The Incomparable Atuk

After three overheated and over-serious "young man's novels," Mordecai Richler found his voice in 1959 with The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz. Atuk, published in 1963, is an attack on human folly of the type that Richler would soon come to perfect in both novels and essays. "I'm world famous," one character says, "all over Canada." That one-liner sums up Richler's wit and his purpose perfectly.