Title Page -- Dedication -- Autobiographical Essay: 1940 - 1984 -- Mentors -- The Border as Fiction -- Kerouac in Black and White -- The Smuggler's Son Grows Older -- Ideas Suggested by Nerves -- The International Novel -- Rushdie as Novelist, Rushdie as Critic -- 1. Midnight's Children -- 2. Imaginary Homelands: Essays and Criticism 1981 - 1991 -- Exile and Memory -- American Fiction -- Some Thoughts on Canadian and Australian Fiction -- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Pup -- Notes on the 'Canadian' Short Story -- 1. At Home in All Voices: Leon Rooke -- 2. Reading John Metcalf -- 3. A Stunning Glare: Alice Munro -- How Stories Mean -- 1. To Begin, To Begin -- 2. The Cast and the Mold -- 3. On Ending Stories -- The Craft of the Short Story -- The Justice-Dealing Machine -- A Delayed Disclosure -- Autobiographical Annex: 1985 - 2006 -- Teaser chapter -- About the Author -- Copyright Page.