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Pmmiv POSTCARDS THE FIRST QUARTER Iran After Khomeini OF THE MOON by Fred A. Reed by Michel Tremblay ba&tedh+h&Fwhman Startling revelations about the continuing revolution in Iran from an insider’s point of view. At once sensitively lyrical and ruthlessly analyrical. c

1LASAGNA lheManE?&addwM by Ronald Cross & HCkne SCvigny

Arevealing biography of the I inost?nxorious” of the Oka Warriors. Unmnskstlw media’songoing complicirv in the govrmmmrr’ “public information stnregy.”

IvHAlERlDllio~ by Ekyden MacLennao

A love story in which a faded old queen finds both his life and his young . . lover slipping away. A powerfuUy written play about emotionally hungry and interdependent characters.

_“P.._ ~. m.- 7 :.-.. _.x. . ~. ~. ~. ~. ‘- ICYVOLUME XXI I I, NUMBER6

The Bittersweet kn Akerwalkiiaway fmmxridcaUy acclaimedbut commerciallyignored d&but.GEORGE ELLIOTT has Letters . . . . “I ...... “...... 5 returnedwkh morewonderful and iconoclasdcstories Theatre Books A PROFILE BY DAVID HOME1 by David Presser . ...” ...... 30 Pksane.xcerptfmmEnew Environmental Books -ofsboftfictnn by Brian Fawcett ...... 32 Behind the poeby BesGeller List by Charlene Diehl-Jones _ ...... 52 The insidestory on whysome books First Novels makeit andsome booki don’r by Maureen McCallum tarvie ...... 54 BY STEPHEN HENIGHAN

Children’s Books Celebrating Difference by Rhea Tregebov ...... I ...... 56 Despitemedia wremongering and YounkAdult Books politicalmeddling. the WRITING by Pat Barclay...... 57 THRU’RACE’Conference achievedmost ofwhar irrer outto Coren at Large accomplish by Michael Caren . ..-----~59 BY CYRILDABYDEEN CanLit AcmsGcti5 byFred Sharpe ...... 60 Sexual Positions A reply co VlCTORlA A Backwwd Glance HtANDEM’s’Get ThatGrin Of by Douglas Fetherling ...... 6 I Kwr Face!’and ‘No Sur plem Up Fmnt Wete Gents’ byBarban Carey...... 62 BY LYNN CROSBIE

A comprehensivelook ar three new lireny biogmphiar.two mwel anthologiesand many morebooks BEGINNIWG ON PAGE 35

Shorcnodceroff&on. non-fuion andpoeby PAGE 54

...... Books in Canada September 1994 3

-__ ..a----., ,... ;.,._ . . ..--:?,-..’ .._.11_-_._.. .:_. ,.-F 7 _. - .- - .-_- _ Julie Adam is a Toronra writer and editor. Fat Barclay is a frequent contributor to rhese PUBLISHER pages:she liver on Salt Spring Island. B.C. Dennison Bemick is a Toronto journalist and Anita Miecmikowski the audnr ofhx~ges: The Lifeand Klfingofthe yonomomi(Macfarlane Walter & Ross).John EDITOR Charles is an Edmonton miter. Lynn Crosble is rhe editor of The Girl Wms To (Cuach Paul StIlewe House). an anthology of erotic writing by women; her latest book of poeuy is WloinElk NANAGING EDITOR (Coach House). Cyril Dabydeen is an Barbara Carey ouawa writer whose latest novel. ADVISORY EDITORS SometimesHard. is forthcoming from Doris Cowan Longman in the UK. Charlene Diehl- Brian Fawcerr Jones teaches in rhe depamnenr of English ART DIRECTOR at Sr Jerome’s College in Waterloo, Onr Gordon Alexander Scott Ellls is a Winnipeg writer and editor. CIRCULATION MANAGER Brian Fawcett’s mosr recent book is SusanAihoshl GenderWars (Somerville House). Maureen CONYRlBUTlNG EDITORE McCallum Gawie is a freelance writer Laurel Boone (Maridmes) who lives in Kingscon.Ont Ann Giardini is Dennis Co&y (Manitoba) a writer livingin Kamloops. B.C Joan Allan Casey (Pnirier) Giiner’s latest book is The selfportmirofo Bay Filip (Quebec) LiteraryBiographer (Universiq of Georgia). Mlvy Dalton (Newfoundland) Clive Cocking (Bridsh Columbia) Sheryl Halpern is a Montreal writer. Stephen Henighan is currently attending NAT~ON&LAGYERTGlNG- Dovetail Communicadons oxford lJniversiF/: his latest book is Nigha in SusanA. Bmrme - Brenda Shoesmith the Yungas(Thistledown). a collecrion of Tel.: (4 16) 886-6640 short ticdon. Mary Frances Hill is a PUBUEHlNG AGVERMING EALEE Vancouver writer. David Homel is a Anka Mleunikowski Montreal writer and uanskxor; Rot Palms Tel:(416)601-9880 (HarperCollins) is his latest book and a new novel, set in Russia.is scheduled for publicadon by HarperCollins next spring. George Kaufman is a writer livingin Oshawa Onr Janice Kulyk Keefer’s m-r recent book is fkst Hmrmv (Random House). Alec McEwen is a professor of surveying engineeringac *he University of Calgary. Janet ~cPdau&on’s CatchMe Once.Catch Me Twice(Creative) is reviewed on page 58. David Fraser is rhe managingeditor oftie Smdord Festival’spublicadorn. John Reeves is a Toronto photographer. Diane Schoemperlen’s The LanguageOfLme is forrhcomingfrom HarperCollins. Patricia Seaman is a Tomnto writer and illusttatw her latest book, The Bloc4Diamond fing (Mercury), will appear next month. Fred Sharpe is a Toronto puzzle endwsiasr Robert M. Stamp is an antiquarian bookseller and a former member of tie Royal Canadian Air CadeN. Glenn Sumi is a Tomnro writer and editor. Eva Tihanyi is a writer living in peterborough, Onr Rhea Tregebov’s new collecdon of poeuy. Mapping the CJI~, is fonhcoming from V6hicule. 0

...... *...... *...... 4 Books in Canada September 1994 i&m. I wuuld be interrated m MS Branden’a \ iew of I hr K~~bhr,~HI&. F YOU ARE INTERESTED IN THE which I conhiJrrrusily Awood’s behl. comment of a non-author subscriber. I 0 The mwt (.mi,nentionallyl amusmg offer the following on the article by contribution \hrlb that ol’ Gordon Phion. Victoria Branden. “No Sex. Please. who brliwrs l,,s genrratio,, is Ihe tin1 w We’re Gents” lSummer). discover sex. 1 wonder what Ms Atwood Afterstruggllng to appreciatethe liter- would feel at being relegated to a genera- Shame “11yuur edilurh fi,r lrtting that ary offerings of some of our well-known tion fur whom “tbr sex drtve ~‘a.\ denied uayaard diarrtbr tind ~tbua) into your Canadian authors who seem to feel the and the orgasm comdtuted a \ irtusl mys- pircr. Or who’~edtting whomoverthen?! necessity of using a lot of barnyard tery.” Dear Mr. Phion. I come from a nouns and adjectives, I found Brandeo’b grnrrztion which long atardates that of essay to be a bnwh of fresh air. Mb. Atwood. and I cm i,xare you that It has been a source of wonder w me we were acutely aware ol’the sex drive. Take a l-dike for years why the dirty language and We couldn’t indulge it & we might hare denigration of women in novels is OK SOMt I’IME NOW I HAVlz liked. becaubr ot’thr: danger ol’ prrg thought to be a necessary feature of liter- F beet1 trqmg II, fwmulate a reply I” nancy. The plrawre of the ~“6’>t,’ nit!, ature in Canada. I wonder too if the in- lzd H;~aco’b I~IISI.. “l’he Culture of no mystq but a cuwtat~t temptation that cluslon of this ditty and salacious stuffin Nature’. (Summer). abwt my book. T/w led many of u* to take rihkh. hence the Canadian writing is the reason that it /h/r, ,,o,, uJ r/r< Mrwrrr~r~: An fquenvy of “bhutgun weddill&\.” doesn’t sell very well abroad. A/>/w~w”w’Slr~/~,ut Nurrrn* I %3x puukd WiIfian~J. Rabertmt at fitx rxkiog my bram. trying IO tind Smlt Ste. Marie, Ont. wt,,e place III.*& my head where Ed’s argumenr tit wmcrhtng I kwa I worried DON’T KNOW WHICH I FOUND owr II because I knru his argument wa.* 11funnier-Victoria Branden’s genial one onl) intellwtualb would us2 and oc- iconoclasm, or the humourless fury of her cil~ionallq the,r argumrnn bsw a grain critics. Surely there’s no law requiring all oftruth ,n them. .w,ttetm,~~ I,IY wqeclb of us to admire the sdme hallowed ,J ASSION IS AN ACChPl ABLt. they are wzn brtllisnt. if one could only names? 1 too feel that many literary P nay drbirable. clrmrn~ UI uptmwt undewaod them. But. sadly. no bell> celebrities have been overpraised. and articles: it brings the reader intu the btury. rang. nu light ptrwd the darkness. and that it’s unhealthy forall concemed if any makes the reader passiotrdtrhim- or her- all I Ml win a growmg exasperation. names are beyond criticism. I gre,atlyad- bell’. But there’s a hoe. and Viutotla l’hih argument 15w bmag. 50 &htibt. mire Margaret Atwood. but 1 agree that Bmndm’s Irstapar~nl feminism took he, The \rbolr punt ul’ the book ~a> to say Cut’s Eye was far below her usual stan- one take uver. that nature ,h nut wme mtellro~ual cun- dard. I’dreaditall befox in Ludy Oruck. MI. Branden might have had au arIiele wwt. wither *holly unknowable. as Ed

v/her\: it was funny. and was baffled at there (“No Sex. Ple;rw. We’r ticms”) ,I 1%qiog. nor unaradirble. that nillure IS

finding it all reworked. humoorlessly. in she hadn’t brought out a hobby-htnac under the trunt dcch and in bed v&h you the later book. Perhaps she had to get it Mordrcai Kichler hr a sitching. ;uld in the ditches along the hIghway. As out of her system. No one hits the bull’s Did bhe forge1that the prcmi.w ol’her long a\ pwplr b&x lhal ndmre is to be eye every time, and we must allow all argumL?otwas Ihal met, ilrcn’l wr1tmg toutld onI) on the lop ot a moutltain m utists a few misses, but 1 think it’s wrong about .wx any mo,~? She blra any credi- I’ibcl or at the bowm oi’ the Grand for reviewers to insist that every word by bility the interesting topic could have Canyuo. then 1t becomes available only their favomites is sacxd and beyond crit- had by bitching about a mw who does to the I&wed claws. to the wealthy. IO

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those with Ed’s education. who are the OEL YANOFSKY’S IDEA THAT they ftrquently deal widt Canada. are a only ones who can understand what it is by singing “Champ” instead of fertile Geld for scholarship in the United and where IO find it, the only ones able to “Tramp” Fmnk Sinarm has been “sensi- States but eldom studied hew.” F’erhaps recognize it. By Ed’s argument. farmers tized” doesn’t indicate much understand- ncism lurk> behind rhr disregard shown and ranchers (who have spent their entire ing of Sinatra or of Larry Hart’s great this branch 01’Canadian literature. In a lives out init) don’t know athing about it. lyrics for ‘The L;ldy Is a Tramp.” Simarra ruuntly that ha!. nevercutttr to terms with and thus urban people are spared the ig- likes varying repeated words simply for its heritage of slavrty. it’\ no surprisethlit nominy of mere country people knowing the fun of ir. And the song was originally works like Samuel Ringgold Ward’s more than they doaboul so vital asubjecr. in rhe first person. so “she” was “I.” as Aarobiopnrph~ oft, Fugiriw Negro They are also spared having to ger up proudly proclaimed by Mitri Grern in ( I XSS). which attacks Canadian racism. off their bums to get acquainted with it. Rodgers and Han’s 1937 Broadway hit arc little known. Likewise. though white I can only repeat my advice: Ed, go for Bn6u.s in Arms. ! Along with Frank it’> Loyalist writem like Jacob Bailey are ac- a walk! Ella who has made the song indelible. Lrpted member\ rrl’ the Canadian literaty and of course she sings “I” ahwell. I canon. Black Loyalist wrilers like John The song is one of several wry. satiri- Marmnt rcmaiti obscure. Yet. to uppreci- cal takes on New York’s caf$ rociety by ate our literaty heritage fully. we must in- Hart. and the Lady distinguishes herself clodrtheuontrihurionsofour~rly Black OEL YANOFSKY. ALAS. IS from them by ~rur“going to Harlem in er- writers. Fur instance. while we know that entitled to his opinions about Brian mine and pearls.” She doesn’t “dish the Thornah Chandler Halihurton. Canada’~ il Fawcett’s Gender Wars, lamentable dirt wirh Ihe rest ofthr girls.““likes the most famous writer IIF tbr I Yth centuty. and ill-conceived as those opinions are theatre but nrver comes late.” “loves the defended slaven’ shamelessly. we should (‘A Guide to the Perplexed,”Summer). opera and stays wide awake.” In other also know that Ward trounces him in his But to casually say, as he does. at the words she’s goora healthy. zesty sense of book. It’s time to integratethe canon. end of his review-as though it were life unlike 811 the phoney wealthy an indisputable truism - “If the novel poseurs. and thrt’s why thry label her a ain’t broke, at least not yet. why does “tramp.” Change the word to “ohamp” Fawcett insist on fixing it? is really to and the song loses its point. becoming go beyondthe pale. smug and self-congmtulatory. -THE NATIVE WRITERS OF Wherehas Yanofsky been for the last While we’re talking musicals. why Canada” was a frature I welctmmrdwhen half-centurywhile therest of us havebeen didn’t someone edit Brian Fawertt’!. 1 received my Summer is.iuc of Borr!cs in arguingabout genre? Has he neverhe& preening, entirely gratuitous nine-line Cuurrrkr. I liked the photographsand was of “modernism:’ ‘~posrmodemism.”and remark about S~unrlnwrrin his review of pleased that a number of Native writers the like? What in the world does Mavor Moore’s Rrirrverrrin~ Mu?!/? were intruduced 1‘1us. Two Native writ- Yanofsky think that Naipaul, Kunden. Does Books in Cm~rdu nally accept this ers need little introduction to us Nova Calvino. Ondaatje, and, yes, Fawcett. self-proclaimed guru on his own terms as Scotian* since thousands of their hooks have been up to if not responding to Ihe needing to spout every inane opinion that have been sold over the psst two years. plight of the novel? Hopefully,other read- pops into his head’! And thrsr writm. Isabelle Knockwood ers will share my sense of Yanofsky’s and Daniel Paul. didn’t make it -not misplaced credulity about the novel and even when those noI photographed were judge the rest of his opinions about listed ( l7t. I> it po4ble rhat Thomas Fawcett’s new “novel” accordingly. King and Greg Stallts had not heard of Yanofsws is the sortof reviewing thar thrm’! lfthey had asked Rita Joe. who getsB&s in Canada unfairly labelled as was fearured. she could have told them provincialand bush-league. IN HIS MAY COLUMN (“A BIITER what an itnpowntcontributicln these two Exile”). Douglas Ferherling points out Shubrnacadie writers have made to that “rscapcd-slave narmtives . . though Mi’kmaw experience. lo Pact, Rita Joe

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6 Books in Canada September 1994 ...... *...... *...... *...... _

was one of the contributors to lsnbelle Knockwood’s book, Out of rhe Deprhs: The Experiences ofMi’kmaw Children in rhe Indian Residenrial School ot Shubenncadie, Nova Scotia (Roseway Publishing). Daniel Paul’s book We WereNo! rhesovoges (Nimbus) has been on the best-seller list since it was pub- lished last year. Native literature and peoples have been neglectedlong enough that a more comprehensive ardcle would not be ex- cessive. The photographs were good - now, how about a feature article?

ANNE DENOON. IN HER PROFILE of Joyce Marshall (“A Private Place.” Summer), makes passing reference to a New York Times review of Marshall’s novel Lovers and Strangers “by one Walter O’Heam (a Canadian, Marshall tellSme)....” The late Walter O’Heam was manag- ing editor of the (also late) Montreal Smr when the novel was published. While tracking down O’Heam’s iden- tity may have been beyond Denoon’s by L&m Hobbs Birnie and Sue Rodriguez time, resources, or intereq the editors of EiCcould surely have checked it out. He deserves m be identified as something more than “‘oneWalter O’Heam.” Richard Amrr C*gmY Sue Rotlrigurz’s fight to clir with (Iignity was even nwre complex ant1 anguishecl than the news reports suggested. I THANK BRIAN FAWCETT FOR In exclusive interviews with Sue Roclri.yez. West Coast his generous if elliptical take on my journalist and author Lisa HoI& Bimir trlls Sue’s stay_ Reinventing Myx~(“A Life in the Arts.” at the name time taking a clear-ryetl. yet compassionate Summer), but what’s all this about my being in “semi-retirement on the West look at the issue of assisjtetl suicide. $24.95 hardcover Coast”? One may expect such slander fromTorontonians who assume that any

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Books in Canada September 1994 7 _ _ _- 77.-- I _, -.-;.-1 _ . e ...... _ ,:. _._.. .__. _ _.__ _ .-___ _.. __ _

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one moving to British Columbia has quit readers. In short. I think Gahlingrr de- work&, but not from Vaocouver’s own served more respect than she was given enlightened and industrious Fawcett. In in this review. addition to teaching at the University of Victoria, I write plays, books, and arti- cles, appear in films and on television ILE MULTIPLE CON- and radio, and lechue all over the place. w fusions are contained in Glenn I’m thinking seriously of semi-retiring in Sumi’scdtique of my book. l4’011manin r/w the year 2000. R&c. there is one error that my pride as a Maritimcr. a woman. and a usually poor personc.annot let passwithout comment. I wmte the two “Fire House” stories in lVr~‘onronin rhe Rock after completing the WAS DISAPPOINTED BY firefighting segment of a Nova Scotia 0 Glenn Suoti’s flippant tone in his re- Naurical Institute deckhand training view of Claudia Gahlinger’s R’omun in course funded by Canada Employment rhe Rock (‘Sut Is It Art?” April). Sum. we (I badly needed a job). They are clearly liveinatabloidsociety, but Sumi’s breezy not about some New Age-type pny- categorization of the book as particularly $I.OOO-to-set-yourself-on-fire ritual. timely in such ao em denies the depth and Brick Basics Sumi is the only reader I know who has political importance of G&linger’s work. interpreted these stories (popular ones PI I WAS HAPPY TO SEE BRICK Instead of natniog ritual abuse as such. readings. incidentally) as such. This. Books get some recognition in Douglas Suml tells us, glibly, that a character’s along with other criticisms that suggest a Fetherling’h article on literary activity mother’permlts various townfolk to fur- less than cursory reading of the book. outside Toronto (“16 There Life after therabttsehereach Saturdaynight.” leaves me puzzled and saddened. Toronto:‘” May). but two impressions He acknowledges Gahlinger’s poetic left by his article need to be corrected. and evocative prose but dismisses her For one thing. I’m no longer with Brick witty and culturally rich fishing stories. Who WqJ? Books. I’m going into my second year wondering what they’re meant to do. A as poetry editor for McClelland & bit of Ontario-blindness, perhaps? Not MICHAEL COREN’S REMARKS Stewart. For another. when I was with understanding why a reader would be in your Summer issue about writers and Brick Books it was as tt member of a drawn to a feminist story aboutfshing? politics have left me scmtching my head. publishing collective. The other mem- He says Gahlinger’s story of incest “When the Montreal intellectualsand the bers arc Don McKay. Mnrnie Parsons. memory and recovery is worth telling. Toronto activists thought that Jan Zwicky. Sheila Deane. Gary but criticizes the healing rituals de- Bolshevism might be nice.” he writes. Draper. Kitty Lewis. and Sue Schenk. scribed in the book as “New Age flim- “they signed a document metaphorically I’m flattered that Douglas Fetherling flam,” and, in one case, mistakes what in favour of mass murder. social engi- thinks I could singlehandrdly accom- was actually an employment training neering, death camps. and crass imperi- plish what this wonderful group has ac- program for a healing timal. alism.” Who were these people. and complished together. but it isn’t Surely Sumi realizes that no writer what was the document they signed? possible and it i\n’t so. could tell a story such as this one without Unless Mr. Comn is exercised over the exploring and developing meaos of henl- activities of a tiny handful of Canadian ing. In my view, a writer such as Communist intellectuals it is utterly un- Gablingerproduces a stronger book, eth- clear what he may lx talking about. ically and literarily. when she shares the healing. as well as rhe pain. with her

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embarks oh a five daj journey down the Amazon River only 10 meet Acacia Aranha, a medicine woman turned pharmaceutical company plant collector. With words, dreams and rongs, Acacia and lhe River guide Liberiy Hall and her dog, Schneider, 10 their ultimate destination, where lheyfindmuch morelhan her husband’scaute of death.... ts on the Amazon

RETHINKING DISABILITY New Structures,New Relationships Ren6 R. Gadaa

Disabled citizens are no longer passive clients but have become empowered in the de&ion-making process. Rem5Gadaa also looks at the %d contemporary Independent Living/ Consumer Movement. a”

r.- UEIID KITE PRESS P.O. Box 30 Guelph. Ontario. Canada NIG IE5

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BY DAVID HOMEL

A&h walking awayj-om a cr-itical~vacchimed hut commercially ignored dhht, George Elliott has returned with more wonde+l and iconoclasticstories

N 1962, A SMALL VOLUME OF LINKED SHORT STORIES CAME see the appeal of some- out and bowled over the few licetaty cricks who were awake at the thing difficult like wrir- time. The book was called The kissingnmn and the author. someone ing. Something you can unknown to the liceeaty set. was named George Elliott_ The kissing fail at. that you can man proceeded co go through four printings and an American keep petwverinp itI till edition, garnering critical acclaim in academiccircles along the way. you get it tight. even if it takes it lifetime. What happened next to this promising. up-and- George Elliott ha6 done many different things coming Canadian fiction write Important in Sheep-Raising.’ .. the end of the 1940s. there is one notation that’s Elliott found himself in hot water. he remembers. either mischievous. self-deaigmting. ordevasmt- when he tookupthecauseofthe local bootlegger. ingly clear-sighted (or all three): “Author of who was a horse enthusiast and didn’t like the dozens of rejected manuscripts and plays.” condition of the Stnthroy pony trxk. For someone who has led such a full and Strathroy with a town of about 3.000 at the rewarding life in a variety of endcavours. you can lime: of it. Elliott says. “I fear it has blended into

...... IO Booki in Canada September 1994 London, though I haven’t been back and smashes the crystal chandelier. his work. But all in all. he felt :I com- there for years.” Blended in or not. the piece by piece. while another tries to plete absence of reaction. as if he had locality has been immortalized as the set- figure out his relation IO the land he served his ball the best he could from ting for The kissing man. That collection. farms. One story begins. “The man his hasrntrnt apartment in the Toronto which he “scribbled down” in nine or 10 who lived out loud didn’t last very suhurh of Leahide (where he was living months, is remarkable for its surreal im- long.“Then there is “the kissing man” a1 the time). but the ball was never re- agery. quiet wisdom. social awareness. himself. a male spirit who offers tleet- turned. The honk dihnpprared into what and total lack of those convenient m- in: tnoments of tenderness to the Elliott chamcterize~ as a void. The only lightenments at the end of short stories women of the town. Though you never time he IAt in a real relationship with a the critics call “epiphanies.” ‘The neat see him. you know he is there by his CT- redderwas when Margaret Avison. who little closures are technically fun to do. feet -a model for the writer. and thr acted a~ editor for the book. sent hack but I don’t find life epiphanic. I remem- Elliott’s combination of strength and her corrections and queries. ber telling myself over and over again. discretion. Meanwhile. John Gray and Kildare Nothing resohvs, not/ring resoiws. This How did the Canadian public react to Dohhs. who rigned up the book for is an unresolved book, though rhere is 77~ ki.wing rnun? The book got juicy re- Macmillan. seemed to see nothing out troth to it” views-though CanLit was a much of the ordinary. And. indeed. despite the The stories, taken together. form a spaner landscape at the time -and the brief new life given T/W ki.svrirr~nmr~ in sharp-edged portrait of a small town. academics cottnned on IO it. Elliott re- 19X-I hy General Publishing’s New Two orphaned brothers take up resi- calls journeying to Glendott College at Press paperback series. this wonderfu! dence in the carriage house behind the York University II> visit the rherry- hook is out of print. Plus (VI clnrrr~r in town hotel. One character takes down drinkers (as he calls them) and discus!. the Canadian literary world.

