Self Condemned tells the story of Professor Rene Harding and his wife, Essie, as they find themselves in Momaco, a fictionalized version of Toronto. The novel, a devastating satire of life in wartime Canada, explores the difficulties individuals face as they struggle to adapt to new surroundings while preserving their sense of wholeness.

Wyndham Lewis (1882-1957) was born on his father's yacht off Nova Scotia but grew up in England. The author of many novels, including The Revenge for Love, The Apes of God, and Tarr, he was associated with T.S. Eliot and Ezra Pund. Besides being a leading figure of the Modernist movement in English literature, Lewis was also a much-praised artist whose portraits of T.S. Eliot now hangs in the Durban Art Gallery in South Africa. Lewis spent the Second World War in Toronto, and his experiences there formed the basis of Self Condemned. In Canada, where Lewis had relatives, he developed a friendship with Marshall McLuhan and lectured at Assumption College, later the University of Windsor.

Allan Pero is an associate professor in the Department of English at the University of Western Ontario. He has published papers primarily on modern British literature. Pero lives in London, Ontario.