anyone Too Well

"Levine is a true artist, who grinds his bones--and anything else he can get his hands on--to make his bread." --The Sunday Times

Reminiscent of Bernard Malamud and Cynthia Ozick, Norman Levine's short fiction was largely ignored in his lifetime. Yet they remain some of the most skillfully-crafted and moving works of the last half of the twentieth century. Taken together, these stories make a convincing argument for Levine's mastery, and as a writer in need of urgent rediscovery.

Norman Levine (1923-2005) was the author of eight short story collections, two novels, and a memoir, among other works. He was raised in Ottawa’s Lower Town, served overseas in the RCAF during WWII, and attended McGill University. In 1949 he returned to England, where he remained until 1980. In 1956 he undertook a three-month cross-country journey through Canada, which furnished him with material for his controversial memoir and commentary upon Canadian life, Canada Made Me (1958). Levine’s fiction titles include The Angled Road (1952), One Way Ticket (1961), I Don’t Want to Know Anyone Too Well (1971), Thin Ice (1979) and Something Happened Here (1991).