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“THE OLD DUALITIES” Deconstructing Robert Kroetsch and His Critics Dianne Tiefenree A pmvoca~IYccrJrrecuve rnd

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SO GEORGE EI.LIOTT WALKED away from ptthlishing -- though not from writing. “It just didn’t supply the In Toronto. he mnrmurd to work for thrill of having your ass on the line. the Maclxen Adverhclntz. where he had way advertising did.” he explains. heen whw he wrme T/w kivvi~:irlymm. :~rui Besides. Elliott admits. he was newr W:ICinw-umenwl in dewloping rrlrvision IN 1965. HE WAS INVITED TO driven to write or inhahited by the hum- ndvmiriq. “Marl arcn hecww nomkr lunch wlh Geoqe Sinclair and Waker ingderiwm tell his stories. onr hecawe of relevision.” he recall\. Gordon at the King Edward Hotel in “I don’t bum.*‘he slates flatly. owning “and we acwmokwd a lot of self-conti- Tim-mw. w thal Ciwdon could grr a look up to a lack of the primal urge to outdo dence in an area rhat lenilird rhr clirmr ” at him. Gordon muzl have liked what he Scott Fitzgerald. In fact. when he fin- Hi* approach. to wy rhr leart. wac fear- ww. for Elliott went on m rake over the ished the manttscript that was to hecome less. rspccinlly regarding the Amwicnns. I.iheral Parry accotmt al MacLaren The ki.wing mm. he sealed it in an enve- nhout whom he had ahwhuely no inferi- Advertising. He worked with Lester lope and placed it in his drawer. and it ority complex. “I grew I ww horn an. Penrrnn. then Trudeau. and left was only when he saw a manuscript he afraid. Reside%. the 1960~ were Macl.;lren in 1971 m hecome a senior knew was worse than his. written hy a wnningly easy ill Toronto. You didn’t advisrr in rhe primr minister’s office. colleague. that he offered his for sale. “I have to rhink: youjwr had to shave every Elliott’~ anirudr reward polirics echoes didn’t know anything nhout the hook morning and wear ;I ‘iuil and make his feelings nhnm advmising: “Politics publishing business.” he recalls. “I money.” He wem thmuph a period of feel- convict\ of rakmg triwal things very wi- thought if the mnnwript was that preni. ing Iwt. occupying “the cutting edge of :I ~wly for :I very Ione time.” and he has then someonewould appearand chow an very hivml world.” and hwng the hfe: ;I hnrrh words f1wTmdeau’r arrogancr and interest. No one ever did that: [after T/w horde of watch :I day. ;I mnrri;lge hook. rhe “hex1 down. elhnw OUI.” unenlighr- ki.wing mm] there was no follow-up. up. tnps to the city dump in rhe middle of rned rtuhhormtesr of poliricians like

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I2 Allan MacEachern and Lloyd TRUDEAU WON A MAJORITY RY What’< hehind thir *elf-deprecatinghu- Axworthy. (As for Chr&ien. Eliott the two scats in the I972 election tantn. mat

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Books in Canada September 1994 I3 -- .-._ .c- --- ..I _.. ___.__~.. _- _._ ~___ -.~~ _.... _. ..-- _.----_

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English professor at the University of Elliott is above the vanity of boasting ol hate.” Elliott says with great relish. Guelph, in Ontario. whose mother hap- a “big-name” publisher. and he obvi- Though women are often in trouble in pened to be born in Strathroy, edited a ously enjoys his editorial fencing with Elliott’* s&ups. men usually respond two-volume anthology of Canadian Tim Struthers. Besides. he’s writing fol with confused. mumbling insensitivity. short fiction for McGraw-Hill Ryerson the reader’s inner recognition. not com- Sound familiar’? The magical sense of in 1992 called The Possibilir?, ofBoy. mercial visibility. “You may know T/w ki.wirr.~ mctn. the feeling of inhabit- Struthers included the final piece from something that someone else will recog- ing a mystical and sympathelic land- The kissing man. called “The Way nize and say. Yeah. that’s it! That’s what scape. has been replaced by dysfunc- Back.” Paying Elliott for the story I’m looking for. I like T. S. Eliot when he tional couples and old guys whose local proved to be a problem: no one knew said. ‘Genuine pcletrywmmunicntes be- lunch-counler is being yuppitird out of where he was. Finally, through a combi- fore it is understood.’ That’s my attitude: existence. Yet with the last stories in the nation of good luck and mutual friends, recognition &fore comprehension.” For collection -“The biuewvee~ man” and Elliott and Struthers met - and the that sudden sense of recognirion. you “Namesake” -the book wems IO move writer came to the meeting with a silver don’t need a big press. hack to the atmosphere of Tlr~ kissing ,ruw. as if it did not want to give up those TI-IE WRITER WAS THOUGH JUST AS POLISHED AND hallowed years quite yet. And who can professional as T/w ki.winR no. Tlwhit- blame it’! ALWAYS AT WORK tcnwwt nrut~ gives the reader a wholly TWROUGWOUT different experience-after all. 32 years NOTHING RESOLVES - FOR SOME of intense living does change you. First people.this is a hard lessonto lean. But at ELLIOTT’S CAREER of all. there’s no shared geography, no 7 I. ruddy and hearty and healthy. Elliott AS DIPLOPIATIC linkage of places and Ihr continuity that seemsa fortunate mud awax of his good VAGABOND AND brings. “The bitter.wwt nwn happens all fortone.His hous sitson the ile d’Orl&ats. over the world becauseI’ve been all over downsuram from @&ec City. facing the ADVERTISING the world,” Elliott says. shippingchannel ofthe%. Lawrence River WHIZ-KID As well. the new collection has il less and Ihe silver steeple of St-Michel-de- optimistic tone: its characters are more Bellecchawacnxs Ihe water. tote bag full of stories. Struthers has a bedraggled. It is an older book. more dis- ‘There are no pressures on me here,” small publishing venture of his own illusioned. ‘The people in it have had Elliou hays hy way of explanation of his called Red Kite Press. and the publisher time 10 become awful. Bta they’re bitter- healthy demeanour. “I pet up in the in him pricked up his ears: here was a sweet because. though they’re awful. morning. tix breakfast. then go out to the long-time favoutite of his opening up a there’s still some hope.” The man who studio andcrouch in fmnt of the machine treason chest of stories. Besides The bif- sells bittersweet in the title story offen for two or three hours.” The St. tersweet ttwn. another book sprang from the same fleeting mystery 03 the man Lawrence. which is close enough to the that tote bag: a story cycle set in an old who offered kisses in the hook 33 years sea to he salty and have I&fool tides. people’s home, to be published in the earlier. But whereas the kissing man’\ provides a kind of companionship and near future. kisses do bring comfort. when the bitter- checkpoint on the world for a man who Why a small press? After all, Elliott sweet man turns up in the last pamgmph lives alone. “I can judge the world econ- has been used to the limelight in a lot of of his story to offer Greg. the anguished omy according II) the seaway traffic. If areas. But when it comes to publishing protagonist. some relief. Greg rejects imn-err boats are coming in. that means his kind of writing. the difference be- him out of hand. “A prick.” is the way the auto industry ir picking up. If wheat tween small and large is negligible. “A Elliott describes hispoorpmtagonisl. is going out. that means the Russians bigger house like Methuen. which did Men tend to get a mugh write in these have got credit.” God’s Big Acre, might print a few hun- stories. especially when it comes to the That’s George Elliot1 all the way: at- dted more copies, but that doesn’t mean mine-field of relationships. “1 have four tachedto the world. knowledgeable about they’ll get sold.” At this point in his life. stories in here ahout people I really its ways. and ready to interpret it. 0

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I4 Books in Canada September 1994 -_. .,L-.<_T~ ---? ‘--.‘- .‘L,.~....~.~:‘-.~?~1.-~‘,_~..~.~....-~~~“, BY GEORGE ELLIOTT

HARLES WAS INVITED She pushrd the phonr hack tu makr gling fruwation of her workstation back to Frederick to do the room for the folder of stationery. She downtown. Labour Day Sunday morning wrote a carefully worded note to thank She put his Iettrr. unopened. in the service. As soon as he was alone in the him for phoning. The last sentence was wicker hssket on the tnhle. She prepared cbutch office he phoned Lois but got her stiff. polite: “Hope all is going well he- a cucumber and kiwi salad and glanced answeting machine. He said: “I’m doing tween you and your new friend - I a- over to read her name in his precise. a guest shot at Saint Cuthbert’s. It’s a hit- sume there is one -and that :I good blocky handwriting. She thought vaguely and-run visit Icalledto let you know I’m marriage is in your future.” She read it of the last timr they had heen togemer- here. I’m sorry I can’t see you. I didn’t again carefully. II was not Hinatious. No the textbook wisdom he dredged up. the want you to find out from someone else hint of his sudden departure from Saint sponutneity they both lost. and be ticked off I didn’t get in touch. Cuthbert’s. It was a mature signal of She sat down and slit oprn the enve- Keep well.” amity. nothing more The tonr left him lope with the but*?;letter-opener he had Lois played back the message twice. free to respond or not. given her one Christmas. The Ietter- Poor old Charles. What a come-down! Shr put a stamp on the rnvelope opener was onr of those ironies she liked Tucked away in that small college in quickly. before the warmth in hercheeks to collect and store away where she northern Virginia Teaching comparative faded. She thought of printing wouldn’t lose them. It was both a theology and remedial English. She lis- “S.W.A.H.“- sealed with n handshake promise of many lenefi addressedIO her tened for an undercurrent in his voice.. - on the envelope. but didn‘t. She that would need opening and a blunt Were there old feelings of affection that walked down to the comer and dropped symbol of.severanw might be revived? Was he phoning to find it in the mailbox. Now. as she wttled to read his letter. out if she was “with” somebody now? His reply csme after rhe Columbus she reminded herself not to he analytical Was he phoning to say he wss not “with’ Day weekend. She was home for hecauaeanalysis turned out to be destruc- anyone? Her heart quickened. She felt lunch. It was a line autumn day. Young tive in its cleverness and led to mild gntefulforbeingremindedofatimewhrn mothers stmlled their babies out fmnt. symptoms of depression. She knew that things almost worked. Her cheeks felt Old maples flaunted their bus-tour analysis remains the basis of “meaning- wrmassheletthemessageeraseitself. chic. His letter was in a wad ofjunk ful” conversation>. In the old days she Lois tried to remember the affection mail under the letter slot. She picked it could always pull her weight when some- that accumulated between them as they up gratrfully. She stood at the kitchen body said “The trouble with you is -” balcony door and felt the soft forgiving Ah. hut who needs meaning? Who membered, instead. how awful it was sun on her face. Forty minutes of free- needs the keenings of one more disap- when it all came to an end. dom before she went back to the nig- pointed lover? What we need isone great

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Books in Canada September 1994 I5 -. _-.._ --v-,. __.v-- ._ - _..a ._ .._ _- .- -..._ --. --_.~--_~_ ~. _..~~. .-~ -. --.._.

The Writers’ Union of Canada uu BOP l!3M?lO@=Qj wkwf=s

Prizes B32,500 to the winner; $1,000 to the first runner-up

Publication aThe aulhor agrees to permit publication of the winning piece in Bwks in Canada. on a one-lime basis only

Who is Eligible * Canadian citizens or landed immigrants a All miters who have not been published in book format

What Entries are Eligible, and How They Should be Submitted a Non-Fkttonand Flctlon Prose. 2.000-2.500 words. English language (NOT PRMOUSCY PUBUSHU) IN ANY FORMAT) a Typed or mmputer-genmated, double-spaced, numbered. SIR x 11 paper. NOT stapled (electronic submissions NOT accepted) a A separate cover letter indicating full name, address. phone number. number of pages. fiction or non-fiction entry e Authofi name should NOT appear anywhere on the actual entry a $25 submlssion fee PER ENTRY, cheque or money order (no cash please) made payable Lo The Writers’ Union of Canada

Please Note a A submission may be disqualified if any of Lhe above requirements are not met - Submlsslons till NOT be returned without a self-addressed envelope and sufficient postage - Winner and runner-up will be no6fied by February 1995

DEADLINE: November 3,1994

whoop of lunacy. Unprogrammed. time? Was he truly fed up wit11wh;rt they would set the tone for a letter worth writ- Unanalysed. If only she could do that. had thought was pretty good’! Maybe he ing. “What brought us to such lousy Without offending. Damn. She fell back was covering up the bleeding of a larger hindsight in short. unsatisfying letters? into the old gentility that drove her crazy. wound he couldn’t talk about’? Or: “When literate. articulate people Charles’s letter was an ordered tefuta- God. when she had her old blind certi- can’t do it. who can?” tion of all tbe calm assumptions she had tude she would have blurted ow her She wondered whether she should made about their friendship. His letter guesses and suspicions. He used to like answer hi> letter. After all. he said she began abruptly: “‘Wrung on all counts.” that. She couldn’t do it now. The= was a was wrong on all couws. She felt rad- And it ended in the same tone of voice: mutuality back then that made it easy for died with self-doubt. A good first sm- “Every good wish to you too.“There was her to speculate. Now he would snub her tencr did not occur 10 her. Forget it. att edge to his letter. Snippy. She re- for invading his privacy. They fell apart. He just withdrew fur- minded herself again not to dwell on tbe She read his letter carefully a second ther than \he did. edge. Remember what happens when time and found new meanings iIt every She didn’t think she had miswad his you overdose on analysis. sentence. meanings that may not have letter. but she didn’t want to be found She slithered the cucumber and kiwi been there. but meanings thrt flattered wrong if it turned out she had. She slices around on the plate. He was scold- her because that was her way. She left though1 abour it for too long. Her mind ing her. Did he write it, hold on to it for a the letter open on the kitchen table to had turned into one of those rings of fern days, uncertain. then drop it in the reproach her if she had made some ribbon with a one-half twist in it that mailbox? Or did he whip it off, throw it wrong assumptions about him. and to forms a convoluted circle you go in the box, and forget it? Letters behveen prepare her for the writing of a wise and around twice before you come back to the peaceably separated should be cool adult answer. where you began. and candid, but this one was cold and She tested opening sentences in her How could she ever trace the lovely distant. Had she been wrong all this mind to see whether there was one that unpredictability that broughr him to her

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in the first place?Where wouldshe begin in her mind. she dared not respond to running away from home. Beside%.what- the chronology of her approach to that what shr thought was in hia Irnrr. That ever she mighl \\ribz would probably rare state of grace - cliched and there- was her way: incspablc of [he direct- rmack of a tirrwmr melancholy. the fore unspenkable -called “falling in nrsh she admired in olhen. and alway\ dreaq. kw-voltage peK”~iniismfor which love”? She remembered saying “grown afraid ofhurting. \hc could tind no antidute. very fond of you” instead and she Someone told hrr once she had ii wh- How about a short. civilized note 10 blushed now at the arthritic imprecision mrrged bul inlinitc capacity l’trrcruelry apologi/s tiw all past and wwng assump of her words. Who knows where the be- and she believed il. If she had been dons lhey hdd madeabwt eachother? Just ginning of the end was? Who says it’s Charles’s viodm once. maybr lhrre wa\ ignore everything shr thought was in his over now? a way for her to bccomr his predator. lrucr. But brevity and civilization. they Analysers have trouble with real life. If only she could step hack out of hrr- had always betrayedher in the p&t. So be she thought. Real life is the randomness self. out of rhr ancient habh of pulitrnrr~ rambling. disorganired. uncharacteristic. that gets in the way of the list of things and self-abasrmen~. If only \hr had Ihe Thr kirchen darkened whrn a wusonal that must be done. Maybe there are only gift of talking “it” rather than just thr par- cloud paswd bet’ors the wn. Red maple two kinds of people who have no trouble lour trick of talking “about it.” Maybe Iravc~ wirled ahead of the wrht wind. dealing with randomness: the very rich there’s another way to rend him a him ot Loi> pushed hack her half-rurcn salad. because randomness is such a relief her reality. A shon stoty’! A pwm:’ Could She nipped Rcvcrcnd Chuckie’s letrer from the isolation and conformity of her truth come out in disguise’! Probably into the wicker haslier. Maybe she’d an- wealth, and the very poor because ran- not. She would be inscruvablz a\ usual. wer it wmr orher day. 0 domness is the body and texture of their Enigmatic realism has u certain fashion lives. It’s clumsy here in the middle: these days. she had been wld. hut *he From The bittersweet man, by George that’s all. thought it was like handling Ihr irradialrd Elliott Publishedby Red Kite Press,P.O. Box Despite a final clarity that emerged truth rith remote-comml army A kind 01 30. Guelph,Onwrio. Canada N/H 616.

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Books in Canada September 1994 I7 -__..-.- - -_ ._.,_. -.. ~.__ .~ ,_- ..-. -. - -.._- -.-. . ._.._.- _._..~ Uheinside story on why some books make it andsome books don1 BY STEPHEN HENIGHAN

VERYAUTHOR LONGS TO WRITE I accepted. The prospect of one steady source of abest seller. It’sonly human,aftcrall. to income, however small. to anchor my various errat- want to be famous. The same egotism ically fluctuating odd jobs. was irresistible. And - that is rcqubed to complete a book - a who knew’?- by working on best sellers I might capacityforrwnain@ convblced over a unravel the secret of how to write one. period of years tbat others will be intrigued by what Until mid-1991. the Guzerre reprinted its best- you have to say-also dictates that yours must be a seller list from Mcrcleutis magazine. The decision book whose advent the world is awaiting with to stop using the Muclenn’s list was based on its breathless anticipation. I knew that my first novel, perceived failure to reflect the reading habits of published in 1990, would be a best seller. No other Montreal book buyers. The two books whose sales outcome was possible. when the novel sank, more careers exposed the gaps in the Moclrcm’s ap- or less without atipple, I spent most of 1991adjust- proach were a curious pair: V. S. Naipaul’sIndia: A ing to this fact. 1 stitched together the conventional Million Murinies Now and Reed Scowm’s A patchworkofpart-timejobs-alittleteaching,alit- Differenr Vision: The English in Qaehec. In its tlereviewing-andkeptpluggingawayatmynext hard-cover edition, Naipaul’s book lacked a novel, for which I nourished the usual vain hopes. Canadian distributor. Despite being effectively Thenonedaythetelephonerang. bsrred from most of the retail outlets in the country, “Stephen, how much do you figure your time is India popped up week after week on the besi-seller wortb?“Every freelancer learns to lapse into cun- list the Garerre received from Maclean’s. All of the ning silence upon hearing words such as these, es- booksellers the Gozene consulted agreed that the pecially when the speaker is the books editor of a national sales figures implied by the Macleurt’slist- major newspaper. I managed not to reply. Bryan ing were virtually unattainable for a book lacking a Demchinsky of the Montreal Gozerre explained Canadian distributor. that he was planning to overhaul the Gazerre best- National anomalies were matched by regional seller fist. He was looking for someone to run his omissions. As 1 went about setting up the list by es- new list An article by another Gazeftejournalist re tablishing contacts at English- and French-language cently having drawn to Bryan’s attention the pic- Montreal bookstores, my preliminary inquiries con- turesque poverty in which I was living, he firmed a widespread impression that the former wondered whether I might be interested in the job. Quebec Liberal politician Reed Scowen’s A He could pay me $15 a week. Diflerenr Vision was selling at a briskly best-

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selletish pace. The fact that Scowen’s stores. Thr legend at the head of the Their operations are so tightly coordi- book appearedon no national best-seller Globe list states that SO0 bookstores nated. in fact. that one of the problems I list provided more support for acrossCanada conuibute each week to ils encountered in setting up the Guzrre lisl Demchinaky’s arguments in favour of a compilation. Two or three independent was that the Smithbooks store at the “made-in-Montreal” list. The policy stores arc mentioned as being “among Fairview-Pointe Claire shopping mall might in some ways seem insular. but as I bookstores participating in this week’s didn’t know what its own best sellers was discovering in my exploration of survey.” Ruth Noblr. who puts together were Until a diligent and helpful assis- otherpublications’ lista, all of these rank- dteG/o/re list,estimatcs that4Operoznt of tant maraageragrceed IO perform a weekly ings - supposedlythe ultimate‘.objec- the input comes from chain stores. tabulation on rhe Goxtfe’s behalf, the tive”measure of the litemiy marketplace According to Noble. the Giche is working store relied on a monthly listing of na- -weresubject todteirownpeculiarlties. to increasethe proportion of independents tional best sellers sera from head office. Sometimes. as in the presence of among its conuibuton in order IO give the National fashion. rather than local book- Naipaul’s undistributed book on the list “a more national feel of what people buying preferences. determined the Maclean’s list, these wrinkles defied are buying in little shops acrossCanada.” books the store stocked and the quanti- loglc; other trends, such as the sometimes She points IO Timothy Findley’s ties in which it ordered them. Coles has disproportionate success enjoyed by Heudburrtcr and Jane Urquhart’s Awo~. become even more notorious for huge. Toronto writers on the “national” list of both of which made the Globe list at times blind orders of highly pmmoted books. the Globe and Mail, appearedall too pm when they weren’t being stocked by Thr resuh of this kind of homogenized dictable. The most desirable course Smithbooks or Colrs. as evidence of the bookselling is that any best-seller list seemcdto be that adopted by the Village G/r)he’s success in building up a solid heavily dependent on chain stores mea- Voice Litermy Supplement, which com- base among thr independents. At the sures orders rather than sales. piles a list of “Our Kind of Best Sellers” same time. Noble concedes that the Them are two theories about why this from information provided by the sort of GloWs reliance on chain sloreswas mom occurs. The cynical theory dictates that stores where Voice readers ere likely to pronounced a couple of years ago. when having ordered tens of thousandsof hard- shop. Taking into accouut tire diffemnccs T/W Kitcben God’s Wve appeared. And cover copies of the latest blockbuster. the between our respective made&@, 1 de- theG/& list stillhas its detmctors.Some chains are angling hard to sell the hook cided to lay tomake theGazette list a sim- booksellers complain that the Globe’s even if it turns out to be a dud. They in- ilar”OurKindofBest Sailers.” contributor’s form. which lists 20 poten- clude it on their best-seller list in the hope tially best-selling titles (while also allow- of creating a self-fullilllng prophecy. The ih COUPLE of weeks b&ore I was due ing space for write-in votes). predisposes charitable theory focuses on the individ- to compile my that list, Amy Tan’s The them to mention a given cluster of highly ual Coles or Smith’s manager.Receiving Kitchen God’s W#2 leapt onto the Globe promoted books. Others continue to a phone call from a newspaper asking and Mail’s national best-seller list. I doubt the Globt*‘s commitment to the in- about best sellers. the harried manager made a quick tour of downtown book- dependents. One Ontario independent glances across the slore. spots stacks of storesto see how Tan’s novel was selling bookseller whose store has been included unsold copies of the latest Robert locally. The Kitchen God’s Wife wes in the G/o&s Ii.st of “bookstorespartici- Ludhtm or Danielle Steel doorstop. and nowhereto be found Had it already sold pating in this week’s survey” told me: blurts out the title of me book that is piled out? No, I was told, it hadn’t arrived. A “Given the frequency with which they’ve highest as being at the top of the list. metaphysical conundrum Tearedits head: cited us in the last year. dtey’m sure as hell Thecynical theory hasmoreadhemnts how could a novel not yet on the market not polling many independents.” Noble. than the charitable theory. A newspaper have become a best seller? Richard King however. states that Gl&e policy is to editor with whom I broached the subject of PamgrapheBooks providedme with continue to shift the list“more strongly to- of Coles’s contributions to various best- an answer.“A but seller,”he said, “is a wards the independents.” seller lists. interrupted me in mid-sen- book thatis meant to be a best seller.” It is tempting for best-seller lists to tence: “They lie.“The manager of one of The Globe and Mail list was. and to rely on chain stores: chains are easy to the stores contributing to the Guxtfe list some extent still is. dependent on chain poll and can supply centralized statistics. - an independent with a strong com-

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sumption of a homogeneous national market made their outlook inimical to Oae-stop shopping for the our attempt to compile a locai “Our Kind Canadian play of your choice. of Best Sellers” item. Bryan Demchinsky and I agreed that we would weigh all storeswe surveyed equally. re- In addition to every play published as a trade gardless of their sales volume. In part paperback by all Canadian publishing this was a response to our suspicion that houses, Playwrights Union of Canada also the chains’ listings might not be reliable distributes more than 1000 plays as copyscripts: and in psn in \?llugc Voice fashion. we cerlox-bound copies of original manuscripts. had decided that such a policy repre- sented the best way to cater to readers of Simply contact: the Gcrxrte books section. The con- PloywrigJm Union of Conodo: sumers of Ludlum and Steel did not 54 Wolseley Street, 2nd fL,Toronto, Ontorio M5T IA5 make purchasing decisions on the basis tel: (416) 947-0201 or toll free l-800-561-3318 of reviews: the people who read the fox: (416) 947-0159 Gururre’s Saturday review section to keep ahreast of new books were more likely to shop at the independents.

