Philip Marchand thinks that the world of Canadian literature could do with a good, healthy shot of testosterone. “I don’t know if there is any wider significance to this year’s rash of novels populated by feminized or ineffectual men. There has always been this tendency in Canadian literature, particularly French Canadian literature, but it has never seemed so blatant as now.” Regardless of the cause, Marchand finds himself pining for the strong male characters of Mordecai Richler, or at least the suave calm of Robertson Davies’ men. Is Canada in the grip of a newly metrosexual literary tradition?