Transplanted to Toronto from his native Baffin Island, Atuk the poet is an unlikely overnight success. Eagerly adapting to a society steeped in pretension, bigotry, and greed, Atuk soon abandons the literary life in favour of more lucrative—and hazardous—schemes.
Richler’s hilarious and devastating satire lampoons the self-deceptions of "the Canadian identity" and derides the hypocrisy of a nation that seeks cultural independence by slavishly pursuing the American dream.