FORTHE NEXT ISmonthsofmy life Tuesday became best-seller day. Calling on Tuesday gave the stores time to tally up their weekend sales. while ensuring that the list was ready for the Saturday Editedby BREEN-NEEDHAM, DUNCAN, books section’s Wednesday evening lay FERENS, REEVE 8 YATES out. Every Tuesday afternoon from I:30

l?s.says.poems and photographs from some 12Oconlribulors to 3:30. or as long as it took. I dialled thatcelebrale the beaury &he ancienl forest3of ML’s frantically to reachevery store on our list. andrhe importance&he embauledClayoquorSound, Each week there would bc at least a coo- Sound’spresxvadon for liruregenentionr ISBN l-5515ZOW5; 517.95papcr ple of stores where something had gone wrong. requiring me to plead. cajole. or call back several times. Most weeks. though. we managed to get our full com- AR$EMAL PULP Lpl@iEss plement of contributing stores. Once I Distributed by General Distribution Services had Gnished, I would perform my calcu- lations.oopyout the three lists-F?ction. Non-Fiction. and Books in French mercialslant - warned me that she she had promised herself in future. if she Which mixed fiction and non-fiction) - would not supply me with more than contributed to a best-seller list. only to and jump on the M&n, to deliver the list three titles each in fiction and non-fic- mention titles that she was certain were to the tiux~tt=‘s front desk by 5 p.m. tion. She went on m explain. in a spirit of selling well in herstorethat week. My afternoons on the phone ushered back-m-basicafervour, that she had be- The Kirclrrn GoJs KG’J~became a bes.1 me into a world of divelse enthusiasms. gun her career at Coles. She had been so seller before arriving in the bookstores The Smithbooks assistant manager disheartened by being obliged, she because it received big advance orders raved over the phone about Robert claimed, m report“unhue” rankings that from the chains. The chain stores’ as- Jordan fantasy novels. A manager at one

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of the more refined independent book- BILLETER,ed. stores, utterly scmpulous abollt the lig- ERICA A feast of visual and written information, this book ures he submitted. also took advantage contains a generous selection of beautiful colour of my calls to offerjudicious literary illustrations of Frida Kahlo’swork as well as criticism of each of the titles he cited. fascinating essaysand photographs by friends and Some storeswould use my call as an op- scholarson her work and life. portunity to complain if a book they 280 pages,X6 b/w & 174 cobur illuslmtlans,149.95 were promoting had received a bad re- view in the previous weekend’s Gaz~re. o!Jlu Chieff0 mdl Ivfost storesended up knowing my home Words and Photographs of Native Leaders phone number, which, since it ended in “00.” they mistook for a G~rerre oftice ‘A60~4 with the power to charge ourperceptions.... number. I began 10 receive calls at odd showing rhe deepconcerns and robust human hours from stores attempting to answer ofpeople who have much to share.‘Times-Col customers’ queries about titles. authors, 160 pages,60 duotoneptmtqmphr, 124.95 and literary prize-winners. I develo$ed a network of collaborative telephone rela- tionships with anumber of people whom I had never met. This proved especially hue at the French stores. where menac- T NEW FROM RED DEER COLLEGE PRESS v ingly formal voices. which for the first few weeks addressed me as ‘VOUS”and “Monsieur,” soon melted into confi- Mission Impossible dante-like intimacy, making me the repository of problems with bosses and boyfriends in pauses between reading out the week’s best sellers. An unbridgeable gulf divided the English and French reading publics. Compiling the list heightened my aware- ness of the extent to which mainstream writers from France. such as SCbastien Japrisot. Annie Emaux. RCgine Desforgcs, and Alexandre Jardin, domi- nated the Quebec book-selling scene. I discovered that in addition to the literary Queb&ois writers with whom I was fa- miliar, them existed a vigorous strand of QuCbtois popular fiction represented ing. was the mutual lack of intrresr dis- take no greater interest in QuCbecois lic- by genre writers such as the historical played by English-Canadian and don than English-Canadian readerselse- novelist Chrystine Brouillet. The manic QuCbecois readrrs in one another’s tic- where in the coumry). The only Q&b&zois passion. largely imported tion. The only Qu6becois novel lo appear English-Canadian novel to make my from France, for translations of US writ- on my English fiction list was Roth French list was Nino Ricci’s Le .SEI.~UII ers such as Paul Auster, David Leavilt. Carrier’s Pruwr.s oju Ver:r Wi.w C/d/d cv /us JYVLTb/crr.r. the tmns~~~ionof Lines and John Irving, also came as a surprise [which also appeared on the G/&c IisI. ~grhr Sc~irrrs.Pari of the reason for the Less surprising, though more discourag- suggesting that Anglo-Quebec readers rranslnlion’s success was that it origi-

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Cooper). During the IS months that I compiled the Guxrre list, no English Montreal fiction writer appeared on it - though Edward 0. Phillips and David Homel each just missed on one : .a:-11 R?OGENYOF LIGHT/ or two occasions. The only hard-cover VANISHEDIN DMRIESS English-Canadian first novel to crack by Eva Brewster my top IO was Camle Corbeil’s Voice O-920897-754 $19.95 pb ovw. (“There really aren’t that many copies out there,” Corbeil murmured ME LAST-T FORES Japanese MultInationals % during her Montreal tour. when I told Alberta’s Norlhem Forests her that her novel had placed second on by LqrryPro-ii % Ion Urquhart C-920897-770 $18.95 ob the coming Saturday’s &t-seller list.1 A best seller remains. as Richard SCABOFUGHT King told me. a book that is meant to be by Beth Gaoble a best seller. We were able to avoid list- 0920897-73-8 $13.95 pb ing books before they appeared in the stores, but we couldn’r escape rhe EATINGbllTl.B structure of mass book-marketing. Knowlng Women’s Uves Caterlna Edwards Most best sellers are predetermined. R Kay Stewoti. eds. though the scope of a panicular book’s o-920897-79-7 S16.95pb success may vary according to timing, review space. or the author’s perfor- mance with the media. What I learned noted in France and arrived in Quebec mge. “This book is uot fiction. it is not about writing a best seller. in short. was supported by the clout of a major Paris non-fiction - it is science fiction!” It that best-sellerdom has little to do with publisher. Ricci also did two things right took newly 10 minutes to extract the re- writing. Book marketing is increasingly io his dealings with the Quebec media: mainder of the list from him. international in scope. The result, as a he spoke French, and he spoke it with au Looking back, I realize that our sue- recent article in 7/1e Economist noted, is Italian accent rather than an English ac- cess in putting together a significantly that the same small group of books cent, circumventing the resistance to different kind of best-seller list was lim- comes to dominate the best-seller lists in English-Canadian culture often evinced ited. A few political books sold better in country aftercounuy. Back in Monueal. by Qu6b6cois journalists. Montreal than elsewhere. Students of the Bryan Demchinsky remains”absolutely The disparity between English and McGill philosopher Charles Taylor committed to a local list despite all the Freuch outlooks came to a head with the bought rnough copies of The Mulcrise I,/’ problems.” One negative consequence publication of Mordecai Richler’s Modtwir) to hoist it onto the non-tiction of mass marketing. he points out. is that polemic Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! The list for a couple of weeks. Barry Lazar booksellers rarely respond quickly week after the book came out, one and Tamsin Douglas’s T/~P Guide to enough to promote local books that English store gleefully reported having Erbnic Mont~eu/ also did well. Literary show best-seller potential: “In your own sold 362 copies io less than three hours at fiction by British writers such as backyard.withasmuchpublicityasyou a Richler signing. A few minutes later I Margaret Drabble and Manin Amis sold could wish for. your chances are still phoned Coles. Due to a mix-up. tie man- somewhat better in Montreal than it did pretty slim.” A list devoted to regional ager of the store’s French section WBSas- nationally: some Toronto writers promi- tastes has become a quixotic notion in signed to read the English list to me over nent on the Globe list either didn’t do as an era of global markets - but that may the phone. When he reached Richler’s well in Montreal (Daniel Richler) or be all the more reason 10 keep such name, hebecame nearly insrticulate with failed to show entirely (Douglas specimens alive. 0

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- _ ~~ _ ~_ _ w Despite media scare-mongering and political meddling, the Writing Thrn ‘Race’ Conjbence achieved most of what it set out to nccompli.4

BY CYRIL DABYDEEN

AYBE IT WAS AUSPICIOUS that the Writing Thru “Race” Conference, attended by about 200 participants. was held during the Canada Day weekend (June 30-July 3). The Japanese-Canadian novelist Joy Kogawa called it “celebratory,” as it indeed was. Others, more rhapsodic and feisty. described it as “history in themaking.“The venue was tbe Coast Plaza Hotel. nestled in beautiful. sprawling StanleyP&inVancouver.adjacent tothewatrrs of English Bay and the harboor. It rained most of the time. as if in some stmnge way the weather mirrored my own mood at the conference: one of reticence, almost muteness. I was willing to sim- ply watch and observe and, periodically. to mull over Eldridge Cleaver’s definition of literalare. which I have long accepted as my own: “the com- bination of the alphabet with volatile elements of the soul.” Reform Pany. which she accused of being tlw rep- Admittedly, I was curious as well: I wanted to resrn~~tive of the fxright in Canada. She found a see how it would all turn out. in view of the media sympathetic audience in this gathering of mostly brouhaha over this so-called “exclusionary” con- younger writers as she lamented the view that ference-acontroversy blown out of pmponion women. gays and lesbians. people of colour. and -and the denial of funding by Heritage Canada immigrants were being called just another “intcr- Minister Michel Dupuy. who appeared to give in est gwup.” Who indeed represemrd the tnw “na- to the Reform Party’s charge that the confexncc tional interest.” she wanted to know. if not 1hr.w was somehow ‘discriminatory.” samegmups?Latrron.delegates~ignedapetition In her keynote speech. Sunero Thobani to be sent to dir minister about his “ill-conceived (National Action Committee on the Status of and precipiroub” act in denying funding tu the Women) pounded the podium as she berated the conference.

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The conference was the brainchild of to basic!. such ah housing. aociul wx- tor. Reacting to the power ~~ructurczin- the Racial Minority Writers’ Committee vicrs. and education’!: and arc alliances Rucncing a Eumccnrric literature that i\ of the Writers’ Uuion, with the editor and between First Nation3 peoplr and pro- considered “univerxd” rather than an ex- poet Roy Miki steering the initiative ple of colour tmoslly immigrants) to pression of “whirr holipsism” tin through. He admitted being a much-wett- bring about substantive change in fhe Adrienne Rich.5 words) provided the ried man; and he sometimes appeared cultural field really rhr brst strategy? impetus 10 discuss the full realization pussled by it all. Grrg Young-lng. of Theyrus Books la and apprehension of new forms and liter- In sponsoring the Writing Thru Native press in B.C.). xdd uncquivo- atures in a culturally diverse landscape “Race” Conference. the Writers’ Union tally: “Native people havr diffcrcnt cx- The conferencr also rngendered what indeed seemed to be on the road to be- periences from immigrants.” the Toronro writer Dianne Brand called coming a more inclusive organization. Theviewscxpressed about Nativrsro- “a moment of wlidarity _. il good thing And perhaps the union will never be the rytelling and oral property bring appm- will conw as the when face u number of same again, despite the conservative priatrd struck a comprlling chord: as did new challrnge!eh.”Above all. thr confer- voices in it. (At one point, the impulse the notion that Canada’!. laws should br ence was dominatrd by a spirit of “~clc- among many delegates at the conference amended (or rsrrndrd) IO include oral bration.” as thr Montrral-based poet was to break away from the Writers’ property as copyrightrd marrrial. Gerry Shikarani emphasized. Union and form a separate organization Jeaneue Annstmng was cogent and pcr- -but this was fleeting. Winnipeg’s suasivc in articulating the Native posi- CELEBRATION manifested itself Uma Parameswaran. among others. tion that change is needed in rhr writing palpably in the rhrec nights of readings: quickly cautioned against this move.) community as a whole: and “Writing mentorahle momcn~~with the range and The further challenge before the union is must go back to the people. IO where it power of word*. the effuu\ion of lan- whether it will become involved in advo- belong..,” argued the First Nations writer guage. the hlood-heats of dialect. pas- cacy and activism. Lenore Keeshig Tobias. Maybe writing sion. and lendemesa And a profusion of Conference participants wrestled for the community. tirst and foremost. mother tongues and their rrsunances: with some complex issues: the ongsr of will supplant the star system that pro- Urdu. Punjabi. Spanish. The inimitable identity and marginalization in motes the singular artist. Clifton Joseph tToronto~ at one end of Canadian society: writing from per- the spccuum. and the young Vancouver spectives often reflective of anti-racist AT THE COBJPEREIMCE. I kept poet Mrrceder. Bainrb. pulxuing with a and anti-colonial struggles. struggles thinking of Canada Day celehouions on unique energy. liheraring the libido- whose history may not always be famil- Parliament Hill in Ottawa, where I might women’r and men’!. - with satire and iar to many of the new writers; their have been if I hadn’t gone to Vancouver. protest at the other. The more experi- own unique role as writers given to this Images flitted through my mind. among enced witerr were juxtaposed with form of social commitment. even them the spectacular firework?, on the younger ones: the lnuit writer Alootook though writing is otten a solitary, intro- Hill. which are a more than symbolic ex- Ipelle. whose trcmulou~ voice rose in his spective vocation. Surprisingly. all the tolling of Canadian unity from east to evuuation of thr landscape of rhe North. discussions occurred without the self- west. It seemed to me that rhr joy of blended with the Jamaican-born Afua dramatizing elements that might have coming together was also part of the Cooper.5 powerful extolling of woman- diverted attention from the equally spirit of the conference’s discussions hood in p~lerry-cum-perf~lrlnance. For complicated, but inevitably discursive about inclusion/exclusion. And there many the readings - and the trihurea to question of who does one really write were solitudes. loo: clusrerh hasrd on the departed Sam Selwn and Roy for-the minority community, or the race. gender. age. sexual orientation. ge- Kiyooka - were all that mattered. An mainstream? ography. or simply the cultivation of appreciation for all the pn~rihiliries of For many participants. there ap- friendships. In this amorphotu conunu- language. hhared by an audiencr of non- peared to be two key questions: how nity, the talk of oppression and the con- whites and white> alike. led to an inclu- does one’s writing life fit in with strug- frontation with racism. systemic and hivene\h thur exrendrd t’xr heyond gles for employment equity and access othewisr. seemed to be the unifying fac- simplistic ideas uhwn “exclusion.”

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INEVITABLY it was asked: what is so THE NATIVE ORATOR Chief Colour. An Issue Ed. Roy Miki & Fred Wab wrong with a few sessions where First Leonard George (son of Chief Dan poetry, tictim. personal & Nations/writers of colour could talk George) urged: “Use your anger and get among themselves without inhibition. beyond it . for our circle to be strong.” could form cancuses and express inti- He drew attention to the “subconscious mate and strongly held views. and even of your dreams” ns the force driving ventilate a collective angsr stemming one’s creativity. He added that Natives from one’s racial identity and sense of are atnrting to move away from the oral marginalixation? The Vancouver novel- tradition-the purest form of histoty- ist Sky Lee put things in metaphysical and nre now hem on rewriting history perspective by saying that the partici- with the “pen of our conquerors so pants were engaged in the process of that we can become proud and digni- Lh.9 on ‘%hating journeys of death and life”: this tied.” His final invocation and prayer: “r/xl?- in the context, we were reminded, of “Let the Creator he our guide. because and Robert Fttlford’s charges (in the Globe this is our individual responsibility.” artd~foiai~)that the conference was racial- Writers of all racial hackgmunds could ixing the cttlhtte as a whole. As Lee and seek no higher goal. others pointed out, seven-eighths of hu- The confetmce’s “high mad.” as the Orders: West Coast Ltne 2027 East Academic Annex mankind consists of people of colour. so Saskatchewan writer Vm Begatnudre Simon Fraser University what exactly was the problem? saw it. lay in building alliances or coali- Bumaby BC V5A 1S6 I?,

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Books in Canada September 1994 25 _-_._._ ,.-_.--.-.i_.-_.:-=-_-,- -r-. -.--. - .i .._._._ - _._.-_. . . ._ ,.._..~ _. AreplytoVictorhB~~~~.&n’s‘Get That Pain Off Your Face!’ and ‘No Sex, Pleaae, We’re (lients’ BY Ls!xN CROSBIE

N 1993 I EDITED AN senriull~ concur on issues. What I like anthology of women’s repre- about women’s sex-writing is its varird sentations of sex and the body nature: the best collections in this genre for Coach House Press entitled highlight the fact that there is no erotic TIE Girl Wants To. Some rc- consensus among women. that. in Mary viewers were disquieted by the Gaitskill’s words. “you can’t legislate Ianthology’s explicit nature, and some- your sexual fantasies.” times, when I was pmmoting the book, I Branden’s objection to sex-writing is felt just like Hugh Hefner and under- carefully situated in these essays: she is stood why he felt compelled to compose not offended by graphic depictions of the complex and arcane Playboy sex. she is horud by them. The word Philosophy. One of my favourite re- “boring” and many of its synonyms fly views, which appeared in the G/ok and like shrapnel as Branden tatters her the- Mail, waswritten by Sarah Harvey, who, saurus in order to debunk what is “te- not trusting her own appalled reaction to dious.” “wearisome.” “dull,” and the book, sought the opinions of “two “monotonous” about the composition lesbians” and others. In “Get That Grin and production of female-authored Off Your Face!” and “No Sex, Please. erotic and pornographic literature in implicated here as one of the books of We’re Gents.” Victoria Branden’s two- Canada. The variations on the theme of “slurh” and “gunli” produced by avari- part article in BiC about sex-writing. boredom outlined here are. paradoxi- cious”porn-peddlers.” And although I Branden also consults “younger readers” cally. lively and inflammatory. I found have no circular waterbed to pontilicatc about sex in the arts, and discovers that myself sawing through Branden’s es- from. I would like lo disabuse Branden they thii of sex as “exclusively private” says with a highlighter. and savaging of this offensive chnracterizntion. and equate sex-writing, disapprovingly. them with a blunt pencil as I tried to for- I am almost tempted to dismiss with “spectator sex.” Her sex survey is mulate a responx to their central nrgu- Branden’s ideas as the harmless and touching, as it supports her effort. ment. I also found myself resenting the quaint opinions of a relic of second-wave throughout her work, to assert that she is fact that my response IO these “opinion” feminism. Her pursed-mouth distaste for . not a prudish “‘oldergeneration female.” pieces is already situated. within the four-letter words and her fondness for But the “I asked two lesbians” approach texts. as the prurient interest of an in- picturesque tern15 like “gents” and “rhr to criticism is not only methodologically sipid voluptuary. Thr Girl Wunrs To. dear dead days”are rather sweet. as is her cormpt, it implies that certain groups es- among other sex-writing collections. is venrntion of the elliptical sex scene (the

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staircase scene in Gone with the Wind is by a quarrel with Laurence’s sex-writing her critique of Atwood. Laurence. and cited as an endearing classic), and her that was predicated on the repulsive line other women writers’ “really depressing wish thatMarpt Atwood would only “Ride my stallion. Momg.” but not by and gloom-inducing” sex scenes is the write more “funny. delightful” novels. Branden’s critique. which focuseson the possibility that these scenes are often “Life is sad enough.” she observes. “painstaking” explicitness of her sex powerful critiques of sexual politics. “without exposing oneself to morose- scenes. Because we live in a country Sexual oppression may be a downer. but ness-inducing downers.” The spunky where brain-dead pedagogues are busy it is a grim reality that many Canadian optimism (and hip phrasing) of this re- trying to ban I% Dir-inerr outright. the women writers have effectively con- mark alone prohibits retaliatory invec- explicitness of the book’s language fronted and contested in their work. tive. What is mildly right-wing and raisesmotectitical issues-suchascen- Branden’s forceful exception to the toothless in the essays, however, often sorship and institutionalized decency - women writers’ depressing characteriza- gives way to intolerance, revisionist than Laurence’s affront to the aesthetics tions of sex led me to speculate, with scholarship. and dire misinformation. of the boudoir. A discussion of what is some admiration. that her own sexual ex- Bmttdett’s assessmentof Canadian lit- gloomy and depressingabut Laurence’s periences have been unilaterally fabu- erature, for example, is shockingly sex-writing may be appropriate in an ar- lous. Because there is such a strong

miniature. in its scope; her discussion of title in praise ofjnuissanr sex-writing. joy-of-sex undercurrent to her work. one the genre is limited to kingpins such as but Branden exhibits no familiarity with might imagine that she would be an au- Robertson Davies, Margaret Laurence. the concept of sexual-textual pleasure. thoritative commentator on the topic of Atwood, and a few other luminaries. Atwood’s depictions of sex - in her sexual pleasure. but all Branden’s talk of Someone who remarks that she no “funny. delightful” early novels - is enrrtri is a mere smokescreen. What is longer reads Canadian novels is clearly praised, as the heroines of these novels called for in her work is the obliteration untittoassessthegenre,butBrandensol- “rather like .sex.” but don’t discuss it in of graphic sex writing. writing which is diets along, compressing the work of a any detail. The &dih/e Wmnmr, a novel “insulting,““unsubtle.” and “bad art.”

small selection of writers into sn air-tight that featuP a man resting an ashtray on Branden declares. in a casual critical canister. Laurence’s The Stone his lover’s back post-coitus. is singled FuhrrrrheirJ5l way. that explicit sex- Angel is determined to be “unreadable.” out for its amusing and tasteful sex writing “can be dispensed with.” and and The Diviners is attacked because it scene<. while the later novels are reviled suggests. heretically. that sex-writers depicts sex as being “gloomy and mo- because of their accounts of “unejoy- and publishers arc “all frustrated vir- mseness-inducing.” I could be swayed able” sex. What Branden overlooks in gins.” Such theories would be less offen-

...... Books in Canada September 1994 27 .-_-__. -I-. -~--~.x_~ ~.~. _.__.._L. c --_I--...-. ..- .___ _. _ sive if they weren’t so reflective of the According to Branden. it is socirty’r exactly what doe\ make women flush. parochial and totalitarian manner in “poverty of spirit” that is illustrated by Women sex-writer3 arc lesscounterpans which our censors conduct their busi- those who “want or need” strip-trases. than counter-attackers - one of the ness. I remember seeing Mary Brown real or fictional. and she is both adamant strongest impulsrs behind this genre is (Ontario’s head censor-despotof films at in her disavowal of women’s sen-writ- women’s desire to challenge convm- the time) lecture in 1984. and being ing. and completely oblivious of it.r his- tional patriarchal representations of fe- struck by the ways in which the political toly. structure. and meaning. male sexuality. left and right cao converge on the issue I am not persuaded that male writers Branden’s belief that women’s sex- of censorship. have stopped writing about sex - the writing reproduces srxist idrology is Both radical feminists and conserva- only sex-free bestseller I can think of OK- spurious given its context within essays tives have a vested interest in the sup- hand is Jwassic Pd. which is merely that reproduce such wildly repressive pression of exploitative, misogynist sexist (the large. vicious female di- ideas about women’s rights. Issues of pornography, and Branden cannily situ- nosaurs arc referred to as males). In sexual politics. freedom of speech. de- ates her own argument within these Canada. scores of lusty gay and hetero sire. imagination. and individuality arc men continue to produce sex-writing: ignored in these essays in favour of a rc- however. men’s sex-writing has been actionary call for abolition. overshadowed lately by women’s work The thought ofCanadian litrnturc be- in this genre. Any intelligent response to ing producrd and organized around what sex-writing must consider both sex and Branden rhinks is delightful is frankly sexuality. and it is reductive and inaccu- ltorrifying. Yet she calls for rhr destruc- rate to ozferto women’s sex-writing as an tion of one of the most politically and ar- imitative genre. as Branden does when tistically signilicanr literary genres with she constructs phrases like “Richlrr and the nonchalance of a Roman emperor. his female counterpans.” Historically. fe- Even more honifying is the heterosex- male sexuality ltas been malr-authored: ism encoded in her work: lesbian sex- when women. as authors. begin to in- writing is mentioned in the context of scribe their own sex and sexuality in their orrlr.c;and criminal practices such as work. they resist being. in Ann Rosalind “bestial”and”kiddy”sex. and sodomy is Jones’s words. “a subject rfdiscourse” described as one of a number of “un- and become “a subject i/l discourse.” By pleasanmesses.”Gay and lesbian writers authoring their own experiences. women who have existed on the margins of (left/right) dipoles. She excoriates move fmm being sexual objects to being CanLit and who continue to suffer thr Mordecai Richler’s sex-writing for its potenr,speaking sexual subjects. consequencesof homophobic legislation cruel sexism and implies that it is be- In the course of critiquing Richler’s and censorship have a compelling reason cause the work is explicit that it is ex- fiction. Bnnden cites a passagein which to produce subjective sex-writing. ploitative. Other male writers in her a man “whispers indecrncies into [al Subjective accounts of homosexuality curious CaoLit survey arc praised for stewardess’s ear. making her flush with effectively negate dominant cultural having “abandoned”graphic sex-writing pleasure.” sod states:“if [Richler’s men 1 ideas about sexual practices deemed to as “Old hat” and “‘sludge’*;Branden’s ar- ever check the women’s opinions. they be deviant. or. in Branden-parlance. gument pivots on this dubious point. If might learn that it’s not with pleasure “wearisome.” men have stopped writing graphically that the stewardess is flushing.” I can In her rhapsody over the staircase about sex, womenshould too, she insists: imagine a collection of erotica entitled scene in G~rre nirk rkr M’iral, Branden “‘strip-teases,” she notes, with an egali- ClIf?~k rkr Slrl~lrr~/r.~.~‘.~ Opinion: says that “when Rhett picked up Scarlet1 tarian flourish, “whether male or female. women’s sex-writing subverts tradi- and ran up those stairs. we knew what arc dismal sod disheartening”- tell that tional rubjectiobjrct positions. and in- was going to happen.” What is not clear to the mai-tai set at the Tropicana. forms readers. in a variety of ways. is whether Branden would know what

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was going to happen if Scarlelt ran up the stairs with Melanie. Sex-writing provides, among other things, practical information about alternative sexual practicesand the vast and complex field of human desire. We may, as Branden suggests. all “know how” to do it, but many of us may not know how to do it with a dental dam (the lesbian answer to condoms). or, more significantly, many of us may ALITERARY MYSTERY not know how to legitimate or fullil our own desires, or know that we have the right to do so. Matian Engcl’s Benr is one of the books Branden dislikes be- cause of its “~barmss[ing].““uninten- tional wmedy.“Beor is ironic, but not comedic; its sexually abused narrator finds pleasure through cunnilingus as opposed to intercourse, and it is one of the first mainstream Canadianwomen’s novels that situates the clitoris at the sexual centre. WINNER OF THE CRIME WRITERS’ ARTHUR ELLIS AWARD Alice Munro is not discussed in Blanden’s essays, although her accounts broader. more inclusive third wave. I i&irren) outside of highly specialized of adolescent female sexuality are dis- thought a lot about second- and third- courses that male students avoided in quieting and certainly“momseness-in- wave feminism when 1 compiled 711~ droves. I am even more wary of shabby ducing.” Munro’s work serves as an Girl Wars 7’0. and realized that the polit- scholarship. censor-lust. and any third- argument for sex-writing, as the female ical and literary strategiesof mcxstwomen rate feminist polemic that addxsses me characters of small-time Ontario are of- writers are too fluid and complex to com- as “dear sister.” AI this late point in time. ten victims of hideous misinformation partmentalize. My ambitions. asaneditor I don’t want to havetoexplain that novels about their own sexuality. Sexual as- and feminist. concern representationand other than T/x, LVur.sor Doming in :hr sault, botched abortions, and rape arc inclusion; 1 am interestedin the evolution Dark have been published. and I’m re- viewed in Munro’s work through the of the radical-integral woman who. in pelled by Brandm’s derisive interpreta- lens of perverse ideologies about Nicole Brossard’s words. “emerglesl ti ,ns of my own and other women’s women’s desires, bodies, and gender from our life stories.” Ultimately. my in- sexuality and politics tdisguisedwdnsatrea- roles, ideologies that are challenged in terests and Branden’s interests collide at tise on boredom). the kind of sex-writing that isn’t avail- this point. I have spent far too many years What I love about second-wave femi- able in the Jubileelibrary. in the academicsalt-mines not to be wary nist writing is the slogans this movement It is because writers like Atwood. of anyone who uses King Lcur as an ex- produced. lovely. furious slogans like Munm. and Laurencetackled themes of ample of an “uplifi[ing~ text ;ind props it “Know Your Enemy.” If we. as women. sexualoppressipn in theirearly sex-writ- up as a substitute for women’s sex-writ- are to continue tighting our marginaliza- ing thatmore contemporarywriten can ing. While I tripped over Lnw a hundred [ion in the arts. we must be aware that begin to explore the regions of sexual times in school. I never encountered the sometimes this enemy. like Branden. pleasure- second-wavefeminism, ide- work of Radclyffe Hall. Daphne Marlatt. calls you “dear sistet ” and asks you to ally, providesa point of demre for the Gay1 Jones. or Kathy Acker (UC/ surrender the tight. 0

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Books in CanadaSeptember 1994 29 __.-._ __..~_ ~__.~. -ij-W[EAT[w[E BOOoQS . . . .._. .._...... _...... _......

