The acclaimed performer of stage and screen R.H. Thomson discusses his new book By the Ghost Light: Wars, Memory, and Families (Alfred E. Knopf, 2023), with Joseph Planta.

By the Ghost Light: Wars, Memory, and Families by R.H. Thomson (Alfred E. Knopf Canada, 2023).

Click to buy this book from Amazon.ca: By the Ghost Light

Text of introduction by Joseph Planta:

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

R.H. Thomson joins me now. He has just published a new book By the Ghost Light: Wars, Memory, and Families. It’s a mesmerising book that looks critically at how we’ve romanticised notions of war, including Mr. Thomson himself. He goes beyond reflecting on how he used to play with toy soldiers at his grandmother’s house, and into how his childhood was shaped by his family’s contribution to war. Eight of Robert’s great-uncles fought in the First World War, while his godmother served as a military surgical nurse in Europe. The book shares a lot of the letters from his great-uncles, as well as other family members like great-aunts and cousins, which provide colour and verve to the recounting of experiences at the front line. Throughout the book, we see Robert’s family history, as well as the impact not just to them, their progeny and Robert himself. He looks critically at the profound costs, as well as how we as a society, not just in Canada but elsewhere remember. As we mark Remembrance Day tomorrow, this conversation is one way to look at effect of war on a family and a country. R.H. Thomson’s career on stage, screen and television has spanned over fifty years. He is a member of the Order of Canada, and was awarded the Governor General’s Performing Arts Award for Lifetime Artistic Achievement. Visit www.theworldremembers.org for the international commemoration exhibit he built, which is also installed at the Canadian War Memorial. This new book is published by Alfred A. Knopf Canada. We spoke this past Tuesday, with Robert joining me from Toronto. Please welcome to the Planta: On the Line program, R.H. Thomson; Mr. Thomson, good morning.

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