Chris Scott (born 1945 in

Kingston upon Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually shortened to Hull, is a historic maritime city and unitary authorities of England, unitary authority area in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Est ...

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

)"Ripper from Ottawa Valley?" ''

Ottawa Citizen The ''Ottawa Citizen'' is an English-language daily newspaper owned by Postmedia Network in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. History Established as the Bytown ''Packet'' in 1845 by William Harris (journalist), William Harris, it was renamed the ''Ci ...

'', January 7, 1989. is an English-

Canadian Canadians () are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of their being ''C ...

writer. His novel ''Antichthon'' was a nominee for the

Governor General's Award for English-language fiction The Governor General's Award for English-language fiction is a Canadian literary award that annually recognizes one Canadian writer for a fiction book written in English.1982 Governor General's Awards Each winner of the 1982 Governor General's Awards for Literary Merit was selected by a panel of judges administered by the Canada Council, Canada Council for the Arts. English French References

{{GovernorGeneralsAwards Governor General ...

, and his novel ''Jack'' won the

Arthur Ellis Award The Crime Writers of Canada Awards of Excellence, formerly known as the Arthur Ellis Awards, are a group of Canadian literary awards, presented annually by the Crime Writers of Canada for the best Canadian crime and mystery writing published in t ...

for Best Crime Novel in 1989. His novel, ''Bartleby'' was republished in Glasgow in 2016."Farmer in spring, award-winning writer in winter". ''

'', June 15, 1989. Educated at the

University of Hull The University of Hull is a public research university in Kingston upon Hull, a city in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It was founded in 1927 as University College Hull. The main university campus is located in Hull and is home to the Hu ...

Manchester University The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, Scott has taught at

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

in Toronto and Lake Superior State University in Sault Ste. Marie, Michigan.Chris Scott fonds. - 1969-1984

Library and Archives Canada Library and Archives Canada (LAC; ) is the federal institution tasked with acquiring, preserving, and providing accessibility to the documentary heritage of Canada. The national archive and library is the 16th largest library in the world. T ...

. He became a Canadian citizen in 1975, and resided on a farm in

Lanark County Lanark County is a county and Census divisions of Canada, census division located in the Canadian province of Ontario. Its county seat is Perth, Ontario, Perth, which was first settled in 1816Brown, Howard Morton, 1984. Lanark Legacy, Nineteenth ...

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

during much of his writing career. He is noted for his mixture of genre literature with

experimental fiction Experimental literature is a genre of literature that is generally "difficult to define with any sort of precision." It experiments with the conventions of literature, including boundaries of genres and styles; for example, it can be written in ...

; ''Antichthon'', for example, applied the format and tropes of a contemporary

spy novel Spy fiction is a genre of literature involving espionage as an important context or plot device. It emerged in the early twentieth century, inspired by rivalries and intrigues between the major powers, and the establishment of modern intellig ...

to a historical retelling of the 1593 heresy trial of

Giordano Bruno Giordano Bruno ( , ; ; born Filippo Bruno; January or February 1548 – 17 February 1600) was an Italian philosopher, poet, alchemist, astrologer, cosmological theorist, and esotericist. He is known for his cosmological theories, which concep ...

, W. H. New, ''A History of Canadian Literature''. McGill-Queen's University Press, 2003. . p. 273. and ''Jack'' took as its premise that Thomas Neill Cream, a Scottish-Canadian doctor and murderer, was the real

Jack the Ripper Jack the Ripper was an unidentified serial killer who was active in and around the impoverished Whitechapel district of London, England, in 1888. In both criminal case files and the contemporaneous journalistic accounts, the killer was also ...

. He has also been a contributor to

CBC Radio CBC Radio is the English-language radio operations of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. The CBC operates a number of radio networks serving different audiences and programming niches, all of which (regardless of language) are outlined below ...

and a book reviewer for ''

Books in Canada ''Books in Canada'' was a monthly magazine that reviewed Canadian literature, published in print form between 1971 and 2006. In its heyday it was the most influential literary magazine in Canada. Foundation One of the co-founders of ''Books in Ca ...

,'' ''

The Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Newspapers in Canada, Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in Western Canada, western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on week ...

'', the ''

Montreal Gazette ''The Gazette'', also known as the ''Montreal Gazette'', is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper which is owned by Postmedia Network. It is published in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. It is the only English-language daily newspape ...

'', the ''

'' and the ''

Toronto Star The ''Toronto Star'' is a Canadian English-language broadsheet daily newspaper. It is owned by Toronto Star Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary of Torstar Corporation and part of Torstar's Daily News Brands (Torstar), Daily News Brands division. ...

''.

Works

*''Bartleby'' (1971, 2016) *''To Catch a Spy'' (1978) *''Antichthon'' (1982) *''Hitler's Bomb'' (1984) *''The Heretic'' (1985) (''Antichthon'' published under another title. As Scott explains via email, "Quartet Books published it in London in 1985, under the title ''The Heretic''. (The house, financed by Gulf oil money, didn't like the Greek title ''Antichthon''.)") *''Jack'' (1988)

References

1945 births Living people Canadian male novelists 20th-century Canadian novelists 21st-century Canadian novelists Canadian crime fiction writers Canadian historical novelists Canadian literary critics English emigrants to Canada People from Lanark County Writers from Kingston upon Hull Naturalized citizens of Canada Alumni of the University of Hull Alumni of the University of Manchester University of Pennsylvania alumni Academic staff of York University 20th-century Canadian male writers Canadian male non-fiction writers Novelists from Ontario {{Canada-writer-stub