BY DAVID PROSSER

U SEE THEM EVERYWHERE began to panic: I’m not getting if. it’s all just now, even in bookstores: those com- squiggles. Bur then I remembered that these Y puter-generated eye-teasers known as words are meant to be heard. not read. and that stereograms.Gape long enough at the seemingly they cannot be separatedfrom the other elements random arrangements of blobs and squiggles. -dance. music. design -of the performance. and threedimensional images suddenly Seem to Reading the monologue C/lulrRilrL:Bodies. for in- bulge out of the page at you. The trick is IO refo- stance. is a substantially different experience cos your eyes so that you’re not so much looking from hearing and seeing it perfomled by a man dressed as a lobster. Let Brooker’s language wash over you. and keep your mind focused on an image of what these plays might look and sound like. and the humour (and elegiac beauty) of his surreal cartoonsquickly becomesapparent. In Doctor Thomas Neil1 Cream (Talonbooks. 126 pages. $12.95 paper). David Fennario uses the story of the McGill University-educated abortionist and brothel keeper who may have been Jack the Ripperto indict such”nation-build- ing” historical figures as Sir Wilfrid Laurier. Lord Sbathcona. Sir William Osler. and Sir Hugh Allen. Murderers and whoremasters the lot of them. according to Fennario. though he does ex- plain in an appendix that he really means that they were criminal only “in their general intentions” as exploiters of the working poor. Yes. well: the play itself shows Strathwna personally dispatch- at the page as trying to look r/wough it. Rather ing a potentially troublesome pmstitute by brain- like readiig plays, actually. In both cases. what’s ing her with the Last Spike. If Fennario’s polemic immediately visible doesn’t tell the whole story: seemsstrident on the page. though. it’s safe to bet to see what the artist means you to see. you have that in performance - with the chorus of mur- to look past the print. dered women visibly there on stttge. their inctm- Some scripts requite a bit more squinting than tatory comments on the action haunting our ears others. Blake Brooker’s Ilsa. Queen of the Nazi -it would leave its audience not only convinced Love Camp and Other Plays (Red Deer but sputtering with outrage. College Press, I84 pages. $12.95 paper) doesn’t Performance adds an extra dimension of irony make for easy reading. Brooker’s writing is dense to plays that deal with the art of the theatre. The with imagery and allusion, and it’s easy for the unpleasingly titled volume Big-Time Women reader to get bogged down in the poetic ambigui- From Way Back When (Playwrights Canada. ties of a single line. Halfway thmugh the second 236 pages. $14.95 paper) contains Sally Clark’s piece in tbe collection. The f_urd. 7%~Akno/.s. I Jrhmmtw ofrhr Witches. a fascinating interpreta-

...... 30 Books in Canada September 1994 --. - _. ,:.- i, ._, .c ~I_~--,~-.,: ... . ~ ;.--‘:-:I_+,, ; ‘~~.‘:v-.q.-.--:.I., .. -,:,~:-=77j~ ‘.: : _,_ _-._- -.__- ___._____~

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tionofthe Joan ofArc story as a collision stans out as an amusing theatre game set a bit of dialogue from W/we/ r,f.lrr.wiw. a between paganism and patriarchy, and on a beach ill a bay by a distant point. collective creation by the Saskatchewan Beth Herst’s wryly sympathetic A Refereed by a girl in a blue swimsuit. Urban Native Teacher Education Woman’sComedy. which uses the career two men compete in rituals of one- program: of the Restoration playwright Aphra upmanship. “Race you to the point:‘” I represent many different women. Behn to illustrate the limits that society asks the girl. repeatedly-but the point. I dropped out ofschool at a young places on art and love. Clark’s piece is when we reach it. turns out to be a revela- age. Boredom snd peer pressure partly about art too, for it is a play within tioll of tragedy. It’s a beautiful piece. introduced me IO the drug and a play: Jehanne’s story is being told ret- spare. evocative. funny. and sad. alcohol scene . . . With hardly an! rospectively, in a theatre performance Some plays stubbornly refuse to offer parenting&ills. I uied to look ntier staged by Gilles de Rais. a.k.a. illusions of depth. In The Wild Guys my baby hut I couldn’t seem to Bluebeard, with a boy playing the Maid. (Blizzard. 63 pages. 1610.9.5 paper). ageen- cope with all the rcsponsd~dmes. Questions of art and life occupy much tie male-bonding comedy hy Andrew Employers would not hire me of Jim Bartley’s Stephen & Mr. Wilde Wreggitt and Rebecca Shaw. four guys hecnose of the colour of my skin . . . (Blizzard, 79 pages, %10.95 paper). in get lost on a wilderness retmnt. get scared which Oscar Wilde gets talking to by a bear. and confess that they don’t uo- Oh. barf. Stephen Davenport, the ex-slave who derstand women. Here. what you read is If mordl lessons are truly what young acted as his valet during Wilde’s visit to what you get-most of it heinp easy minds crave. a much healthier bet for America. Wbo can claim greater author- yuks derived from the sending up of psy- school production would be John ity: the artist with no real experience of chobabble. “C~II you hear the Chi begin- Mighton’r Body and Soul (Coach hardship who can nonetheless discern ning to move in you like a wind. House. S6 pages. 59.95 paper). which the essence of truth in the experience of awakening your heart and lungs and begins with a scene of necrophilia and others, or the uncreative nonentity who liver?” asks one of the guys. a New Age goes on IO sound a Dire Warning about has absorbed the truth about life through wimp. “I can hear my stomach.” replies the imminent destruction of human in- the welts on his flayed back? his mol~down-to-xnh companion. tercourse - sexual and spiritual -by Unfortunately, since Davenport is por- Eureka! (Coteau. 176 pa_aes.$14.9S the nascent technology of virtual real- hayed as hsnily less intelligent or articu- paper) is a collection of seven one-act ity. Intelligent and literate. it’s not late than Wilde, their relationship stays plays from Saskatchewan chosen with meant to be a play for young people. rooted in the gentlemanly conventions of secondary-school students in mind. In which is precisely why it would rewanl thedebatiog hall. More visceral conflicts the introduction. the editors (Jacquic them so richly. have to be imposed from outside. in the Johnston Lewis and Dianne Warren) tell Or why nor try them with The Birds form of a snoopy newspaper hack who USthat some of the plays “were written (Exile. 9.5 pages. 914.95 paper). has stumbled on the secret of by individual playwrights from rheir Gwendolyn MncEwen’s posthumously Davenport’s past. own unique perspectives.” Hmm. With published adaptation of Aristophanes’s Never Swim Alone & This Is a Play the exception of Lyon Kirk’s Mere arui satire? I hated it at first. with its jokey. (Playwrights Canada, 101 pages, $10.9.5 An.ec/,q nod Rex Deverell’a Swifckirtx coy dialogue and its gratuitous grafting paper) presents two plays by Daniel Pktws, which come with sufficient dra- on of references IO Quebec nationalism Ma&or. The latter is an entertaining maturgical sweetener. the contents of and American cultural domination. I was metatheatrical romp. somewhere be- the volume should be taken for medici- looking at the page. of course. seeking tween The Reallnspector Hmnd and nal purposes only. After manfully swal- only litemry qualities (the play is a clas- Noises Off, in which we overhear the lowing these trndentious pronoonce- sic. after all. and MacEwen was a poet). thoughts of actors as they perform in ments on alcoholism. date rape. and the Theo I refocused. and thought: what if some dreadful tosh about long-lost cutting down of trees. I began IO worry you gave it to schoolkids and let them brothers. A surreal moment of commu- that perhaps teenagers actually like be- run with it? And suddenly there it was. nion at the end, though, resonates with ing dosed with pmpaganda coated widt springing ant of the page at me. vivid. surprisingpoigoancy. NeverSwim Alone sticky “Sesame Street” language. Here’s sharp. and solid as anything. 0

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BY BRIAN FAWCETT

N WILLIAM BLAKE’S COSMOLOGY. side. and environmentalists and most of B.C.‘s the lowest plane of mental existence was sane citizens on the other. Urizen. which he explained as “single vision. The first book to step boldly into this fray is or Newton’sSleep.“Today we’d probably situate Cyril Shelford’s Think Wood! The Forest Is Urizen somewhere between binary logic and ex- An Open Book: All We Have To Do Is Read It cessive single-mindedness - it’s the mental (Orca. 190 pqees. $14.9.5 paper!. Shelford is an vice of imagining the world as one would prefer old trapper and hand-logger who spent his youth it to be. and then arranging incoming phenom- nose to nose with falling trees and a lot of other ena to fit a dictato- things that require common sense in order to sur- rial logic while vive. Admittedly. he was also a member of thr ignoring what- province’s legislature for 23 years and the minis- ever refuses to sit ter of agriculture undertwo Bennett premiers. but comfortably with he was enough of a maverick on forest policy that that logic. In the he left the Social Credit pwy over it. His book is last few years dis- about what the forest industry -and the forests course on the en- - might look like ifeveryone involved behaved vironment has sensibly: loggers could log. corporations would been rife with this pmlit. governments would collect taxes. and or- affliction. But dinary folks could go to the mall. In Shelford’s maybe things are view. all that’s needed is a coherent land-use finally looking up. plan. mow value-added use of what he calls “ti- This year’s books bre.” timrly reforestation. and a hu_eedose of on the environ- good faith on the part ofevetyone involved. ment seem to be He’s perfectly correct about this. but unfortu- leaning slightly nately less than fully coherent. Thmughout his towards cosmol- long political career. one imagines. he was briefed Muwl ofold- ogy rather than utopia. Several go beyond by fx too many assistant deputy ministers who @#tih por@ti b merely illustrating the self-comforting limita- didn’t know bullshit from breakfastand therefore ROb!Zfl Dobie tlfld lions of single-mindedness. and one or two actu- thought that a coherent land-use plan could stand 7&y Gil&@ ally show how interesting things can be when up to the joint onslaught of spineless politicians from kwcsstopia wedo so. and single-minded corporate manngetx. Too of- Two books deal with a subject near and dear ten. Shelford simply parrots his briefing papers to my heart: forest policy in British Columbia. rather than using his own eyes and experience. The chronic over-harvesting of B.C. forests has with the result that he’s long on anecdote and created vast and largely ignored clearcuts in the homily. and profoundly short on answers that will northerly regions of the province. II has also re- make sense to anyone other than forest-industry cently produced, all along the portions of the hosers and govrrnmrnt ADMs. There are other coast that are attractive to the mass media. a se- related shortcomings to this book: too many ries of violent confrontations between logging statisticsdon’t add up (Shelfotd let the ADMs do industry and trade union npoloeists on the one the addition) and it’s too trusting of the industry’s

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excuses for past misbehaviour. only quibble I have is with their statisti- renowdon antireconsmtcdon of Moreover, it’s a book dtat crut’t envision cal analysis. which is sometimes a little human society. a forest practice that isn’t simply an ex- partisan. But an 80 petcent dose of their tension of past practices. brand of common sense mixed with a 20 Considembly drier and less timely is Foreatopia: APractical Guide to the percent dose of Cyril Shelford’s might Stifling Debate: Canadian Newspa- New Forest Economy (Harbour. 120 give us a way out of the mess that 40 pers and Nuclear Power tfernwood. pages. $16.95 paper), by the well-re- years of smash-and-grab logging has I23 pages. S I I.915 paper). by Michael gardedenviummental activist and author mired us in. And that isgood news. Clow with Susan Machum. Certainly Michael M’Gonigle and the journalist Elsewhere on the environmental the subject matter is interesting. but the Ben Parlitt, definitely can imagine a for- from. the seamless academic rhetoric of book is Clew’s Ph.D. dissertation. it est practice different from those of the Dimitrios I. Roussopoulos’s Political suffers irom the stuffy methodological past, and for that reason alone, it is pro- Ecology (Black Rose. 180 pages. arrogance of the social sciences. and its foundly heartening-and fascinating. $34.95 cloth. $15.95 paper) hides al- conclusion. that the nuclear industry The book’s argument, in a nutshell, is most as much as it reveals. Like most tends to get its point of view better rep- that present forest practice is wasteful. contemporary theoretical books coming resented in the newspapers than saner that it is unpmlitable to tbe local commu- front the radical left (in this case from opposin8 viewpoints. is hardly a huge nities who have to live with its envimn- the Anarchist left). what it is hiding is revelation. Further. its coverage ofme- mental, economic, and social debris, and the desperate scramble for political le- dia is limited (print only. and just four that tbe industry doesn’t pay its fair share gitimacy after the collapse of Marxism Canadian papers,. muddled. and out of of taxes.The authors’ statisticsshow that. as a scientific theory. At one level. date (Glow’s analyses cover the period under the present system, forestry jobs Political Emlo~y is an attempt to make fmttt the mid-1970s to 1983). are few and shrinking in number, and readers see the leftist elements of Winning Back the Words: Con- stumpage fees are woefully inadequate. Europe’s Green movement ax the logi- fronting Experts in an Environmental Momover, the authors hit at what is be- cal heir to the radical Marxist legacy. Public Hearing (Garamond. 190 pages. coming apparent IOeveryone in B.C. - and as such it’s all 100 easily dismissed $16.95 paper) looks like the same sort of that the corporate profits leave the as mystical gibberish. book as SriflinE Ddxm. but is. once you province and, for the most part, the coun- That’s really a shame. because get beyond the dull cover. marvellously try. But perhaps the most interesting and Roussopoulos also provides readerswith intelligent and useful. Tltr authors - crucial phenomenon M’Gonigle and a concise history of the environmental Mary Richardson. Joan Shrrman. and Partitt uncover is that the current con- movement and its philosophical bases. Michael Gismondi -provide a lively trollers of the indusuy are inhemntly hos- This. together with useful definitions of narmtive of the Alpac kraft-pulp mill en- tile lo creating the secondary industries the current radical environmental actors vironmrntal hearings in northeastern that would rejuvenate B.C.‘s fragile and asetiesofthttmbnail sketchesofpri- Alberta complete with a photo of Ralph economy. None of this is exactly news. mary issues of the moment. makes Klein. the province’s environment min- but what has been lacking in tbe past ate Po/ificdEco/o.~~ very useful and timely. ister at the time. giving the finger IO factual analyses to prove the misuse. and And Roussopottlos’s concluding sen- Alpac’s detractors. They’ve also con- suggestions for practical alternatives to tencesought to give all of us-whatever sttucteda manual fordeciphering theex- existing harvest practices. Both are in our political leanings-pause: pert testimony and nrgumrnts that this book. industry and governments use when they Thenew forestry practices M’Chmigle The choice . is between the want to cram a”pmtitable” project down and Pa&t offer up in Forestopic consti- creation of a super world State the throats of the local citizenry. tute the most detailed illustration I’ve based on a world capicdist econ- Wirrrrirr,qBud r/w Worh is a clearly ever seen of how industrial localism omy that attempts to regulate the written. exemplary piece of work that mightactuallyprovideasanewayofhar- environment and minimiw the deserves the widest possible readership. vesting our rapidly sbrlnking forest base worst impacts ofthe intemndonal George N. Hood’s Against the while providing much-needed jobs. The warsystemorthe . patient Flow: Rafferty-Alameda and the

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Politics of the Environment (Fifth need the electricity and because rhey convincingly that this view is the result House. 232 pages, $16.95 paper) is a were pressured by the Canadian federal of self-serving, single-minded manipula- different kettle of fish, only parily be- government. nor becausea canoe landed tion of the evidence: he offers alternate cause its object of study. on the shores of Manhattan Island and data and conceptual strucIures rhal sug- Saskatchewan’s controversial Rafferty- gor its Warhol IS from the Nrw York gest that bio-efficiency. cooperation. and Alameda project. is. according 10 the media. Now I know better. and I’m. er. nunuring are the truer base of natural be- author, completely different from glad of it. haviours. and lhar the neo-Darwinians Alberta’s Alpac. This book is unusual Posluns. in the latter pan of his nar- are guilty of mainlining their own philo- in that it is written (with clarity and rative. does give us the skinny on sophical lestostemne. thoroughness) fmm an insider’s view- Hydra Quebec’s ulrrrly crazed scheme It is Livingston’s nosralgia for the point: Hood was the project’s director to commit cultural and economic “state-of-nature” he redefines that gets of planning and evenrually its vice- genocide against Quebec’s northern him into trouble. Contradicting the rich president. More unusual still. Hood Natives. and that ir a subject that wisdom his grasp of natural behaviours seems to be without an axe fo grind. In doesn’t deserve cynicism. But there’s displays is a fundamenral misanthropy short, I believe him when he says that a certain unreality at the root of this concerning our species’ self-domestica- much of the controversy was pointless book. and I think it has 10 do with the tion and its domestication of other -the result of vicious and generally fact that there’s no admission that the species. Hir deep love for the hyper- bumbling bureaucratic infighting and trip must have been one hell of a lark alert. sense-infused experience wild ani- factional politics between levels of gov- for those who were par, of it. The mals live through occasionally causes ernment and various political parties. whole O&V& affair rruly was a con- him to choose srnsorium over con- into which practical local concerns and temporary odyssey. and if it had been sciousness.and it leaves him. by default. high-minded environmental principles treated with jusr a tiny tinge of irony. on the edge of desiring the extermination slipped like incompatible grades of its message - an important one - of what would end up being roughly 98 gravel. Against the Flow is the work of might have been communicated far percent of [he planet’s human population an extremely gifted political scientist. more effectively. This is one of those of six billion souls. and its portrait of Saskatchewan and its books that would have had William Still. Livingston confronts us with frequently strange and unique cultural Blake rolling his ryrs and complaining the intellectual quandary almost no one and political milieu is of deeper import about Urizen. - environmentalisls nor excluded - than its specific subject matter. I probably should apologize for tying has the courage 10 face: how to go on Voices from the Odeyak (NC Press. to deal with Rogue Primate: An living on this planer beyond rhe next SO 230 pages, $17.95 paper). by Michael Exploration of Human Domestication or so years. He makes it abundantly Posluns, is about the epic voyage of a (Key Porter. 228 pages. $2 I.9S paper) by clear that our present systems of gov- 25-foot hybrid-design canoe (built by the York University professor emeritus erning ourselves won’t lake us much Great Whale’s Cre.e and Inuit peoples) John A. Livingston. in the midst of a further wirhout invoking a cataclysm. from the shores of James Bay to grab-bag review like this. His is a tmu- and he’s sometimes extraordinarily Manhattan Island in 1990 to protest bling and rmubled book with vast intel- clear about why. And. despite the flaws Hydm Quebec’s latest lunatic scheme lectual ambitions and some startling in his imellectual mrlhod. Livingston to screw up the lives of Quebec’s insights about the resurgence of enthusi- operates hy rhe kind of full cosmology Native peoples and permit rhe asm for Darwinian determinism that un- Blake demands for membership in the province’s independence from Canada derlies the recent “triumph” of capitalist human miracle. Rogsr Prinro~c is. ar- by joining the Northeast Power Grid. economics. Indeed. one of Livingston’s guably. the most serious intelleclual en- Remember that one? No? primary targets is Ihe entire Darwinian terprise to be taken in rhis country since Neither did I. Until I read this book. I enterprise. which posits thar life isagreat Jane Jacohr ‘s S.rsrc~~rsr,fSrrrriwl. It is thought the authorities for the Northeast battle in which only the a_wressive and one of those rare. rrcczrsur:l books, the Power Grid passed on Hydro Quebec’s competition-crazed thrive. mainly kind Ihal no serious intelleclual can af- Great Whale Project because they didn’t through violence. Livingston argues ford no, to read. 0

...... 34 Books in Canada September 1994 NE OF MY MOST MEMORABLE is the most adulatory. inviting her readers 10 set- experiences was hearing lra Bruce tle in comfortably. likr an audience. to hear Nagel deliver a resounding critique of Findlry’s tales. Early ones concern the trauma Gordon Haight’s magisterial George E/im while of the depanure of Findlry’s farhrr. tirht to the the biographer sat in the audience. The cordiality air forcr and then to scrvicc owrscas. Her con- that existed between Nagel and Haight struck me cluding story is of Findley’s extravagant Praise at the time as some kind of ideal in civilized aca- of T/w To/r o/‘P@wr Rnhhir. and his perfor- demic disputation. I’m tempted to see that cour- mancr of an impromptu ballet dance of Peter tesy as specifically Canadian even though the blissfully eating :I DooDooDoooDooDoooooooooDo conference in question was international. radish. But writers’ EARLE BllpPJEY: a LIFE Now, however, after reading these three lives. minds are full of im- by Elspath Cameron I wonder about the danger of too much civility. ages. and stories de- for all three biographers seem to me too respect- serve to be read fie-_~ ful, too ready to receive gratefully the informa- uratively as well 3~ LEONARD COHEPd: a LIFE IFd ART tion provided by their subjects. It must be noted. literally. Is it frivolous by ha 8. Nagal of course, that two of them are severely con- to note that the story of ECW.~~.s14.95pprtlsBN155022210,) strained by their publisher’s format and by hav- a rabbit who brads TIMOT#Y FWDLEY: ing subjects still in mid-career. A further straight for the forbid- STORIES FROM A LIFE constraint is that both Timothy Findley and den garden in which by Carol Roberts Leonard Cohen are notorious charmers. his parent was killrd Ecw.oSpgersn.95papr,lssN ISso22M 7) I am not recommending debunking. but a and then makes a fri- Reviewed byJoan Givner more vigorous interrogation of the data in order umphant escape has to push beyond surface readings to surprise and thematic links with revelation. Perhaps the resistance to interpreta- Findlry’s own smrieh? tion evidenced by the currency of the words Thr more sophisticated In B. Nngel start!.off ‘pathography” and “psychobabble” is inhibit- by rkilfully expounding a paradigmatic vxne ing biographers, but the failure to interpret cre- from Leonard Cohen’s && of tl Lr~~‘sMm. ates its own kind of erroneous interpretation. Cohen. he explains. finds his art imperilled Of the three, Carol Roberts’s Tirnorl~y Firrdk~ when he is entrapped by beauty and responds by

