YOU MUST WORK HARDER TO WRITE POETRY OF EXCELLENCE: IDEOLECT AND IDEOLOGY IN CANADIAN POETRY REVIEWING SINCE 1961 by Donato Mancini B.A., History in Art University of Victoria, 1999 THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS Simon Fraser University Department of English © Donato Mancini, 2008 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY Summer 2008 All rights reserved. This work may not be reproduced in whole or in part without express permission from the author. 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APPROVAL Name: Donato Mancini Degree: Master of Arts Title of Thesis: You Must Work Harder To Write Poetry Of Excellence: Ideolect And Ideology In Canadian Poetry Reviewing Since 1961 Examining Committee: Chair: Dr. Colette Colligan Assistant Professor, English (SFU) _______________________________________ Dr. Jeff Derksen Senior Supervisor Associate Professor, English (SFU) _______________________________________ Dr. Clint Burnham Second Reader Assistant Professor, English (SFU) _______________________________________ Dr. Andrew Klobucar External Examiner English Department, Capilano College _______________________________________ Date Defended/Approved: _______________________________________ SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY LIBRARY Declaration of Partial Copyright Licence The author, whose copyright is declared on the title page of this work, has granted to Simon Fraser University the right to lend this thesis, project or extended essay to users of the Simon Fraser University Library, and to make partial or single copies only for such users or in response to a request from the library of any other university, or other educational institution, on its own behalf or for one of its users. The author has further granted permission to Simon Fraser University to keep or make a digital copy for use in its circulating collection (currently available to the public at the "Institutional Repository" link of the SFU Library website <www.lib.sfu.ca> at: <http://ir.lib.sfu.ca/handle/1892/112>) and, without changing the content, to translate the thesis/project or extended essays, if technically possible, to any medium or format for the purpose of preservation of the digital work. The author has further agreed that permission for multiple copying of this work for scholarly purposes may be granted by either the author or the Dean of Graduate Studies. It is understood that copying or publication of this work for financial gain shall not be allowed without the author's written permission. Permission for public performance, or Iimited permission for private scholarly use, of any multimedia materials forming part of this work, may have been granted by the author. This information may be found on the separately catalogued multimedia material and in the signed Partial Copyright Licence. While licensing SFU to permit the above uses, the author retains copyright in the thesis, project or extended essays, including the right to change the work for subsequent purposes, including editing and publishing the work in whole or in part, and licensing other parties, as the author may desire. The original Partial Copyright Licence attesting to these terms, and signed by this author, may be found in the original bound copy of this work, retained in the Simon Fraser University Archive. Simon Fraser University Library Burnaby, BC, Canada Revised: Fall2007 ABSTRACT This research examines poetry reviewing in Canada since 1961 when, arguably, the cultural shift into postmodernity begins to affect poetry production in Canada. Based on the primary observation that the textual forms produced under the sign of poetry have pluralised exponentially since 1961 while the concepts, tropes, metaphors of poetry reviewing have remained very stable, this thesis treats the language of poetry reviews as a relatively constant ideolect, and sets out to map and interpret some of its most structurally crucial constitutive threads. Its theoretical points of departure include Louis Althusser, Judith Butler and Slavoj Žižek's treatment of language and ideology, Frederic Jameson's reading of postmodernity, and contemporary North American poetics. Subject Terms: poetry; criticism; reviews; Canada; postmodernism; ideology call number: BH 39 S4794 iii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I am grateful to many for providing the personal and material support necessary to see this process through, not least of all to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Simon Fraser University Department of English for their generous financial support. Personal thanks goes primarily to Dr. Jeff Derksen, friend and mentor, who worked closely with me on this project for over a year. Without his constant supportive critiques, unflagging attention, and sustained interest I'm not entirely sure I would have been capable of finishing a thesis on such a difficult topic. Thanks also to the members of my examining committee, Dr. Andrew Klobucar, and Dr. Clint Burnham whose engaged, conditional enthusiasm made the defence process as challenging as it had to be, but much more of a pleasure than I had a right to expect. I also thank Dr. Tom Grieve. His survey course in literary theory, which I took during my qualifying undergraduate term, provided the stimulus and context for this project in its genesis. Warmest thanks are extended also to Dr. Steve Collis, again for friendship and mentorship. His Poetics of Response course in particular provided me with the best opportunity I have had to work out the terms of my own poetics. It was both a necessary foundational step in a project as large in scope as my thesis, and something that will continue to shape my writing and thinking for years in the future. Thanks no less to all of the other teachers I worked with directly during my time at Simon Fraser: Dr. Susan Brook, Dr. Julie Crawford, Dr. Torsten Kehler, Dr. Michelle Levy, Dr. Sophie McCall, and Dr. John Whatley. All of them contributed directly to my development and therefore directly to this thesis. And thanks to the graduate Chairs during my studies: Dr. Margaret Linley and Dr. Colette Colligan, and to Christa Gruninger and the rest of the English Department support staff. Thanks finally, as always, to Guinevere Pencarrick for her patience through a (long) time of excessive busyness. Thanks to her for loving me, for being so loveable. iv TABLE OF CONTENTS Approval ................................................................................................................ ii Abstract ................................................................................................................. iii Acknowledgements ............................................................................................... iv Table of Contents ................................................................................................... v 1. PART 1: INTRODUCTION: HERE COME THE COMMON SENSE POLICE The Postmodern Turn ............................................................................................ 1 As Jameson Reads Perelman ............................................................................... 15 Periodizing Canadian Periodical Criticism .......................................................... 20 A Conservative Drift ............................................................................................ 30 Ideology ............................................................................................................... 33 2. PART 2: “A RETIRED ENGINEER WHO READS HOUSEMAN AND LISTENS TO RECORDINGS OF DYLAN THOMAS": THE TROPES OF FANTASY Preamble: Fantasy And Ideology ........................................................................