TISH Magazine 1961-1969:
another “sense of things”
by
Derek Alexander Beaulieu
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
IN PARTIAL FULFILLMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE
DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS
DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH
CALGARY, ALBERTA
May, 2004
© Derek Alexander Beaulieu 2004
UNIVERSITY OF CALGARY
FACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES
The undersigned certify that they have read, and recommend to the Faculty of
Graduate Studies for acceptance, a thesis entitled “TISH Magazine 1961-1969: another ‘sense of things’” submitted by Derek Alexander Beaulieu in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts.
______Supervisor, Dr. Susan Rudy, Department of English
______Dr. Jon Kertzer, Department of English
______Dr. Brian Rusted, Department of Communication Studies
______May 11, 2004
ii Abstract
The original nineteen issues of TISH magazine edited by Fred Wah, George
Bowering, Frank Davey and others have been studied extensively. However, although they have not been reprinted or studied, the twenty-six issues produced in the six years after those editors left the magazine continued to be a working ground for the Vancouver literary community. “TISH Magazine 1961-1969: another ‘sense of things’” examines both TISH the magazine, and its various imprints and associated projects: TISHtapes, TISHbooks and MOTION: a prose newsletter. The magazine and its imprints were nodes for community exploration and gradually became charged spaces for social and political activism. This thesis examines the post Davey et al issues of TISH as a single node within a rhizomatic network of communities and transcribes and indexes TISH issues 20 though 45(E) as well as MOTION numbers 1 though 6 returning these issues to print and allowing further study.
iii Acknowledgements
This thesis would not have been possible without the support of the
University of Calgary English Department, and especially Richard Davis, Stephen
Guy-Bray, Jacqueline Jenkins, Nicole Markotić, Fred Wah, and of course my incredibly supportive supervisor Susan Rudy. Margaret Avison, Michael
Barnholden, George Bowering, Pauline Butling, Estelle Dansereau, Frank Davey,
Nicky Drumbolis, Robert Hogg, Daphne Marlatt, Jamie Reid, Aaron Vidaver and
Fred Wah all patiently answered questions and offered support along the way.
Tony Power (Simon Fraser University) and Michael Basinski (SUNY Buffalo) were also helpful in locating documents. Karl Siegler at Talonbooks showed a faith in my work which was tremendously supportive. I also thank the Department of English and the Faculty of Humanities of the University of Calgary for a Career
Development Award which enabled me to carry out preliminary research for this thesis at the TISH: 40th Anniversary Conference, Capilano College, Vancouver,
BC in October of 2001. Thank you.
Gratitude and thanks also to my family for supporting me even when the results were not always clear; to Courtney for encouraging me to quit my job and go back to school; and of course to Maddie for tempering “student” with “Daddy.”
Thank you.
I would not have even considered taking on this project without my community of writers, critics and friends — especially the support of Jason
Christie, Jill Hartman, Paul Kennett, Nikki Sheppy and Malika Srivastava — they
iv have all shared so much, and have done so unquestioningly — they have proved to be the best frie