REVlEW§ CONTENTS ...... Emther Frank’sGospel Hour b, W. P. GM& -37 cll of Olphaarby P&+il bb0nom _--_----44 VJriting Away editedIr, tonaanoeRoda _--_--38 ShowingGrit byli. lloulbrwPhilip --_.-...... _...... _4S LocalColour diadby CamI Hattin ._--38 The Raft of the Hedusa Window Dressing b7 lbn B&y _--_-A0 dkd byJo&w Dwayad JulianSmmud -_.-.-.-45 I&II Eye bf Annf&and ___ _--__._--..A0 Tewitories of DiRerence diadty Rcnrakm-.._-45 The Pearsome Dilemma by k II. Hti _- 41 The Crucible ofWar 1939-1945 by Bme1onlkenbu, St+ll~ Hank ShiftingTime W. C Johnwonmd WGiamG P. Radwg .-_--.-..-47 b( hmii fahizfan.1. B !de.and bnburl. Corddl ---41 Eirfksdottir bf JOINIauk __------_--_-48 Great Scott! b7JIM Sat --- _-_--41 A P&tale Joukey through the M× The Cod& Egg bj Rwmny llbnmn.-.-_-A4 by H&n G@mn._-__--_--_--_-_--__49

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seeking freedom and dismantling love the most ambitious of these vurkh. HeI ofgargantuun npprlitr. houndless sex- so that he can sustain “the poignant im- sobjecf’.\ career is complete. she had ac- ual energy. goat-like lechery. and enor- mortality of my life in art.” The scene cess to one of the most complete per- moue physical equipment. But sexual he selects is of the man waking beside a sonal archives in existence. and she ha!. proqiscuity is rarely ahnut lu?;t and woman as beautiful as Lady Hamilton written a full-scale biography hearing prOWe*>. and declaring that moment of sexual all the ballmark~ of her diuinguished Birncy’r early wxual experience?; fulfilment “the end of my life in art.” work. She controls and orders tbr srag- are telling. At a tender age. the book- The reference LOEmma Hamilton gering diversity of mslerials. grounds it w*orm gained SKNU\ mwng his class- evokes the 1941 film Thor fhrtilrorr firmly in a cultural background. intr- mates hy being hratcn for ciruolating Woman, in which Vivien Leigh was grate?; Birney’h literary works. and his skrrch ofa couple having vx under brilliantly photographed by Rudolph forges everything inlo a grxefi~lly writ- a tree. He write!. of masturbaGng in a Mat&. We learn a few pages later that len IIccouIII. ditch a* he imagine\ ladies’ underwear Cohen’s father was an avid camera- Her integralion trl’Birncy’\ XSO-page ad%and hers the “mounlainou~” bare man who constantly filmed his chil- doctoral dissertation on Chaucer into legs of “Dumb Annie.” a berry picker. (Mountainous?, We learn lbat later he lost hih liancte to a rival. blipped with- out ardour inlo a marriage ol’~onvc- LEONARD COHEN nience. and never found a fulfilling relationship with a woman. The in- scription of bis rrlaGon*hiph iI1 letters and literary work\. howewr. proved more satisfying. There is :I complexity of issue% here that. if probed. would render Birney’s rndlr~~ philandering

ficulty of understanding across gender TIMOTHY FINDLEY lines. There is for me a 4ipbt jarring when I read a biography of il man wril- ten by a W~IIYUI and vice versa. rather dren. It seems to me that Cohen her portrait of his developing character similar to that startling moment when a (conditioned as a child film star) was exemplities her intelligent procedure. male foreign leader is *eel, 011a trlevi- thus set up for the typically female ten- She explains Birney’s long prroccupa- sion screen and his words are spoken by sion between being a work of art and tion with Chaucer’s irony as. i~rtrr-ulic:. a felnale translator. The rirw qrrrrIIOII of producing one, which has paralysed so an atlempt to come to terms witb the biography is the choice of a compatible many women writers - a conflict darker side of himself and “the way subject. lor the biographer’% subject is Cohen lessens by becoming a bal- crevasses seemed IO open up brween the equivalenr of the novelist’s fictional ladeer. Nagel traces Cohen through his differrat sides of himself.” mpresentative. various metamorphoses to his latest I wish that she had applied the same Of t!lese three biographers. Nagel is one in Los Angeles, close to his Zen kind of imerpretive skill to Birncy’!. the one whose compatibility with the master and to Hollywood. The word sexuality. But whileshe lisls theendless subject is most succe~hful. A full- “posturing”creeps in from time to time marital inlidelities. she ultimately backs xale biography by Nagel of Leonard but Nagel treads lightly on that subject. off. allowing Birney and othera 10 speak Cohen would he something worth Elspeth Cameron’s Earlr Finley is on the subject and leave the impression waiting lor. 0

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T’S PERHAPS SURPRISING both ~rhrr~, and n.hcrl is one of the we don’t ye1 chink of a country as book’s plrasurcs. Approach. stylr. and vast as Canada as a land of travel pace vary. likr succrhsivr days on Ihr writers. Two new anthologies of m:ld. Not only do we gel from Cuba to Canadian travel writing may help change Ihr Yukon. hur from rrhay lo poetry. this image of ourselves. from reminiscence IO raw advrnturc. Thim-four members of PEN Canada Many of the chaptrrs rrad likr snup- were asked to donate pieces lo raise shots from private Ijunily :~lbums.rather money for the organization’s work of than words intrndrd for publiculion. supporting and lobbying on behalf of Not all the contributions are drstina- lion-bound. Carol Shields champions travclling with a good book on any sub- jrc! rxcrpt thr place being visited. on the ground3 that the comruht belwren the book and lhr plncr hrighfrns our awareness of what \urrounds us. Take a LOCAL COLOUR: hook on Inca arl for a week in Boston, Writers Discovering Canada edited by Carol Matin she adviheh. Robertson Davies decrie\ the journey: THEBOOK I Lowe travelled much and have

gre;ltly enjoyed S”nx of Ill! OF SECRETS esprrimcr of foreign lands. But I writers in prison all over the world. y...one of the country? finest have not liked the irlurnry . storytellers.” -Quill & Quire Salman Rushdie, an honorary member. <;etting there is all that is wrong wmte the foreword. There were no re- “The Book ofSecrets is a poignant \Vidl travel. questioning work that confirms strictions on content or style, beyond Vassanji as one ofour most Turn the page from David Adams the works being “‘of travel” and unpub- thoughtful, as well as one of our lished. II’riring Away, the result of this Richards musing on thr art and exprri- “ore able, writers.u -FinancialPo~ unlikely package tour, is fabulously encr ot’travel (“Wr nevrr go anywhere ‘A vivid pomait of time and place.” entertaining. withour bringing along WIIPI we most -Montreal Gazette Here is Margaret Atwood injecting want to leave behind - namely our- “Vassanji deftlyexploresthe ~rlvrs’~) to John Ralsmn Saul taking us herself w&h culture in Europe 30 years relationship between history and ago and Timothy Findley buying with IS writers 10 the stark reality of myth, and who may write them.” pineapples on the beach in Barbados. Baflin Island: -Books in Canada Nino Ricci drifts in a boar in the burn- I noriccd rhar Berry Friedan had “Vassanji’s strength in The 6ookol ing sun off the west const of Africa, Secrets is how compellingly he bern WI)’ silmr. After they had while June Callwood catches pebbles captures both the minute ripples oi helped her out (of s large hidr- in her bathing suit in Nice. individual human motivation and skinned hunting canor), shr stood the broad sweep of that grim Writing Away has no structure be- on the shore and said quietly, “I machine wecall history” yond the order of the writers.’ names in wonder4 at tirst why they hadn’t -0nawa Citizen alphabetical sequence and, like all great given us life preservers.” She was journeys, this very unpredictability of MCCLELLAND & STEWART THE CANADIAN PUBLISHER:

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staring at the ice and the dark Minnie Aodla Freeman shares her ex- contributions arc extracts from books. water. “Then I understood.” perience as an lnuit girl arriving for the Extracts don’t alwny\ come off well first time in Ottawa in 19.57. in anthologies if they arc too much Local Colour is less successful, per- No quibbles about regional rrpre- alike in pace and voice. However im- haps because the intention is more am- sentation, but isn’t something missing portant the Gghtr \ern. the effect be- bitious. The editor Carol Martin has in an exploration of Canada without comes the same a* climbing on and gathered some witty, moving. intrigu- Toronto. the city that loves itself and off a tour bus when what you really ing. and revealing extracts to present that the rest of Canada loves to dr- wranted to do wah observe how the lo- the best travel writing about Canada in spisr’? Two pieces on the railway. but culs drink coffee. But it is a treat to go the past 30 years. But, as a whole, the no mention of the Trans-Canada from tramping around Writing on book lacks the serendipity of truly Highway. one of the country’s last Stone Park to working with a survey memorable journeys. drawstrings. now reduced to a thin tram cleaning the cut line of the 49th Twenty-fourcontributots roam far in grey line with potholes. Both the road pnrallrl in British Columbia -all in miles and imagination to report their and the city are arguably among the the snme hook. experience of the country: Michael most powerful images of the country Writing Awux and Lr~~wlColr~~r both Poole paddles his canoe up the Inside we call Canada. show the strength of Canndinn travel Passage to a dinner with a lonely prawn The major problem with Locwl writing todny - and there’s no reason fisherman in Loughborough Inlet. Colorrr is that all but four of the 2-i not to expect more. 0

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earned $23 is prose that explores its cho- sen territory. offering perceptions that surprise or startle us into acknowledging how much we don’t know or won’t ad- mit about others and ourselves. Reviewedby Janice Kulyk Keefer For this reader. the initial problem with this latest of Kinsella’s books of ET’S BEGIN BY CONCEDING “Indian” stories is that its fictions are that W. P. Kinsella’s “Indians” complacent rather than exploratory: L are constructs, a latter-day ver- they work on the principle of what sion, perhaps, of William Henry Viktor Shklovsky called “the alge- Drummond’s habitarm. These con- braization of perception” and can’t es- structs - and the phenomenon of Silas cape the limitations of formula tiction: Brminestdn as Kinsells’s wrherly alter stale jokes. predictable anecdotes. ego in %&face”- will be found uncon- generic tricks. “Been there: read that.” vincing or offensive by some readers. and the reader says. not just nt the end but entettainingbyotbem. Yet whetberornot often after the first page of story after we look to literature for verisimilitude story. whether it is the flat-footed and representational transparency land rewrite of Rushosrorr. “Conflicting both fans and foes of Kinsella may well Statements.” or the upbeat, feel-good profess to do so). one tbing readers might machinations of “Dream-Catcher” and expect to find in any book of fiction for ‘“The Rtin Birds” - machinations that VM B?Kinsella which we’re asked to plunk down a hard- one assumes are meant to satisfy the

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stipulations of some caricature of the po- they’re Indian. Yet if Kinsella betnys his litically correct reader. Those genuinely anxiety about the competition. he clings concerned with questions of gender. all the more stubbornly to his stock-in- race. and class. with the inequities of trade. While hi> “Indians” may have br- contemporary Canadian society and the come more “enterprising.” his Female problematic politics of representation. characters arc churned out in the same will be left not just unamused by 5lafk~1 phalk~tedious m&e: with few excepiions Fr~n~‘sGospe/Horrr; but actively initated. they are either I 1nld. 6exIcss. and venna- The stories in this volume vary from hle. or 2) young. nubile. and (take your AlH TNe (North) Romance (‘“Turbulence”). pick) vulnerable or sexually predatory. in which a hardened older man finds His “non-traditional” women arc card- true love and a reason for living. IO a hoard tigures -Constable Bobnnvski. in the H singularly unmagical tale of the super- Bedelia the activist - who could just as natural, “George the Cat.” in which the well be male for sll the trouble Kinselln love between a cosmetically challenged takes in pnrtrnyinp them. The one story old-married-couple is confirmed. Some rhat achieves a degree ofsubstancr and a -notably “Ice Man” - festure child crrtnin level of complexity. “Brother protagonists who all too egregiously Frank’s Gospel Hour.” makes the rest of win the day over the obstacles to suc- the fictions seem rvrn more tired and cess that the adult world has erected more predictable in retmspcct. against them. These latest stories by Kinsella are de- Yet in the majority of these fictions. signed to contain. in the words of his the writing simply doesn’t repay the ef- testosterone-toting creation Frank fofi of reading. There are constant lapses Fencepost “all things that make people in sheer mechanics: for example. while t&l good I: they am1just w;dting to make Silas tineskin most often employs an you happy.” Some readen may lind rn- updated version of the “How!” or “Bite- joyment in a character who wants to “.get urn-No-seeum” lndianese of a previous lhim] a program called macSpenn. help 0 en, in this case an idiom marked by the lhim] keep track of all the rug rats NlcWOb misconjugation of the present tense. at [he’sI fathered.” and whnhe “motto is ‘4 certain times he “slips” into a more ex- Fencepost in every oven.’ .’ For those AREADER alted register, showing himself to have rcadem whose happiness lies in encoun- ?difed by George Bowering mastered the use of the pluperfect. and lering %)phislicated and surprising litrr- and Michael Ondaatje producing grandiloquent descriptions of ary texts. ones in which rtereotypes arc HE MODERN CANADIAN the nrtural world. nttled and prejudices deconstructed wit11 POETS SERIES One particularly grating habit of illuminating wit and intelligence. I’d rec- Kit&la’s is to use his stories as platforms ommend. among a host of other Native 9n H in the Heart, by turns to venl politically charged spleen: “One of writers. Thomss King. In fact. I’d urge touching and hilarious, the problems of Indians getting more in- diehard Kinselln fans IO do themselves a captures the range of volvcd in the everyday world is that they favour and pick up any of King’!. fictions. Nichol’s extraordinary lose their sense of humour.” Silas They might tind themselves exprriencing creative output and Ermineskin observes;‘Ihe smaller the mi- a change of heart -and sehthetic. After celebrates the writing nority, the louder they whine.” He even which. to alapt that old. but not inedible :areer of one of Canada’s gets in a crack about Indian writers who chestnut. “How will you keep ‘em down most unique and beloved think they should get published not be- on the Hohhema Reserve. now that imaginative voices. cause they’re good. but merely because they’ve *en Medicine River’? 0 $79.99 paper McClelland 6 Stewart LBThe Canadian Publishers ...... a a.... . ,.,.. . . . , Books in Canada September 1994 39 ...... *...... _. .

Don Bailey

HEN HIS LOVER wife”- and of parenthood. death. and A suggesestcshe may see be- robotic encounters with strangers. P/vneuth his smooth veneer. Bailey’s memoir-like narrative is his the con-man narrator of Don Bailey’s finest instrument. His narrators;’ slow ‘5tolen Dreams”suddenly bristles: ‘The resurrections from defensivrness into siren of my inner security system intimate social life are strangely com- screamed a warning.” pelling. In “Arc You Happy’!” a man rc- “Stolen Dreams’;” is the most outstand- lating well to his teenage nephew ing story in the Winnipeg author’s un- realizes he has flourished ‘*in ir land even collection RGlrindowDresring, a where speech and silence have equal va- lidity. Unfortunately. this can leave you strand4 in voiceless isolation.” Bur it’s burdened under the weight of painful re- as if Bailey does not trust the power in lationship!. in “Hrkd of Hair” and “Thr his own narration: the same story begins Chain.” to slide into continuous blocks of dia- Whether they tight their hattles in the logue. leaving this reader yearning for tuntastic or realirtic world. Diamond’s more of Bailey’s characters’ secluded wxnen rrrm to ttwz their involvement thoughts with brutish. insensitive men 83 acts of The stories in Ann Diamond’s Evil detiancc. But when the world rtops pay- Eye. the Montreal writer’s ticond collec- ing sttmtion. they find a new isolation tion of short liction. portray the outsider and fragility. In “Silent Callm.” the ox- celebration of those moments when the as the woman who has dropped her rttt~r. Iwking for power in an otherwise alarm sounds, jolting awake the psyche shield and choo.sesto take up hrr vantage humiliutin~ affair. rcllect~ on the ghosts of lonely. wounded men. Bailey’s pro- point on the periphery of life. of an old brothel: tagonists are isolated, attentive. accus- Diamond’s uncluttered Iangm~gr re- tomed to being taken for granted. and veals the chill inherent in keeping one’s frightened. Struggling to regain an iden- ryes-and heart-stationed on the tity lost in more secure past lives. thry borders of experience. And thr stories are “alone and of that uncertain age run a gamut of intensity: a Buddhist that’s neither young nor old.” They are monk escapes the insanity of his bombed surprised to find gerudue warmth inside city for Los Angeles. finding there hi.r them, perhaps because it can be shed so own debauchery and cyniciw~. While effortlessly. A&r a rare intimate act. the her homeland is being invaded. a uarrator of “Stolen Dreams*’ reminisces: wronged womarr finds an odd new “Usually forme the act of sexual union is power as the carrier of a hideous. ani- a pleasant distraction from some busi- mated wound and the seed of a goat- ness problem that has caused certain boy’s offspring. Diamond carries over muscles in my body to knot up.” the dispassionate voice that feeds the Evil E\r, is not a relaxing mud. It’s easy Bailey writes eloquently of the tomb tales of mythic and apocalyptic life into to become nhsorbcd in Diamond’s simple of loss and silence surrounding divorce thr gentler reflections of a lonesome ado- style only III hr caught offguard by her -“I hungw for another chance to em- lescent girl in “Roads to Freedom.” and next move. to find younclf at once too brace thii intimate s&urger I once called also works it into the lives of the women timid and too excited to turn thr page. 0

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URING THE QUARTER- edges that economists themselves. rather “an unrivalled chronicler of century that followed the end than the politiciana who rely on their ad- human nature” of the Second World War. vice. are Idrgely responsible forthe mess. -The SundayTimes most Canadians enjoyed so much eco- Still. it is clear that present-clay gcw- % born story teller who can nomic prosperity that a return to the de- ernments appear more concerned with transform the anecdotal or pression years of the Dirty Thirties was deficit reduction than with inflation or apparently digressiive into a consideredby experts to be too remote to unemployment. Cutting costs is the order rich parable of life in our fickle contemplate. But I970 SW the emer- of the day and social programs prewnt a times”- Washington Post gence of a new word. stagflation, to prime target for decreased expenditure. describe the paradox of high unemploy- But the oft-stated weaknesseh of those pmgmms - disincentive to work. wel- fare dependency. abuse by recipients. waste. and duplication - “must be weighed against the very real suffering that would occur without thrm.“Thr remedy lies in their better design and ad- - . _. _i ‘: ministration. difticult though that may he SHIFTING TIME: Social policyAnd the Future ofWork to accomplish. By At-mineYalnizyan, T. RanIde, If. as is frequently asserted.Canadians and Arthur J. Cordell cannot afford the social-assistance and incomr-support mrasures now in place. still le% can they afford to wait for a per- Reviewedby Alec M&wan fect solution to this dilemma or to throw up their hands in the face of it. Among ment and rising prices in a coexistence the concrete proposals offered by that, according to previous economic McLeod is a restraint on returna to the theory, simply could not happen. ownership of resou~ys. in the form of an Although Tire Fcorso~~r Dilernrno investment levy that would he taken .. first appeared 10 years ago, Alex N. ‘off the top’ of all property income. tan- McLeod, an internationally renowned gible and intangible.” Another sugge+ economist, justifies the publication of a tion is that consumer a.*sociationsreceive revised edition by pointing out that even additional govrrnmrnt funding and del- Open Secrets is more than after a decade of government attempts to egation of responsibility to enable them just the title of this superb wrestle inflation to the ground and to at- to play a more significant role in the collection and the title of one tain full (or at least high-level) employ- price-setting process. a root cause of of the eight thrilling short menf the pmblem is getting worse. In his inflation. stories found in it. It predicts view, the best that countries “can hope Shifrirrg Tisw presrntr, two essay*: the delight of discovery for is an uneasy balance between rhe two “Securing Society: Creating Canadian awaiting the reader who here enters into an intimate world evils.” Yet these are not the words of a Social Policy,” by Armine Yalnizyan. a of other people’s secrets. dismal scientist accustomed,like most of labour-markrt analyst. and “The New $28.99 cloth us. to denounce governments for failing Tools: Implications for the Future of to pmduce solutions; McLeod acknowl- Work.” by T. Ran Ide. an educator and @ouGLAsGlBsoplBoog McClelland & Stewart !!I The Canadian Publishen . ..~...... ~...... - ...... Books in Canada September 1994 41 - --.-- .-.-_~ . _~ ..-. -. _.- -_._...-_-.. -. .-.. -~___.. _ - .._.--.-.._--~. .~ .._.. ---.._~ - _--... -_ _. ----_._

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broadcast executive. and Arthur J. for educational upgrading. and a nil- Cordell. an economist concerned with tional strategy for child cart. information technology. Yalnizyan Ide and Cordell point out that 711per identities the global mobility of capital. cent of Canada’\ working population i!. not fluctuations in the domestic eco- now engaged in the service sector. that nomic cycle. as the main cause of un- the disparity in incomr between wci- employment and the lack of job rty’s Iraves and have-riots has increased. security. The revision of Canada’s wel- and that even an economic wcovr~ will fate state “serves at the altar of deficit not bring back the thousands ol’johh al- reduction,” giving rise to an emphasis ready lost. The central activity ol’con- on employment at a time when access to temporary society i* Ihe UO~SIOIII it becomes more and more difficult. improvement of technology (of which Training, or retraining. remains the the latest manifestation is the informa- catchword, but where are the jobs for tion highway) that tends 1o reroll in which people are urged to train?The au- fewrr people working in standard em- thor proposes as solutions the more eq- ployment. loss of tax rcvcnur. and wcio- uitrble distribution of wealth, the logical and momI decline. Enlightened reorganizing of budget priorities. a pro- self-interest suggests that some porrion gressive tax system for personal and of productivity gainsarising from the uhc corporate income, keeping Canadian- of the new tool.\ should be taxed lo up- made savings at home. statutory leave port the social infrastructure. for rxam-

awed a life as a mo- torcycle-riding gay

man with the pres- _(!‘>’ tigious writing /;,?# post at the G/0/71,. i ,i~. I Reviewedby George Kaufman Though f, !’ ,, ‘. ~ ..j.;: AY SCOTT WAS A UNIQUE I nevrr met him. d--“ characteron the Canadian joumalis- I think I was typi- tic scene; in fact, he was one of those cal of many who J rare characters who seemed to have nonetheless felt :I 9 :: , no difficulty existing as a living personal sense of

contradiction. loss when he died a ‘: 1 He wrote movie reviews for the year ago at the age ot ‘,.L ‘)_‘\:’ . 2 stuffy, often even snooty. GIobe urul 13. I felt a comwetion to . . . : + ?j---.. Mail. and was both highly respected him through the oddest of ‘,‘!.,,. - among film enthusiasts and widely re;id ties. revealed little by litrle “: : .: .. by regular moviegoers. He was quietly over the years through hi> . . l am: columns: we were boll1 born flamboyant; only he could have bal- ‘.: ‘ 5’:.’ “E 9 ,.. 1, 1. ‘-. ~ ...... -...... 42 Books in Canada September 1994 i ...... _......

in Nebraska, had come to Canada to us think and smile at the same time. work in journalism. loved movies and Talking of John Huoton’s devilishly wrote about them, and agreed on un- delightful gangster film Ptki’s dervalued film treasures such as T/fe Honor. for example, Scott sums up Big Fi.r and Something Wild. I always Kathleen Turner’s role as the mysteri- felt a special affinity with his writ- ous Irene Walker: “She’s got a secret ings, but that was part of his talent - like Nevada’s got sand.” In a few un- Selwedurai makes an his ability to make many readers feel canny lines. he compares Clint extreonlinary debut with this that bond. Eastwood’s dark portrayal of William original and bittereweet 1 mention all this to convey my Munny in Unforgiven to earlier roles comin9-of-a9e story set in mixed emotions on receiving a copy of likr Harry Callahan iin Dirt! Harr;vi late 19708 Sri Lanka this new collection of his reviews. As and the Man With No Name (in the much as I had enjoyed reading Scott’s spaghetti westerns): reviews as they were published. would But rVunny rranscends his this book prove a well-intentioned, but precedents 10 become a trul) dated, tribute to his craft? A novel tragic tigure. a country-western i n I needn’t have worried. Scott’s arti- six stories combination of Lear and Richard cles me as sparkling now as ever-en- III. C&ms grim. guilt-ridden - tertaining. thought-provoking. infor- but still deadly. with a psychotic mative, amusing - with the same flair streak no less deep because it has that a good movie has for taking a fa- run silent for years - Munny is a miliar formula and surprising us with memorable sinner/saint, a some new twists and fresh ideas. character so complex his actions Scott has the gift of writing intelli- are difficult to condone or gent, informed articles without either condemn. writing down to the reader or engaging in intellectual grandstanding (though. Just before Scott’s death. he ended a like all good writers, he couldn’t resist review ofJwn.wic P4 with a disturb- going over the top a few times). The ing condemnation of modern movie- typical Jay Scott review was so full of making: literary allusions and references to Some day. scientists will pick otherfilms that. by theend, knowledge- thmugh rhe fossilized remains of able readers knew not only what Scott Hollywood. They will lind thought of it. but whether they would Pwk. They will screen ir. want to see it, too. 3wmic They will use it co reconstruct life Grear Scott! is especially useful for eons ago, when directors and the video generation. Just glancing producers roamrd, ifnot ruled. through it when it first arrived. for ex- thr earth. Citing the lilm as ample, I quickly got caught up in re- evidence, the scientisa will views of half a dozen movies that I had While focusing on the intimate r&se their conclusion: &lovies realm of one family, as seen forgotten, but immediately put on my died out because they go’uttoo big through the eyes of a boy list of must-rents to see again. for their pea-sized brains. The approaching adolescence, Scott’s inventive. playful way with scientists will have a mame for the Shyam Selvadurai creates a words makes this book a pleasure to vivid portrait of a society exrinct species: Cinesaurus. dive into. A serious writer, he was still caught between tradition and never above throwing in a line to make Great Scott. indeed. 0 change. $17.99paper McClelland tk Stewart e38 The Canadian Publishers . ..~...... -..*...... ‘.,...... , Books in CanadaSeptember 1994 43 ~ ,,.-.- ..,.1- ..v__. - _-.- ._...-_- ...... *..e.. ~ ...... _, . . .

