Greg Gatenby’s life was a series of paradoxes and contradictions, says Philip Marchand, and that’s exactly what made him such a valuable figure in Canada’s literary society. “Like many amateur scholars, Gatenby resented what he felt was the cushy life of professors blessed with sabbaticals and tenure who didn’t do nearly enough, in his view, to advance the cause of Canadian literature… He was certainly an elitist — but within the bounds of his elitism, he was remarkably democratic. Every writer was treated the same way at Harbourfront, whether he was Saul Bellow or a poet from Tonga.”