The academic and author Harry Whitehead discusses his new novel The Cannibal Spirit (Hamish Hamilton, 2011), with Joseph Planta.

The Cannibal Spirit by Harry Whitehead. (Hamish Hamilton, 2011) Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: The Cannibal Spirit

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

I am Planta: On the Line, in Vancouver at TheCommentary.ca.

There’s a new novel out this week called The Cannibal Spirit. Its author Harry Whitehead joins me now. He worked for many years in the film business, and has degrees in creative writing and medical anthropology, and a PhD from Lancaster University. He teaches at the University of Leicester. He’s in town this week speaking at the Vancouver International Writers and Readers Festival. There’s an event, Wednesday the 19th at 8.00pm. Check out their website at www.writersfest.bc.ca for more information and tickets. George Hunt, who was an assistant to the famed anthropologist Franz Boas, is the central figure in this fictionalised account which looks at Native traditions, anthropology, spirituality, and the chasm between two civilisations in these parts at the turn of the last century. We’ll get Harry Whitehead to tell us about this book, how he came to write it, and more. The book is published by Hamish Hamilton, which is an imprint of Penguin. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, Harry Whitehead; Good morning, Dr. Whitehead.

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