HE NEW WRITERS OF throughout the district giving seminars Canadian short fiction bring to the Zairians: “According to Linford. unew voices. new experiences. people walk for days to hear him lecture new locales. and a new level of sopbisti- on ‘The Successful Inwduclion and cation to the. genre. A Canadian short Evaluation of Improved Maniw the reader to another world. where any- smry can no longer be retied upon to ex- Strains.’ .. Sometime5 he ha%to stay thing is pos\ihlc xnd magic i\ as much a plore the difficulties of growing up on away overnight. Alone. Freida trie\ tu pa” ofeve~tlay realily as the hot son in the Prairies or in a small Ontario town. make the villagers understand that she the white sky. Canadian short-stoly writers, it seems. doesn’t have a baby becau>eshe doesn’t Patricia Robertwn also brings an in- have become citizens of the world and want one. She leafs through the Pfrri~~ temational perspective tu her d6hut col- Cookbook she brought with her I’rum lection of short liction. Cir~ r~/‘U~$rrr~v. Calgary: “Stuffed Pork Tenderloin She has tmvelled widely. and spent thw THE COCK’§ EG6 Garnished with Apple Ring\. Veal and a hall’yean lilTin@in Spain. working by Rosemary Nixon Marsala. Oyster Scallop. She and ah a hilingual secretuy in Madrid and as Linford saw meat at the market owe. an English teacher in the C;mwy Islands. Something indistinguishable. Hard and Here too are foreign wltings: the hairy. Meat here ib masculine ..” Mediterranean. Poland. Norway. I&h- The clash of Canadian and Zairian century Arahio. Even the unspecified. cultures is a centml theme throughout the preaumahly Canadian arttingh are wf- Reviewed by Diane Schoemperlen collection. Nixon does not presume tu fu?xd with the exotic. Here too we rle- understand Zaire - mthrr. she prexnr\ mmtx of magic realiw rmiinircrnt of their writing is just as likely to reflect the it as a foreigner would experience it. a Latin Americun writer*. In “Arabian influence of Isabel Allende or Gabriel culture full of mystery. magic. and Snow.” for inslance. whu begins as the Garcia MPlrquez as of W. 0. Mitchell or witchcraft. Throughout the ~lorieh. the “ordinary” story of a womim named Alice Mutuo. witchcraft of the cock’\ egg rewrr: if Gabrieh who o\cnh a bakery. marries a The 19 stories in Rosemary Nixon’s you are lucky enough II) tind one. it will painter. and has a hahy named Minna second collection, The Cock’s Egg, are absorb all your bad luck & bring 4’ou hecomes :I fluid interplay between Ihih stories of Canadians living in Zaire. your heart’s desire. In the story “A rralily and rhe dream world of a I&h- where Nixon herself lived for two years. Chameleon in the Garden.” a Zairian century Norwegian princes\ who has teachhtg history and English as a second woman living with a Canadian family in been traded IO an Arabian nobleman. In language. The first story. “From the Calgary is told that there is no witchcraH this \rory and olher\. iI is not clear Inside Out? is powerful and startling. an in Canada. In Canada the only important whether Ktrberrwn’\ character3 are excellent indicator of what lies ahead for rooster is the green onr on the Kello_w’\ dreaming -or going intine. the reader. The story begins: “Frieda Corn Flakes hln. Rohrrlson’s htorieh are quiet and cotmts off what happened the tirst five Nixon’s stories are fresh and quick. though~l’ul. each \rntencc honrd to a weeks. One. Her tampons blew up. In sharp and rich in dazzling ! iwal im- level ol’ imenhe prrfecrion that seems this humidity their bodies mushroomed. agery. Her language i\ simple hut fre- evenru;dly to wck Ihe energy out of the spread, until lhey popped the confines of quently startling. parlicularly in her collection. Thew *torie\ are very their pink plastic shells . . .: Nixon goes descriplions of the Zairian landscape: earneu and should he hmmting. but on to tell the story of Frieda. a childless “Outside. the land w’:13purple Jarknesr. they’re not: inrlrad they fade under the Canadian woman living in Zaire with her The heavens. hot :md in motion. like a wright ofthe p+4~ological insight they husband. Linford, who travels m villages woman changing train*.” Nixon take\ iwe ftrrced to bear. 0

...... *...... *...... e...... ,.. 44 Books in CanadaSeptember 1994 Miscegenation Blues Voices of Mixed Race Women Edited by Carol Camper Miscegenatiot~ Bhres: Voicesof Mixed Ran Wonren is a stunning and long awaited collection of some of the most poignant- writing by more than forty women of mixed racial heritage. Editor Carol Camper, in her introductory essay says, “Mismgmalion Bluescomes at a time when more than ever, mixed race people must speak. Identity. loyalty and belonging are issues which reside at the very heart of our existence and it is up to us to define who we are and identify our needs.” KBN 0-920813-95-X 6 I9 119.95 pqW’416 pE*es Iusr wtaml

If you want to see more books by women of co/our, come to our booth at The Word on the Street on Sunday, September Xth!

Srsraa VISION PRESS. P.O. Box 217 * Station E . Toronto . ON . Canada M6H 4E2 Tel: (416)533-2184: FAX (416)533-2397

SHOWING GRIT: SHOVVBOATIMG NORTH OF THE 44TH PARALLEL by M. Nourbese Philip LL RIGHT, LET’S REDEFLNE “them.” the poslcolonialist liberals. P&~l77_sxlMp,awK%%ut 15) /A Western liberalism. Is it open- One of rhr three book!. fits ltalo THE RAFT OF THE PlEDUSAt A mindedness or progressive- Calvino’s category of Booka Made For FIVE VOICES Of’d COLOMIES. ness? No, deconstruct it just right, and Purposes Other Than Reading: the sec- NATIONS APdD HISTORIES it looks like racism. conservatism. ond edition of Shmin~ Grir. a bw.k-long edited by Jocelyne Domy and Julian Samuel and most of the other unattractive essay explaining why the Broadway mu- isms out there. sical Slrow Bwr should never have been Sony. but there is a sense of cranky. revived and performed in Toronto. M. righteous indignation here (strongest in Nourbesr Philip. a Caribbean-born S~xwiag Grit, muted to a discreet intel- Torontonian. may he :I prize-winning lectual hum in Terrifories ofDilfcr.wce) port and an astute social critic. hur that raises the hackles of this (main- Showirr~ Cd. resonating with outrage stream, with some ethnic credentials) and frustration. reads like a ton-long let- Reviewedby Sheryl Halpern critic. These three books crusade - ter to the editor. “What will it take 11) against historically embedded stereotyp- make those wirh the privilege of race. crimination. and Slrrrw Llocrr thr novel ingattd other injustices, against the well- skirt colour. class and gender- rich and the Broadway show. She wonders meaning but unconsciously racist white men - realize what is at stake why the revival came to Canada (she liberalism of the European colonizers here?” she asks. More than Slrowirr~ feels that its premiere. a year after the and their descendants. Grir. which assumes rhat its wader has a Yonge Street riwh. wah not a coinci- They crusade, too, against their main- Torontonian’s knowledge of the contro- dence). It i.v an attempt at :I Pair-minded stream readers. As they rethink culttttxl versy. and a partisan’s penprctive. treatment of all the issues involved - identity and history, they slip into what Philip has a point ahout Show Borrr. hur iI goes on and on. Sara Suleri in Terrirories of Diflemrrre and she helahottn it in Ibis three-part ar- So dots S/wwHour. Despite the ptntesrs. terms “the rhetoric of ‘US’ and ‘them.’ *’ gument in prose and prose-poem. She it hecamr a bon-nfficr hit. and even They separate the world into “us.” the examines rhe social tend hislorical con- Philip admirs she’s tempted 10 ZK it. As marginalized and disenfranchised. and texts that produced slavery. racial dis- consolation. there’s a “mornli~y play.”

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. . . . ,...... ~...... ECWPrersrqrersthscakay scribedas”ncritiqueofthe perspective Centre an pmgramb on borders and cul- section of an ad for a recent book the West has of world misery”1 by rural differences. is the mwt scholnrly on Northrop Frye was taken ThCodorc GtXxult. and dispassionute of the threr -and without atvibution from John Ayre’r The five speaker+ 4min Maalouf. probably destined for graduatr reading entry on Northrop Frye In The Thierry Hrntsch. Sara Suleri. Ackbar lists. Though the postcolonialistjargon is Canadian Encyclqxdio. ECW Press Abbns. and. again. Philip - want to re- still thick on the pages. Trrrirories of spok+es to John Ayre and to McClelland and Stewart for lo vise the Eurocentric view of history. Di&wtrw offers more of the multi-lay- unauthorized use of coPyrighted and each has a different spin. Mnalouf. ered. multicultural approach that T/w material. for example. remarks on rhe Europran Ruji ofthr Mrdtrsrrtries for and Showing ...... fear of Islam; Suleri discusses the for- Grit miwzs. Sam convertad to writerk studio mation of Pakistan: Abbas talks about Rrnee Baert’s introduction offers a lof@srmlant available.Located on Hong Kong, a plnce with no pas1and a thoughtful overview of the issues of dif- l00aUe.5ofwDOdr&~mr9Okm. east oflbronta Year-round accesson Chinese future. Hentsch brings in ferences. borders. and history. and each pwed roads. Flexible & amicsble terms Marx. and history as myth: Philip de- piece raker. a different approach IO differ- to suimbla individual. 5eFmntained; fine\ her role as a bubvertrr of enw and identity. peacaM private haven. Phomcopier/fdx European history. Loretta Todd discusses a film about equipped. Stsven W@ns, f?O. Sax 7. There’s no shortage of thoughr- the Navajo. showing where art and an- Orono, ON LOS IMR (SOS)7’973394. provoking material about relations thropology become invasive. and Eveningsare base betwern the colonizers. the colo- Norbert Ruebsaat and Gwaganad (Diane Soluilon for Asmtic 164 nized. Isnguagr. and power. Still. Brown) collaborate on a discussion of Favour is deceitful and beauty is vain, five monologues stitched together Haida customs thilt is not a standard an- Irsula. She was SarahPyslt and she manied ‘red Proctor. He wss one cd your wicked, make a disjointed cross-cultural con- lhropological interview. ascinating men. After she married him he Philip (again). in a porm-cum-dia- pvs up bein! fascinating, but he kept on versation: the insights turn into odd Isingwicked.’ ncwr seqsitrrrs. A pity -you might logur titled “Looking fL>rLivingstone.” At rhs A/& L M. Montgomery(M & Sl lose track. and miss Maalouf’s ex- confronts the famous Livingstone-l-pre- titled The Redetnptiott ofAl Bsmen. traordinary proclamation of eclectic sumc in Africa (“You’re new here. an%‘1 about a white impresario who is con- humanism: you?” she asks him). whilr Cameron fronted by five Black women and ends Bailey critiques Dany Lsferritire’s racy The centTe is man I have the up with egg on his face. (Yes. but will a parody of rxist stereotypes. Comsrent right to be. st rhe ssme time. “‘rich white msn” buy a copy of S/rowing jiriw I ‘~intotwurc(’ 1111rrigrr .wm.~.W jir- Christian, &slem, Jewish. Grir and read this?) t;,yrrrr.and describes whnt gets lost ton Buddhist. I have the right to Jocelyne Duray and Julian Samuel’s purposeir)in tmnslation. borrow from all religions, fr~rm all The Rafr of the Medusa is less angry. Monika Kin Gagnon links I9th-cen- ideologies r\ncl I don’t riced a and less accessible: again, too much is wry studies on hysrrrics to modern labrl assumed. The title piece, a transcript of views on AIDS and srxuality. and Kim Samuel’s documentary film, needs a Tied to Tire Ruji oj’the tl4udtr.wiwe two Sawhuk return?, a package of comfort- meaty introduction and thumbnail de- short related pirces. One. an interview able assumptions about the global mar- scriptions of the speakers. The script with the Ottawa writer Marwn Hassan. ket to its corporate senders. There are seems to start in media res. and it includes comments on poatcolonialism. perceptive now on two related art ex- takes a while for the reader to discover racism. and Canadian identity. and the hibits. too. that the participants are “five intellec- mission of Robertson Davies. The othrr. Should you read these books? If tuals working in five different loca- by Charles Acland. reinterprets the you’re a liberal and don’t mind feeling tions.” speaking not to each other but Dracula myth (the Count ;IS colonialist uncomfortable - simultaneously ad- to an interviewer, and brought together spectrc. the immigrant as vampilr). dressed and sntaguniLed -read away. by film editing. The title, by the way. Trrritwies qfDt#ivwrcr. il collection AI least you’ll know what is bring said refers to a 19th~century painting (de- of essays that began with two Banff about you. 0

...... -...... s...... , , a,.,.. . 46 Books in Canada September I994 ‘One of those splendipr social histories which ‘A fascinating, engnxdng, riveting book about a come riding down the piae, on a white horse, most remarkable murder case.’ Edward L. once b a generatfon.’ June Callwood Greenspan, Q.C. =!/%I@ !&?zl~uI off

/UBz85a&2 l&z%=%h O[d Mam i$&$@ Ear@ Womes sac! Families A True story of of Nova Scotia Criminal Justice in America Mary Bysrs and Margaret McBumsy Martin L. Friedland Photographs by Chris Reardon A lovingly told story of intrigue from tum-of-the- Liveiy stories of the people of Nova Scotia combined century New York-wealth, power, and death under with outstanding photographs of the homes they built suspicious circumstances. The resulting trial becomes and livedin. This book will delight anyone who knows a media circus. $37.50 cloth Nova Scotia or plans to visit there. zoo photographs I!%95 paper/ $60.00 cloth (Q)ff ufmm&~) pmss

DDODDOODDODDDODODDOO000

THE CRUCIBLE OF WAR 1939-l 942: THE OFFICIAL HISTORY OF THE ROYAL CANADIAN AIR FORCE, VOLUME 111 HIS LCINGAWAITEDTHIRD clear war.” argue the author* of Tlrr by Brerewn Grsenhous. volume of the Royal Canadian Crrrciblu tf Wur. Stephen J. Harris, William C. Johnston and William G.P. Rawling Air Force official history takes u airpower alone could not strike a “nmrryolTcuulIoRn,.1,zl%pyr*iOdmh us overseas during the Second World ,IW OBolOOSN al decisive blow. and postwar analysis War, where brave tighter pilots defend showed clearly that the tlamagc Reviewedby Robert M. Stamp the mother country in the Battle of inflicted on rhr <;mnnn war Britain and heroic bomber crews carry economy was never a5 gTrat as the attack to Germany itself. Superb phorogrxphh trtien carry the nar- hoped (and helievrtl) at the rime. First, to end the suspense: T/r,r rative better than rhe text. although the re- Crucible uf War, 1939-1945 supports That conclusion comes after IO yean pnlduclionb are diaapp+linting. Brian and Terence McKenna’s “The ofscholarly nzbearchand insightful anal- Whether dealing wirh bombm. tight- Valour and the Horror” - the 1992 ysis. and is supponcd by molr: than I .uoO n’s, or radar. however. the emphasis re- CBC-TV mini-series that spa&d a law- footnotea in the %!+age bomber war mains on policy. “Our mandate wah to suit by outraged air force veterans. who section alone. End of controversy? prepare an inblitulional history of rhe claimed it slighted their wartime role and Probably not. fur historical research and Royal Canadian Air Force.” declare the sullied the memory of almost 10.000 analysis usually pale before the con,- authors. all historian\ with the RCAF personnel killed while serving bined onslaught of menxxy and pride. Department of National Defencr in with Bomber Command. In addition todealing with the bomber Ottawa. Readers are subjected to count- Bombing certainly slowed the rate of war. this massive I .09b-page book con- less admini>trarivr contlict!. -squab- expansion of the German economy, es- tains Iengrhy section?.on air policy. the bles between air force chief\ and cabinet tablished a ‘Second Front” long before lighter war, rhe maritime air war. and the ministem. inter-hervice livslries. and the D-Day, and forced Germany to devote air-transpon war. 1~sstrengths zal: many. issue of “Calladi;lnir;aion” in the faur of considerable manpower to air defence. The authors provide detailed technical in- British mililluy colonialism. But it did not destroy the German man- formation on radar operatiunh of both Few xliun acL’oum\ rully rhe text. ufacturing industry nor the morale of Allied and German air forcrs. William R. Pilot Officer A.G. Grant’> bombing of the civilian population. “In a pre-nu- Const;ible has drawn wiometcrrilic maps. Italian hracheh in August 1943 and

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Flight Lieutenant Richard Audet’s in RAF rather than RCAF squadmob. II viduals were a.*great as thox of men do- downing of five enemy aircraft on a sin- devotes just three pages 11)the downed ing idenlical or Gllilar work. their num- gle sortie in December 1944 seem like RCAF flyers in POW camps. II de-rm- bers were relatively unall and their intrusions in an otherwise desk-bound phasires non-flying personnel. though overall impact 011the *erGc: not great.” administrative history. The dominant 337 lost tbeirlives in the line ofduty. Ii ig- Women taxpayrr~ who feel cheated view comes not from the pilot’s seat or nores the oft-duty lift! ofCanadian airmen should consult Shirley Render’s recent the gonner’s hmet. The Crucible ofWur and their impacl on the English civilian hooh. ,%I Plucr, lirr t, 1.x11&T/w Suyi r!t’ is “desk-top”history at its finest. population. How many brawls o&de Currudi~rn W0rrw1 Pit0l.v t 92%IYY2. Not that we want a repeatof The RCAF village pubs? How many unwanted preg- Many women with pilots’ liccnce~ were Overseas,P lhrewolume sNdy from the nancies?How auny war hridrr? grounded in de4 jobs with the RCAF 194Osthatovergkuilied the”deedsofgtd- Mosr appalling is the treatment of the throughout the Second World War. Not lantry performed by Canada’s sons in the RCAF’s Women’s Division. No listing till 1981)did the lirl;t women tly opera- face of the enemy.” But in its concern for in the index, and only one paragraph tionally for the Canadian Amled Foxeh. desk-top administrivia. 7%~ Cwcible of mentioning the “S67 female ofticets and Feminist waden of The C‘rucibk r!fWw Warmis.5esthe opportunity to move mili- 372 other ranks” (why not say 939 nray wihh to add up the man-hours tnot tary history forward inlo a more all-en- women:‘) at No 6 Group Hrudquarte~ at “person-hours”1 of the four authors and compassing socio-cultural approach to Allrrton Park. Why so little space de- their research and administrative ah% chronicling the lives of armed forces prr- voted to these women who. the authors tantsovrrthr past It1 years. thene~timate sonnel during wartime. grudgin8ly admit. “eventually played ;I the tomI co\t II) the Department of The book doesn’t deal with the major- significant and dinxt role in the opera- National Drfencc and to Csoada’s tnx- ity of the 93.844 Canadian air font per- tional life of RCAF bases and s~~ttions”‘! payers. tKe>ult!. may br fued to the sonnel who served overseas during the It’s the patriarchy at work: “In ouropin- National Action Committee on the Second World War - since they served ion. though their contributions as indi- StatusofWomen.10

Leif s stories of abundan~z his offrr to lend her his ship. and her own over- whelming desire to build a ship of her own while at the outpost. Freydis sets sail in quest of what she hope5 will be her good fortune. From the outset there is tension br- OAN CLARK’S SECOND ADULT tweet the Greenlaoders and Icelanders novel is subtitled A Tale ofDreorns who take part in the expedition. and it is orId Lnck, which it most certainly is. this uneasiness th;rtClark slowly builds Echoing elements of a long Norse to a grisly climax. Unfortunatrly. this saga. it uses myth, folklore. dream im- construction takes far too long. and un- agery, and verse to help tell the story of less readers are interested in Viking Joan Clark Freydis Eiriksdottir, the illegitimate habits. customs. dress. and genealogy daughter of Eii the Red, and her expr- (well researched as these are). they will pacrlIfthe lab1chilpterS. dition in 1015 to Leifsbudir. the Viking likely find themselves tempted to shut Freydi!. herhrlf ih anything but doll. outpost in Newfoundland established by the book halfway through - which She is hhrewd. cunning. outspoken. her brother Leif Eiriksson. Fuelled by would be a shame. considering the im- lusty. trrachrrour. \tubborn. ap8res-

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sive- all to a degree too great IO ben- efit her in the end. During the expedi- tion, her leadership abilities are compared favourably to those of her brother, and although she is feared MET HELEN CREIGHTON surprise. In their introduction. Caplan and disliked, shecommands attention. once. when I interviewed her about and Taft assert thar these stories are “not Her husband, an excellent hunter but a 0people she had known who featured the tales found in modemday children’s weak man, pales beside her. and is no iu my master’s thesis in folklore. Near books” nor do they resemble older liter- match for herpotant ambition and her the end oftbe visit. I asked her to sign my ary Iworkings wch as rhe Grimm’s col- even more potent will. She is. without copy of her autobiography. A Life irr lection. Perhaps not. but these a doubt. in charge. The only other Folkhe. As she did. she asked if I in- sometimes bawdy. often gruesome sto- character who comes even remotely tended 10 have a life in folklore loo. I ries are very much like those in halo close to her strength of self is the replied that I would if I could tind ofib Calviw’s much largercollection. /m/h thrall Ulfar. whose quiet. just. obser- when I graduated. She was too polite 10 Fdkmlt~s. originally published in the vant nature serves as a powerful con- respond tothis. but the look that flickered trast to not only Freydis but the whole across her face showed plainly that she animalistic crew. would never have allowed such a paltry The novel takes place during rhe ad- consideration to stand in her way. vent of Christianity - Leif and Ulfar Nor did she. Without poshion at a uni- are both converts while Freydis is versity or archive. Helen Cwighton col- Reviewedby Janet McNaughton adamantly opposed to the new religion lected folklore. mainly in Nova Scotia. and wants “the old gods” - and Freydis for most of this century. Unencumbered is portrayed as one of the last of a dying by academic theories. she kept her mind 1950s. Both sets of [ales have an uncen- breed: the rapacious conqueror, the war- open and collected everything: not only sored immediacy ahour them that allows rior Viking. Her story is really the story the songs thar interested her. bur folk the reader to understand how these of the end of a culture and how such cures. beliefs, and stories as well. A folk incredible yet repetitive stories could ends come for many reasons, in many To/u Jorrr-nq rhr-orrghthe Mwirirnes is a hold the attention of audiences of adults ways. Clark’s depiction, near the end of posthumously produced collection of 74 generation afier generation. the book, of Paradise and the attendant stories from all three Maritime provinces Because this book aims to presenr soul-numbing that comes with achiev- edited by Ronald Caplan, editor of Cupr folk-tales in versions as close to their ing it could well serve as a cautionary Brrrcr~:r M~r.&rrr, and the Saskatchewan oral tellings as possible. the texts have tract for anyone who thinks a com- folklorist Michael Taft. Creighton’s ac- been tampered with very little and rhe pletely stmss-free Iife is a happy one. companying notes are probably rougher resulting stories are often confusing. Despite its overall plodding style. than she would have liked. burdoconvey More lhan once I fell like a folk-tale Eirikrdorrir-ifone can stick with it to a sense of the people who gave her these hero lost in a forest of pronouns of the end-leaves one slightly startled. tales and the conditions in which they uncertain attribution. Sometimes as if one had been listening to a long were collected: recording equipmenr. for Creighton or Taft and Caplan altered and intricate tale unfolded gradually instance. was once heavy enough to re- the fext 10 avoid such confusion. They over a hundred winter nights, a haunt- quire a wheelbarrow to move iI around. should have done so more often. But ing tale about fate and folly, and the Most of these stories are whar folk- this tlaw does not diminish the overall lure and the danger of Paradise; here is lorists call. with a straight face. “ordinary value of this book. Like most excur- a meditation on the nature of the human folk-tales.” peopled with giants, kings. sions. a folk-tale journey is nor to ey- spirit, its courage and treachery, its magic swords. talking animals. and eryone’s taste. But those who like this quest for material wealth and sensory kindly simplerons who marry kings’ kind of foray will find A Folk Tulr adventure, but above all, its quest for daughters. Anyone who thought such Jorrnw~ tlwo@~ r/w Mtmririrncr a saris- the meaning of its own self. 0 tales belonged only to Europe is in for a fying one. 0

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IN ‘The House on High Street.” the first of Budge Wilson’s nine stories in The IT’S ALL a question of supply and de- Courtship (Anansi. IS I pages. %14.95 AN I~PDATFDand expanded version of mand. Create the desire for a story. and paper). a Halifax woman in her mid4Os the I987 nnrhology TRIOFew ro Cormt. a story will flow. “Supply and recalls a childhood visit to relatives. In Conflict with the Law: Women Demand,” one of 10 short stories in During her visit. the girl witnessed evi- and the Canadian Justice System Gary Whitehead’s I Can Fix dence of an unexpected adult relntion- (Press Gang. 301 pages. S 18.95 pa- Anything (Arsenal Pulp, 160 pages, ship. but Wilson writes of it so per]. edited hy Ellen Adrlberg and $13.95 paper) is a hilarious second- off-handedly that the reader is unsure of Claudia Currie. focuses on women of- person (that’s right. “you”) narrative the implications. The adult narrator then fenderr und thr lack of attention to of a man with a profound understand- briefly pondem the events. hur withour their needs. ing of how this works. coming to nny insight - so rhere’s no The nine essayscollected in this book Whitehead creates several orders of rearm for the story’s narradve frame. Is achieve exactly whar thry set out to do: fictional worlds in / Cnrr Fir Artything. In this an example of how IIDI to write a to disrurh. challenge. and inform. The four stories. the author’s creations coex- story’?Prerty much so. authors - criminologists. journalisrs. ist with fictional characters fmm “The Wilson’s other tales nre equnlly acrivists. writer\. and acndemics - ex- Andy Griffiths Show.” Casablanca. flimsy and unsatisfying. Muny of them plodr myths about female offenders King Kong, and Kafka’s “The involve hossy. domineering mothers with rhe cusualne*s of demolition ex- Metamorphosis.” In four others, subur- who turn their sons into pompous adults. perts. Women in prison nre 1101violent ban men and women balance precari- whether bachelors (“The Losers”1 or and predatory lesbians. The women’s ously between boredom and horror in a husbands (“Mrs. MacInrosh”). In all liberation movement has #to, led to an world where interaction is minimal. and cases the mother is a caricature who explosion of female crime. The major- where what communication there is harks back to the similarly unlikely ity of the participants in prostitution are seemsthreatening. moms of Wilson’s previous collection. male. ,101female.

“Supply and Demand,” a simple story Thr Ltvwirr~. The treatment of female offenders in of business savvy, has a clever metafic- Because of the bland wriring and Canada hns mnged from calculated cru- tional twist. as does the provocative smooth surfaces. melodmmatic events. elty to indiffe=nce. Even in what should ‘My Finite Chevy.” where the world as which are often the turning points. stand he more enlightened times. becausesuch we know it is filtered through language out as connived. Even in the potentially a small pmponion of crimes is commit- as hardly anyone knows it. with pro- strong ‘The Dress.” in which a shy girl’s ted by women. little has been done IO nouns and verbs taking on a life of their birthday party turns into a social tailor jurlice to rheir sprcific needs. own. In Whitehead’s diverse imagina- tragedy. several farfetched situations Prison fncilities and resources.modelled tive realms. charactersseem to bt: sleep- and conversation?. occur before a Life on those for men. are often ludicmusly walking through lives scripted by a Lesson is ruefully leamrd. inappropriate ior women. Native strange hand. The only satisfactory story is “Mrs. women. in particular. find no peace and Although Whitehead tries too bard, Garibaldi and Leonardo.” a whimsical no healing while incarcerated.For many. and at times his experiments seem fantasy about a woman dumped into a prison is simply “an extension of life on strained, I Con Fix Angrbing supplies home for the elderly who nonetheless the outside.” clever plots and quirky characters. as manageslo lind happiness- and give her On n \omewhat brighler note. 111 well as a few metatictional tricks. It’s selfish son a comic comeuppance. Its C0r!/licr with rht, Lam is evidence that all a question of what the reader de- graspof human comedy and wistful iroln- there’s :I gmwing rffon IO impmve the mands of a story. tion is appealing. lot nfCa~adian women offenders. Julie Adam John Charles Anne Giardini

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WHEN HE DIEDin 1992 at the age of 3.5. THERE HAVE been a number of kis+ Dr. Peter Jepson-Young was probably and-tell (or kiss-and-brag) books Canada’s most visible person with written about the modern advertising AlDS. His weekly AIDS diaries - ini- industry. so the Madison Avenue beat IN ONE:PDEM in Girl by the Water tiallytekvised forlocal Vancouveraudi- would seem to be well covered. iTurnstone. I I6 pages. $12.95 paper). ences, then made into an award-winning Randy Scotland’s The Creative Gnry Geddrs notes that “The Chinese documentary -gave a human face to a Edge: Inside the Ad Wars (Viking. have a phrase. .rrr-.rhih. thrl translates. tragic pandemic. Talking about every- 225 pages. $27.99 cloth). though. has roughly. I as left-over history. If it’s nor thing from experimental drugs and ho- two things going for ir that make it /available. invent ir.” It’s a good way to mophobia to learning how to ski while well worth reading. First. it is not a describe his poetic project. creating and blind, Dr. Peter@ he came to be known) self-aggrandizing insider’s story: stitching together fragments. impres- was well informed. funny, intelligent, Scotland is a business writer who sions. and anecdotrr. to give shape and and balanced. Each of these adjectives gained access to the inner world of meaning to tand otirn contradict! the could apply to Daniel Gawthrop’s big-time advertising. and reports it official version of events. The titlr se- Atlkmation: The AIDS Odyssey of Dr. with a keen journalistic eye. Second. ries is a documentary treatment ofro- Peter (New Star, 248 pages,$16 paper). it is specifically about the Canadian mamic balladry: a local beauty’s A ftequent writer on gay and lesbian ad industry. That doesn’t make it suicidal drowning over lost love. The topics, Gawthrop explains issues beauti- qualitatively different from books poems are written from rhe point of fully, without diatribe or condescension. about the US business. but it does in- view of the main characters and the by- He’s as sensitive to Jepson-Young’s volve us as readers in personalities standers: the girl’s fellow chamber- parentsor in-your-face AIDS activists as and campaigns that we inrtonlly maid. the priest who half-dozes through he is tohis subject and even includes ho- recognize. her la~l confession. the merchant who mophobic letters written by viewers un- The Toronto firm of Vickers and short-changes her on the muslin she happy with watching an openly gay man Benson agreed 10 let Scotland. a buys for her shroud. her equivocal on publicly funded television. Neither fimrnciol Posr writer. be privy to all but paramour (“I suppose we were lovers”). fawning nor judgemental, Gawthrop’s the company’s most sensitive financial the girl herself. What emerges is a pic- portrait shows an exceptional but human secrets. It was a brave risk on the part of ture of a historically forgettable. provin- individual whose life touched thousands. the executives. and an intimidating task cial society. where a tough young It’s surprising how much is covered in for the reporter. But it paid off on almosr servant girl escapes into rhe glow of this book, which provides (among other all counts. myth hy means of a splendid. terrible things) a very readable and concise. his- This inside story of Vickers and gesture and a white cotton gown. tory of AIDS issues in North America. Benson’s unsuccessful attempt to win Elsewhere in this collection. Geddes Many of Dr. Peter’s I I I diary entries - the big Shopper’s Drug Mart account is takes us through stories and meditations exemplaryintheircl~~rity-arereprinted. a richly detailed modern “war” story. on a Yukon residency.his fuml home wd includingthepopular’*~ation” med- with heroes. goats. failed strategies. neighbours in Ontario. his hoyhood in itationtbat summeduptheyoungdoctor’s and casunltie~. The one fault of the British Columbia. and another myth de- personalspirituality. book is that Scotland sometimes loses construction: n \rries of reminiscing While Jepsop-Young’s diaries were his perspective. He occasionally makes monologues by Mao Zedong. talking to especially popular with other AIDS pa- the protagonists sound like noble cru- Bethune’s ghost.The poemsare variously tients and caregivers. the terminally ill. saders rather than human beings trying contemplntive, bewildered. sardonic. an- the blind, and gay men and lesbians to make a buck on Bay Street. Still. T/u, gry. and occasionally exalted. Unlike looking for positive role-models, his Crcrrril:e Edge provides us with won- much verse mapping this aesthetic and message spoke to all. A#irmation tells derful insight into a world that domi- psychological tenitory. though. Geddes’s his story of taking hold of life and living nates modern life but remains best work is finally unparaphraaable - with dignity: it too is universal. essentially mysterious. rhe real reasonto write poesy. Glenn Sumi George Kaufman Scott Ellis

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Books in Canada September 1994 5 I FY -v. ., ~~.~*._.~._-.~.‘Y---.-.~~~-. .:-

BY CHARLENE DIEHL-JONES

N HIS COLLECTION The Long Road Mmim?n;~t Home (Goose Lane. 122 pages, $12.95 pa- fbtbrr per), Eric Trethewey attends to the seasoned (“Bambini”) hopes and griefs of people who live lives of labour and poverty. The man perennially scow- These are often angry poems, but they are also ing the Nova Scotia backroads for a home he can geenerous,empathetic. Her own embittered father afford. the woman who has carried three stillborn is perceived as a victim of the immigrant’s loneli- babies, the men on the evening shift lugging ness and unfamiliarity: “for thirty years now I boxes in New Orleans: he’s slept in a foreign bed /that has curved his spine”(“Perhaps”). Pastwtidnigbt,ten, weq Patriarca works the shon line with simplicity yearsdeep in it, tbqynk and grace. in both English and Italian. Of Italian at time koxedup inm bows, women. she writes: bmved onmroihnndstarked in tbe bob ofeigbtcen-wbeekn Ibaueseen tbnn wnzptbeirsordr tobr battledmuq m phes mvttttdtheir tbildwn tbefMtcvc*brm M, mtdsewe their uun beam willneve7go. in Rmeal tbtynever (“Evening Shift”) sbmv (%&an Women”) Around these trajectories of grey distress. Trethewey weaves resilience, vision. hope, con- Paniarca refuses IO do the same; she wraps her solation; hemusesabout”howdifticult/eachday soul around her community. but partakes wholly can be without I small gifts to brighten I our in the challenge of writing her living with in- merely human lives” (“Ditch”). 7%~ Long Roud tegriry. Home is a fistful of those gilIs. A Plains Cree. Louise Halfe speaks. in Bear In Gianna Patriarca’s Italian Women and Bones & Feathers (Coteau. I30 pages. $9.95 pa- Other Tragedies (Guemica. 78 pages, $15 pa- per). of her people, their difficulties and sorrows. per), we find crafted poems, delicate and pre- theircompellingengagement with the rhythmsof cise, that chart the immigrant experience. the planet. Patriarca is particularly drawn to domestic Halfe’s writing is tender and funny. and oddly space, and writes with passion about its beauty fresh in its imagery. A daughter. taking her aging and its lurking violence: mother back home. says: “Yes. Mama. the old fridge is still there and no. there’s no lighming go- ing through to make it breathe” (“Fog Inside Mama”). We keep tripping over this innocence, which is profound enough to also admit brutality. Halfe addresses alcoholism and violence; she also explores the scars of residential school liv- ing: “We are given three sheets of toilet paper. / We learn to fold and refold. /A hundred little

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squaresofshh squeezed inside my hean” features the work of four writers - Nik (“Returning”). Beat. Mary Elizabeth Grace. Noah This book traces an arc of hope. as Leznoff, and Matthew Remski -each Halfe utters with anger and humour and paired with a graphic designer. I ap- clarity the domestic storms of childhood. plaud the collaborative impulse nl the cultural displacement of adoles- work here: allowing media IO interacr cence, and her gradual return to “the makes for an increasingly textured sweet sweetgraw smoke and sweatlodge reading experience. rocks” (“Returning”). Beor Bones & In essence. Mad Alr8el.s is four chap- Fenrlrers leaves us with the voice of a books published together in book form. woman whose and the quality of the work varies dra- matically. The strongest is Noah Our challenge is to enter rhis world of uwdrnmp badrearm Leznoff’s “Why We Go 10 Zoos.” The symactic slippage. to allow rhal velvet thcmtrtmindbmi& texts here range from sparely imagistic increase:the rewrds. I think. are as pro- smrndr ofgnyhair to the uncramped sprawl of oral narra- fuse as the leaves thal thicken rhe cover. to tbe emtb in berfiet. tive. And Shilling Chau has designed Jeff Derksen’s Dwell (Talonbooks. 98 (“Roots and Wings”) pages that are beautiful. or raw. pages pages. S 12.9s paper1is a series of adven- The 52nd State of Amnesia (TSAR. that haunt the poems. tures in language and living: Derksen 96 pages, $10.95 paper) is Krisantha Sri The voice here has an attraclive edpi- speaks the collision of pariiculars. ab- Bhaggiyadatta’s howl of protest: from ness: the whales at Sea World have eye- stract and concwre. Ihat comprise con- the “comxte spaceship,Tomnto” Ube lids with sciousnew Discovery of Amnesia*‘). he decries the For Derksen. contcx~ is the way we b/m/m/ imperialist politics that narrow the lives name ourwIves. and this underwireshis of Canadian immigrants: powerful consciousnessof thr politics of qyuemr bureaucratic. economic. sci- Apmtbeid we’re tatlgbt itrometbing entilic. textual - and subjectivity. It also ~~~qkrre eke. helps place the blur of htformarion we (m&?&n9i?~ ir 0 code word encounrer in thin writing. Derksen die jiqm+~talnewm~baliwt) rupw our habirs of knowing to explore The Ia~fibiiollc Ethnic other ways of making senw: Intetnntiona~ (“Why We Co to 751os”) beauty a mmk& the unitedcolonink Leznoff has nerve: I look forward 10 (ofofivim). reading more of him. Bhaggiyadatta is savagely funny: he Lise Downe’s A Velvet Increase of speaks,for instance,of "the embellished Curiosity (ECW. 76 pages. S 12.95 pa- history of syphilisation” cmost english per) is perfectly named: this writing teachers are racists”) and recounts the shimmies away from rrrrtr.firmn. fol- tortured English of Carmana as she lows tendrils of wondering. I like the blurts out. “‘i manna buy the ghun I and dance. Downe’s willingness to be “gen- shwoot that Mulmney! “’ (‘Gumaoa”). uinely devoted to the many I and arbi- The 52nd State of Amnesia is a wam- trary”(“And Shine Alike”). “lmerface of self and place.” Derksen ing from one of our voices of conscience; Downe is also a painter. which may writes. “pasres me rhmuph a translalion we would do well to pay attention. account for her resistanceto a simply ref- machine” (“Interface”): that passage Mad Angels and Amphetamines erential language: she transcribes a vi- produces a canny lexl. aswe and sharp. (Insomniac/HarperCollins. 96 pages. sual imagination in a textual medium. This is a hrillianr mind at work. dwelling $12.95 paper), edited by Mike O’Connor. Writing. for her. is in. dwelling on. 0

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.._-. .-._ ) .aC.:. /_ ,_. - . .. .:..:_..: _: ,.,,~..__._ _..,_.^____i _.._ BY MAUREEN McCALLUM GARVIE

IKE MANY FIRST NOVELS. dark-haired t&CbCcois/Polish girl educed from William Lynch’s Parksville (Oolichan. the convent. Jean-Michrl wws away on a laker. L 156 pages, $10.95 paper1is a better book runs away to live with the Ojibway. goes to re- than its packaging suggests: however apt. the form school. falls in love. Exotic strangers tell cover painting of a smmge man cycling thmugh a their stories. His wintly bmther dmwns. friends dark woods is undeniably ugly. But Pcr,Qwi//c is and loved ones die by the szore. often literally a surprising. subtle work. a tale told by a mad- failing apart. a knee hew. a kidney there. His fa- man,agiftedsculptor-maskmaker by the name of ther. lied for torturing a Black prisnnrr. explodes Gin. Eccentric to the point of dysfunction from a life of lwt: his mother disintegrates. His (Glenn Gould comes to mind). he is released father’s motto w:ls.Scrrrl~ yrript~rrr: Jean-Michel’s from institutional cm at his famous brother’s be- is I wus c~lwu~rd.Trying to make sense of life’s hest. to make a set of masks for a new tilm. grotesque mysteries. he visits surreal museums The story is unlikely. but we take a seat inside -of fish. police. suicide. love - where skinned Ginn’s head and hang on for the ride. Lynch goats lie by herbaceousborders and elderly Black vividly conjures Ginn’s view of the world as en- men serve tea. tirely animate and sensate. The phone rccrivrr T/w Mmw~r oJ’Law impre~xd me again and off its hook lies “like a wounded thing”: *’ ‘I’ve again with its nightmarish imagery and writerly seen wounded things before.’ he says. ‘The shoe contml. but it never truly engaged me. It was a re- was the worst. It wm by itself on rhe sidewalk lief to retreat to the daylight landscapesof Laura people didn’t notice ___they wouldn’t know how MacDonald and Alex Pugsley’s Kay Darling to help.’ ” t Coach Howe. 2 I2 pages. %16.9.5 paperi. to the Scenes of Ginn’s visionary. often comic ferry safe shallows of Generation X cr?r.w. Ku) journey to Parksville are intenpenrd with slices Dnrlirrg has three central character\. a gay actor of Parksville lives. These find :I counterpart in named Will. and Kay and Claire. two sisters fmm Gino’s masks. but I never did get thr point of the the Maritimes whose shared phobia is that they TV movie listings in French that decorate the will fall from the tightmpr and end up back in test. Purkrville itself would make a wonderful Moncton. Kay. a scriptwriter. litunctions on a film, though it would reqoirr an exceptional di- higher level than Claire. a “Canny feminist fmm rector to uanslate its singular vision to the screen. U of T.” a moral. intellrctual. and emotional If Porksville is a modest production. The mess. Will’s star rises highest. but at the cost of Museum of Love (Overlook Press/Viking. 2 I4 his integrity. Initially epiwkuy. the book tracks pages, $29.99 cloth) by Steve Weiner. a Kay and her milieu between Montreal. Tomnto. Wisconsin-born writer living in Vancouver. has and Hollywood. Kay’s movement is predicated ‘*extraordinary dkbut” written all over it. Issued on her working life: Clairr’c mobility is limited first in the United States and Britain. it bowled hy the men she loves. The best scene\ ofthe hook over reviewers who hailed it as an astonishing. are its sisterly dialogues - hoth for what’s said hallucinatory work of “Great Lakes magic real- and what’s held hack by gritted teeth. /t’o.v ism.” Set in the 1950s on Lake Superior’s north Darling is a tidy piece of work. though not very shore, it has a 12-year-old protagonist. Jean- memorable. perhap because ~wne of its chnnc- Michel Verhaeren. the son of a prison guard and a ten are particularly likeable.

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Breathing Each Other’s Air Joan Fern Shnw’h Frank and Annie writillng hi2x (Polestar, 176 pages, $14.95 paper) is (Oberon. 133 pages. $3 cloth. $13 pa- is awarded yearly to the best Florence McNeil’s 16th book (she is a per] works in a different key. a distinctly rose work received containing references to at least poet. anthologist, and writer of young- crisp and clearonc. Lucinda Forrester. adult fiction) but first adult novrl. Het now a retired schoolteacher. recnlls hrr 2 a!mlan~~~rlrl mDwm3 scparatcd by at fras~ narrator, an academic named Elizabeth tirst job in wartime in :t one-room school- Morrison, is researching a biography of house in Bruce County. Fnmk and Annie 2 lrimme ZaDlmtEs an actress/adventuress whose ship col- are older pupils who thrw days would bc in up to 4000 words. lided with another vessel and sank off the referted to as intellectually challenged. IME PENIXE cowBnBu’B OFI The Distance WritingTrophy, coast of British Columbia in 19 15. The Frank. says Lucy cundidly. looks like a S500.00 Cash Money, other boat was sailed by an English cou- pig t”not thr cute Porky cartoon. but u and publication in Ceist. ple with a German surname, suspected real pig. long nncl slow moving”). Annie DEADLINE: 1 NOVEMBER 1994 enemy agents. Elizabeth dives m find the is “built like a grandmother.” Yet their Entry fee: 515.00. Entrants receive wrecks, and nearly drowns. In her rap- young teacher’s growing love and re- a I-yr subscription to w, ture of the deep she reveals the murki- spect for them changes her life. the Cnnadinn Magazine of Ideas and Culture. ness of her own past. i.e., the drowning Many details - Lucy’s papcrinp the of her beloved father. McNeil writes school outhouse. and the hencoop that with fluid economy. calling on YA-fic- becomes the newlyweds’ iirrt home fat tion conventions such as time slip and di- example-sound as much like memoir IS GOOD FOR YOU Send Manuscripts with chaque and alogue with the dead. Her middle-aged as fiction. The portraits of the commu- SASE to: Distance G&t. heroine is in fact somewhat adolescent. nity - the minister and his wife who ,062 Homer Street, 11llO. “enwwer Canada “6B 2W9 still resenting parental pressures. still sham their house with the novice Ph: (604) 681.9161 for info fighting to establish her identity. The schoolteacher. the mailman. the student!. story darts along, but the mystery is a red andtheirfumilies-arccqusllydistinct. herring and the actress who sparks the Alongside run darker currents of black xholar). the old woman tnkcs thr wheel story is never more than a tintype: the dogs and witches. sex and death. while he sleeps. She is now mythically at emphasis on the hapless British couple Unfortunately the book’s vitality ih Izqe. only un ocxuhionul Ma~tercxd bill seems oddly superlktous, the revelations obscutrd by the usual bland Oberon for- marking herprogtehs. about Elizabeth’s father rushed past. mat: the cover painting completely mis- The grandmother’* imaginary voice Catherine Joyce’s Locked Rooms represents the book’s period and tone. rings more authentically than the gnnd- (Bumside Books, 274 pages, $22.95 pa- By contrast. the design of Himmi Goto’> daughter’s realistic one: C/II>IX~ of per), first in a proposed five-novel se- Chorus of Mushrooms ( NeWert. 222 M:r.~hroonrs is uneven. But the retold quence, employs a similarly vivid. pages. $12.95 paper) mhttnnrx3 an exper- folk-tales-a wonderful version ofTom impressionistic style, though its pace is imental text that [nixes rtream-of-con- Thumh. and another about a ysmbtr more deliberate.It too features a drowned sciousness natration. Japanese chamctcrs. tmountain w11man1 through whose father and resentful mother. but further shopping lists. folk-tales. and newsstories. strong body the whole world i* reborn - thickens its plot with twins. At 40, the A kind of Japanese-Albertan version rue marvels. Murasuki (called Muriel by once sylph-like Molly. now gross and of 77tr .sfonc ,+r.ec/. Ch0res 0t’ her mother) dehcrihes in sharp detail the mysteriously pmgnant. is holed up on the M~sltnwxrts is a granddaughtrr’s story of mushroom farm whrre her parents strive family farm. Clair, her tidy. controlling her grandmother. Kiyokswa Naoe. for success at the expensr of their sister, struggles to evict her so that the Young Mura.saki .spins s tale to her lover Japarree identity. property can be sold. While the story is of a stubborn old woman in exile in her Clmnrs 0f M~~sh~~~nrrrs’~ urgent often absorbing, its characterization is a daughter’s homr. who leaves hrr theme. implicit in all these works. is the weskness: everyone is snide. and the par- wooden chair after Xl years and takes to crippling effects of denying race and past ents ate so inhumanly withholding of af- theroad. Hitchingaridefmma truckerla in order to hlend in with ii colourlrss cul- Rction that it is hard to believe in them. cowboy-music lover and Japanese ture in a nrwcountly. 0

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BY RHEA TREGEBOV

N COMMON PARLANCE THE WORD Euc/ is a superb picture-book sure to appeal to “author” is generally perceived as referring vegetable-lovers and -haters alike. to a writer who has published a book. In the Laura Laogsron and Robert Amos xe also new world of publishing. and the world of children’s to children’s books:No Such Thing as Far Away publishing is no exception, an author may never (Orca. 32 pages. $14.95 cloth) is a lint for both. have been. and may never be. a writer. Authors of Although Amos is a skilled dnugbtsman and wa- books may be qualified by their good intentions. tercolourist. his inexperience as a chikiren’cbook their academic qualifications. their life. or profes- illustrator is evident. The cityscapeof Vancouver’s sional experience -any- Chinatown is evocatively ponrayed. but in far too thing and everything hut many of the illustrations rhe buildings. and not the their ability to write. Eric characters.dominate the composition. Langston’s Lindros. for example. is story isasensitiveevorttionofachild’sattachment one author who seems un- to place. and rhe carefully worked text is evidence likely to metamorphose ofsimngwritingskills. It’sroobad that Amos’sart- into a true writer. work doesn’t bettersuppon the SIO~. Don Gillmor. though a Budge Wilson’s Cassandra’s Driftwood relative newcomer to the (Potrentield. 18 pages.S7.95 paper). illustrated by world of children’s lirera- Terry Roscoe. tells the stop of a young girl whose tore. is a writer thmugh and shynessprevents her fmm expressingher feelings. through. When Vegetables This is clear. consistent writing about a complex Go Bad (Doubleday. 31 but believable character. Somewhat predictably. pages, $11.95 cloth, is a Wilson provides her pmt;igonist with a dilemma delectable book, and the il- that enables her to break OUI of the “box” of self- lustrations by the extraor- consciousnessthe author rather deftly describes. dinary Marie-Louise Gay Wilson is deeply connected with the child’s per- only add to the delight. Ivy spective: perhaps it is only the impatient adult in is of the vegetable-hating b& of child lcontxmy me that wishes she were somewhat less deliberate to popular opinion, vegetable-loving children do in herexplication of her heroine’s inner feelings. exist; I own one). One night the soggy veggies Robert Priest and Robin Skelton both have am- Ivy has stowed in a handkerchief come back to ple literary qualifications. While Priest now haunt her. They have indeed gone bad, just as do seems to be focusing on children’s writing. pm- children who don’t listen IO their parents. and ducing plays. novels. and poetry in addition to his now practically sport switchblades and leather children’s music. Skelton is better known as a jackers. The plot is perfectly paced and the writ- poet. translator. and academic. Priest’s A ing impeccable. Gay is at her exuberant best. Terrible Case of the Stars iPenguin. 64 pages. What more can you ask? Well. though Gillmor $9.99 paper) and Skelton’s I Am Me: Rhymes works hard to avoid the it-was-all-a-dream end- for Small (Sono Nis. 32 pages. $9.95 paper) are ing, I would ask whether younger readers might both poems for children. but Skelton is targeting find the final ambiguity a touch sinister for a bed- the youngest possible poetry audience. and he time story. This cavil aside. W/rot ~c~efuh/es G0 does a tidy job of reaching them. Despite rhe coy,

..,...... *.....,...... *,..,...... ,...... 56 Books in Canada September 1994 ._--. ._ __ ~.~~~~

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mther Viitmiau subtitle, dtese poems are “fix” Twclfrh Ni.qlrr by wrenching the $5.9.5 paper) I’ve encountered my very perfectly in tune with the life experience Bard’s poetry into execrable galumph- tirst books apparently not penned by any and viewpoint of very young children. ing couplers. This is an abominable individual human hand. Copyright for They’re fresh. immediate. and quite production. the text goes to the Sechelt Nation. and beautifully and tightly written. Rhonda O’Grady’s Bobby Bluestem well it should. although somebody must Priest’s A Terrible Case of the Stars. (Pemmican. 26 pages. 99.95 paper) is have put these words on paper. which is illustrated by Don Gauthier. is not as bad. but h’s not much better. Here Children seem to have an endless ca- less sure of ia intended audience, and we have another earnest expert not only pacity for legends and how-the-some- suffers from it Too ofteu the poems are “authoring” but “illustrating” a hook in thing-got-its-something tales. and both so highly fat&31 that they seem forced. abysmally amateurish coloured pencil. these books will prove infinitely satisfy- Too often the imaginative scenarios lack The plot. complete with a schematic Lxn- ing 10 their readers. Whoever the anony- the inbz.rnallogic that even fantasy must tral character, is a thinly veiled exposi- mous writer. these are lovely stories told maintain. In poems such as “Orange tory discourse on the ecology of the swiftly. surely. and beautifully. Charlie Orange,” “All People Once Were Prairie. O’Grady doubtless knows a lot Craigan. who illustrated both books. is Babies,” or “Poem for the Ancient about botany and the environment. but identified. and his black-and-white illus- Tnes:’ Priest shows what he can accom- she can’t seem to write and she certainly trations are striking. Craigan presents plish when his facility with language and can’t dnw. both traditional Sechelt abstractstyleand image are grounded, however playfully. Well. there seem to be books by writ- conventional woodcut style. While this in the felt reality of childhood. ers and books by authors. but in Mayuk complex. intriguing. and somewhat dif- Irma McDonough Milnes brings emi- the Grizzly Bear: A Legend of the ficult mix could perhaps have been better nent qualifications to her first book, Sechelt People and How the Robin Got served by a clearer design. these are Kaarina and the Sugar Bag Vest Its Red Breast: A Legend of the books that will be read ‘andread again by (Annick, 80 pages, $5.95 paper), illus- Sechelt People (Nightwood. 24 pages. their avid young audience. 0 trated by Sami Suomalainen: she is an authority on children’s literature. What she hasn’t yet mastered.however, are the skills of bringing a story to life. Koarinn and rhe Sugar Bag Vest is packed with interesting facts about the lie of Finnish immigrants in Canada during the ODAY WE’RE LOOKING Stewart. I I5 pages. $9.99 paper) fea- Depression. But all too rarely, within the at half a dozen new titles that tures Ida Mae Evans. who is 12. anecdotal. rather flat plot. do we get in- usucceed in slipping the instruc- spunky. accident-prone. and seldom at side Kaadna’s head and heart. tional baby very comfonably into the en- a loss for a bright idea. Invited 10 con- Lois Burdett and Christine Coburn’s tertainment bathwater - a tricky tribute to the school paper. she tries I%emR Night for Kids: Shakespeare proposiiion for any serious novelist. but writing an astrology column and devel- Can Be Fun (Black Moss, 40 pages, especially so for rhe writer of liction for ops au enthusiastic following until the $7.95 paper) is another first book, and young people who also values the ap- writ hits the fan. She also dabbles in another kettle of fish altogether. proval of teachers. librarians. parents. re- the stock marker with the help of her Burdett is an elementary school viewers. and bookstore managers with exotic 82-year-old mentor. Great Aunt teacher, Coburn a parent: Twelfth pretensions to taste ( i.e.. they can’t bring Glory Paradise. and gers herself in a Nightfor Kids comes complete with a themselves to stock totally mindless en- snit when her best friend starts dating a concluding note to parents and educa- tertainment). As it happens. five of the Boy. Blakeslee’s ear for dialogue and tors on the value of making six books have a female protagonist. ability to create likeable characters Shakespeare accessible to young chil- each of whom is worth getting IO know. make this a lively and entertaining dren. While the authors’ earnest inten- For example. Mary Blakeslee’s Stop story with some worthwhile insights tions are admirable. We don’t need 10 the Presses, Ida Mae! f McClelland & into friendship and gullibility.

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Three of these novels focus on a tried a little too hard with rhis book. himself. Great spooky goings-on. much young heroine who has been uprooted which covers every conceivablr base and amplified by the presence of Alice’s mys- from the familiar and most embark on a then some. but the overall result is richly terious Aunt Emily. who never quite gor new life. In City Pictures (McClelland textured andsatisfying. over an evil magic show she witnessedas &Stewart, 168 pages. $9.99 paper). by Julie Johnston is already celebrated a child. Bedard’s prose style is more than Shirlee Smith Matheson, 13-year-old for her Governor General’s equal to the challenge of creating an at- Sherrl Farquhar moves to Calgary from Award-winning first novel. Hero I$ mosphere of subtle menace (“Around her the comfortable rural home she knew in LCX~I. Cortscs ( 1992). and Adam and she felt Ihe inexorable fall of dark. the Pmirie Pichues (1989). Matheson’s first Eve and Pinch Me (Lester. I80 pages. quiet bleeding of color fmm the earth”: book about Sherri and her adventures. In $16.9.5cloth) should furtherenhance her “The sandbox looked alarmingly like a the city, life is anything but comfortable reputation. Ser in rumI Ontario. rhe stop grave site . . Horrors buar like shellfire when Sherrl’s dad rum into problems al follows the metamorphosis of Sara upon herbrain . ..“): this isa writer wirh a work, her mom squires a set of snooty Moone, its 15-year-old heroine. from a compelling and individual voice. friends, and Sam. the glamorous girl- defiant. introverted foster child who Individuality is also the hallmark of next-door, introduces her to shoplifting. hates rote touched. intoan involved and the 34 contributors 10 Next Teller: A Interestingly, it is Bonnie, Sherri’s six- imporram member of her new family Book of Canadian Storytelling year-old sister, who has her feet firmly and communiry. The story also acquires (Ragweed. 256 pages. $12.95. paper). an planted on rermjbma and serves as the a mythic dimension through the chanc- nnlhology pul together by Dan solid cenk of the family. City Pictures ters of quiet Hud and talkative Ma. rhe Yashinsky. Though nor aimed specifi- seems impressively real. particularly good couple who love and value Sara cally al younger readers. many of the sto- when shoplifting charges are laid and and teach her to love and value herself. ries herr will appeal 10 them. Legends. Sheni and Sammostdeal with the come- Johnston’s assured use of Sara as narra- folk-tales. even true stories about simple quencca.It’salaoaconvbxlngpor!mit of tar of her own story -she types it into things made extraordinary in Ihe telling how a “functional family” manages fo her computer at the end of the day - is - this collection encompasses much of stay that way when disaster sties. an effective means of disclosing her the vast vllriery of cultures and traditions In Janet McNaughton’s Catch Me emerging personality. and the unsettling that Canadians are increasingly coming Once, Catch Me Twice (Creative, 168 arrival in the neighbourhood of Sara’s 10appreciate as their own. The stories are pages,$l1.95 paper), 12-year-old Evelyn birth mother adds conflicl and suspense. grouped under four main headings: McCallom has to leave her beloved out- All this plus teenage romance. thor- “Curious Children.” “Tricksters.” pori home and move m St. Joho’s. where oughly developed characters, and Sara’s “Loveu.” and “Hauntings.” and are fol- she and her pregnant mother will live acid wit as she tells her story have pm- lowed by four “Tellers’ Tales” that. as with Evelyo’s grandparenta while her fa- duced a book that’s a real “keeper.” I rhe contributor Robert Minden puts it. fheris away fighting in the Second World just wish that Johnston hadn’t made are stories thar “come fmm my life. mo- War. McNaughton, who lives in St. Roth, Sara’s social worker. into such a ments lhnr markrd me or changed me in John’s, has a splendid time with her his- cotton-pickin’ saint. some mysterious way.” torical setting and the hint of fairy folk Michael Bedard’s Painted Devil Be warned. though. that reading this that still drifts over Newfoundland. Her (Lester. 224 pages. $16.95 cloth) gets off book may begin 10 change your life. As strong-minded heroine meets ao interest- to a rather rocky sfnrt as Alice. the Yashinsky notes in his prologue: ing boy, tangles wirh her equally strong- teenage heroine. humours her four-year- Ifyou like a story you rend here. it minded grandmother, and makes serious old sisrer by attending a dolls’ lea party. will start to helong fo you. Ifyou inroads on the problem of growing up. Oh dear. Before long. however. Alicr remember it after you put the book (‘There isn’t any way 10 get back to the finds herself in real hot water when her down, then you’ve given it a home. time when Mom and Dad took care of ev- boss at the crumbling library where she And ifyou re-tell it to a new erythlng for me:‘tbinks Evelyn as she re- works after school persuades her to help listener, then you’ve become the sists the temptation m run away, back 10 him stage an old-fashioned puppet show. Next Teller. 0 the outport.) McNaughton may have feamring Punch and Judy and the Devil

...... 58 Books in Canada September 1994

__.._- ..~ TLi,. ., . . .,5.:~.~~.ri’-.5-- _ . ..y..:-7 -y,>:.. ~_-‘-:; ._-_ -, .~_-__._’ money into hopeless causes. If the gov- or deliberate corruptions drat occur at the ernment continued to support an industry moment. Examples are legion. cles as repugnant_ that was a perennial loss-maker there Fifth. we must wash from us the stains and, ultimately, pointless as cultural or would be a massive outcry. Similarly. of politically correct jaundice and judge political polarization. Such extreme di- authors who fail to produce viable pieces applications according to their merit. vision is usually formed by two igno- of work for which they were given grants There is now an almost tangible degree rant and splenetic solitudes sustained by should not receive any further grants. of bitterness felt by many writen whodo a refusal to realize and accept that there There are a number of such writers. who not belong to officially identified “mi- is a middle, moderate, and correct path. specialize in applying for money for pro- nority groups” at what they see as the im- A perfect example of this is the debate jects that will never come to fruition: possibility of their receiving major over state timdhrg of the arts. and of lit- projects that they had no intention of grants when they are competing in a sys- erature in particular. The issue is in fo- completing. or in some cases of even tem that discriminates against them. If cus once again. with both sets of struting. we nnalyse the list of those receiving champions polishing their rusty swords. Second. in line with the above. we writing grants at a federal. provincial. The literary critic John Metcalf’s have to be mom selective in whom we and municipal level thisangerdoesseem heavy-handed and notorious condem- support. Funds are severely limited. A to be justified. A writing career curtailed nation of grants and grant-supported friend of mine. a respected and talented due to tack of money is just as dreadful writing has reappeared in Freedom author who is partly in the grant-giving fora white writeras it is fora Native or from Culture (ECW), a new collection business. told me that “some of the peo- Black author. of his work. Metcalf is supported by ple we help are literally unsure where the In conclusion. grant-giving agencies. those quixotic advocates of the free next meal is coming from.” I am sorry liberal grandees. and radical interest market’s invisible hand, whose knowl- for them. But not very. If they have been groups can fiddle while Ottawa burns if edge of economics is dwarfed only by in this position for some years it should they like and reject my views out of their ignorance of the arts. have occurred to them by now that they hand. But they ought to know that the Opposing this position we have the are in the wrong profession. A young dictates of the economy and the rise of CBC-friendly defenders of the status poet with ambitions is allowed to starve the Refomt Party will necessitatefunda- quo. seemingly determinedto subsidize with romantic dignity: a middle-aged mental changes in the near future. My evenasneezeoracoughfmmthe writers novelist with children and rcsponsibili- proposals are merely cosmetic in com- of This Maga:ine or the authors at ties really ought to know better. parison to what may be looming on the McClelland & Stewart as long as these Thii. we should consider the idea of a horizon. invohmtary expirations are in the interest payback scheme. If writers make suffi- Oh. and I know you’re asking. Yes. of Canadian nationalism. Such people cient money from a book for which they I’ve done fairly well from grants. And al- have a great deal for which to answer. received government support they ways completed the projects for which I Between these positions lies some- should perhaps repay the grant-giving have received support. If I ever become thing both horribly dull and undeniably body. which in turn could help another wealthy I will. of course. refrain horn ap- glorious: a balanced, intelligent financial struggling author. plying for further financing. Mind you. support for potential or inchoate excel- Fourth. all juries should be blind. That even now. forsome strangeteason. some lence, and oven a little helping along of a is. not appallingly myopic, but unawareof left-leaning juries appear less generous few gutsy mediocrities. If Canadian let- dre names of those applying for tinsncial towards me than in times past. ters are to continue to enjoy the benefits support. as currently occurs in only one Extraordinary. See point four. 0 of statesupport there must be a judicious major grant contest at either the Ontario reform of the funding process. Arts Council or Canada Council. This Michael Coren’s latest book is The Man First, we cannot continue to pour would prevent most of the subconscious Who Created Narnia (Lester).

...... *...... ”...... -...... -...... Books in Canada September 1994 59 ...... BY FRED SHARPE

Whenpmperly filled in, the letten in the box form a quotatton from a Canadwn book. hnd the letters by solving the clues below end writtng the answers in lhe numbered spaces provided. Then transfer the lattars from the spaces to the appmpriate squares in the box. The Sat letters of each answered due form the name of the author and title of the book (solution next month).

A. Arthur Kmker work (2 wds.) M Ellrekia Bead We (3 wds.) 9 ,JLT 90 149 196 189 M 21 Pr zi 15 i,* 18s 1% il ‘65

N When things were better (3wdS)

0 Cdn undead novel (3 wds.) C. knotyour usual ballet outfit _ __ _ _. 1.2, bl ,a, p6 199 27

0. Oman0 river (2 wds.) 43 17. ,oD 104 MO 29 Ia3 106 P Author of above (2 wds.)

E. Bet against 0.‘~_____campace.” Marshall McLuhan axiom F. Famous Jane Sl’ 175 Is4 97. 2, IN (5 wds..)

G. Paint component (2 wds.) __. ._ _ . 59 PP 1h0 111 141 1p9 iti 186

zOr_ i,b R Germandog H. Kind of cafeteria S Football position I. Extreme degree T Commercial catch-phrase (3 wds I J. ClrangesofStZeaulhor (2 wdS.)

94 19 U Contunction K. Get highway: pull _ over (3 wds.) IJ 151 77 ,a, 111 116 w ,a V Mlmw 1925-29 L. Borne apartment buildings (2 wllS.) in &is 89 128 12 156 zJ ~0 p%dual

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ONSIDBRBD to the pump house in the Market died in 1973 at 82. leaving iut interesting purely as a Square beside the City Hall to autobiography of his own). But he )- t : piece of book- escape from the street battle snd couldn’t helpadmiig him. making, Stewart stood up on the water uough to get Frederick Giffin was the Toronto Smith’s memoir Comrades and a better look. S~crr’sexpert on Russia in those days. Komsomolkas: My Years in the and the author of Sov& Sctvre (1924 1. In later years. after breaking with the Communisr Party of Canada (Lugus) which well deserves reprinting. In party following the revelations of the is wretched. It’s repetitious and full of Vu&y Show. his memoirs, published in honors under Stalii. Smith was a popu- typos and washed-out half-tones. In 1936. he describes what happened when lar figure in Toronto, as a business per- fact, it quite fills me with nostalgia. “the Eight” were sent down: son and municipal politician. But he was For this is what left-wing literature reared in Brandon, Manitoba. where his Theysatin rows ofseaa . . until looked like when I was coming of age, father, the Rev. A. E. Smith, was a the judge, sharply, cold them to when people were drawn to its sheer preacheroftheSocialGospel whosepro- stand up. They stood in Line. old-fashionedness and poverty of de- gressive views often brought him into widtout plea or fear, without sign, which seemed to us a warranty of conflict with tbe Methodist hierarchy. In mockery and without rebellion. honest content. Today, when discus- 1923tbe Smiths moved to Toronto. three Cerntinly in rhis drama of sion of Marxism has almost totally dis- months after the Communist Party of Canadian justice these communists appeared from Canada, readers curious Canada was founded at Guelph. did not, by word or deed, deaact about the radical past will need to shut While little more than a teenager, the homitsdignity... off their visual discriminators in order younger Smith was a party organizer and Ilte judge invited them to speak to get at Smith’s remarkable story. fnnctionaty. The extremity of his views ‘Ihe SIII~ Tim Buck alone re- Comrades and Komsomolkas (a kom- tested the strength of his relationship sponded. He did not beg; he did nor somolka was a female member of the with his father. But the Rev. Smith al- plead; he mok a pace forward Likea Young Cotmnunist League) is full of res- ways stood by hi. indeed, he must have soldier and, looking front, said, “1 ignation about the present and tittum: “It been swayed by his son’s politics to accept the sentence of the court and will be a herculean job to rescue the move further left himself. At one point. 1only hope that those who ousted names of socialism and communism Rev. Smith was charged with sedition me will iind that I proved worthy.” horn the utter discmdit and shame of be- for blowing the whistle on the authori- ‘Iltm he stepped back ingassociatcdwitbSt’(whomtheau- ties’ cover-up of an assassination plot ‘I’he court was silent when Mr. thor.nownearly90,metinMoscow).It’s against Tii Buck. At the time, Buck was Jusdce Wright pronounced alsofullofvividgiimpsesofanoblepast. one of eight communist leaders in jail sentence, sending chest men to Smith writes how, during the Winnipeg under Section 98 of the federal criminal Kingston Penitentiary for terms up GcneraiSnikeofl919,hewatchedhom code. a notorious law that prohibited mfiveyears... infmntofthenewcityhwhena membership in outlawed organizations. The condemned men stepped out detachmmtoftbeRoyalNord7 It was put on the books specifically to get smartly as a file of soldiers. Only a West Mounted Police, revolven rid of communists and socialists. The wave of Buck’s hand, a short smile drawn, charged the peaceful statute was repealed soon afterward, but of t&well tu a friend, showed that demonsuationofwarvetemnsand not before Buck and the others had be- d-q were really men and not ideas saikers.Afterthe6rstcharge they come living martyrs. who were going to jail. 0 wheeled around and charged back, In doctrinal matters. Smith often dis- now iiriog point blan!&to the agreed with Buck (who served as general Douglas Fetherling’s novel The File on crowd. My brother and I ran over secretary of the party for 32 years and Ardtur Moss is forthcomingfmm Lester.

...... Books in Canada September 1994 6 I _ ..,. ~.. i___

. BARBARA CAREY ...... _...... 1......

T HAS BEEN mail -and was flunked by the instructor they hadn’t even invented personality bothering me for for lack of initiative. yet. and so writen didn’t have to worry if a while: how do I I did learn something from the course, they didn’t have one. or at least not one become a literary though: the importance of getting IO worth displaying in public. But thecsnii- scnsatioo? Next year I’ll be 40. sod as ev- know and being seen with Influential nal rule nowadays for anyone wanting to cryone koows, rising stars are young and People. They’re easy to spot at any glitzy get anywhere in the sns is Do Anything come out of nowhere, or else New York. literary event. because they’re always To Get Noticed. Unfortunately. this They don’t plod along, publishing chap- surrounded by swarms of friends (other clashes with the law of survival I grew up books with tiny presses and doing read- IPs - they all know each other). with and internalized: Do Anything To logs at gmogy, out-of-theway caf& they wannabes. and innocent bystwders who Avoid Being Noticed. (It may account look good in leather. Notwithstanding all just want to get to the bar. Luckily for for me becoming a poet. 1 the.mature talent out them that garners m me. they also all live in Toronto. So I be- I was beginning to think that I simply spectful reviews and a loyal following, came a local launch-lizard. hanging out don’t have what it takes to be a literary hue excitement (and mega-publicity) is at a strategic location-usually by the sensation. but then it a-cured to me: in generated only by the arrival of the Next horr d’oercwt~.r - and shouldering my films. actors get stand-ins to do the Big Thing. It’s par&lady exciting for all way into the crowds among the most stunts they can’t handle. so why not /fire the smog media types who cao tell them- conspicuous luminaries. (Thank heavens someone to play my role in public? I fig- selves-andtherestofthe world-that for my training in high-impact aerobics.) ured that there are plenty of unem- they saw it coming. Friends. I was at the right hand of power ployed. media-genie actresses kicking The received wisdom in hour literary many times, but sadly. I never got to around who have the ideal attributes: circles is that you have to get ao agent. A shake it. As for making conversation: the poise and presence tfor glamorous Famous Author’s gaze would drift past soi&w. a great voice (radio and read- my view: lf everyone had sn agent, let’s my name tag and settle on someone ings). a penchant for audacity ltelevi- face it, whatever influence the agent had across the room (frequently my SSP in- sion). and unconventional but appealing in the world of big-time publishing structor), with an expression that re- looks (photo opsr. And young. it should would be spread pretty thin. You’re minded me of Virginia Woolf’s go without saying. much better off getting a Reputation. description of style -*“something re- Within a few weeks it was, as they say. since it’s publicity that creates stars, not mote, separate. pure.” a wrap. 1 put the word out in the local the- tomeotionbestseIlers. Was it my sloppy handwriting’? My atre community and found my perfect My tint step: I decided that the novel helmet hair? (Unavoidable if a bicycle is stand-in. Since “Barbara Carey” hasn’t is where it’s at; who ever heard of a your chosen means of transport.) Or got much flash and is somewhat shop- movie option being taken on a book of maybe the fact that 1 was07 dressed as a worn, I came up with a pseudonym. poems? Next, an SSP (Shameless Self- dominatrix? Anyway. I was about as which I won’t divulge. I haven’t yet got Promotion) course, taught by a writer popular as a Styrofoam cup at a Pollution around to writing the novel. but my soon- with more cotmections than any switch- Probe barbecur. to-be-f;cmous alter ego breezed through ing device Northem Telecom ever came “You’re too 19th century.” a sympa- the latest SSP course and has been dili- up with. Unfortunately, it was here that I lhetic friend said. “The cult of penonal- gently rehearsing. Watch for her at all the hit my frst stumbling block, thanks to ity is the big thing now. And quite big fall launches. 1’11be there, tw- the my Catholic upbringing. I have nothing frankly,” she added. “you’ve got to do one in tbe comer with the bad haii and the against a little aggressive networking something about your hair.” big smile. 0 (otherwise known as Schmoozing. She’s right. of course, about the need Advanced. and soon to be available on to he a character. rather than just write Barbara Carey’s most recent book is The video), butIhadtodmw tbelmeat black- about them. Back in Victorian times. Ground of Events (Memuy).

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62 Books in Canada September 1994 -- _. T_._y.- .,---:_-7-*7.:_- r~.-. Women’sPress -517 Callegs81. tile 283. Tomnlo,ON t&G 4A2

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