The Canadian novel continues
Mar. 14th, 2005 11:01 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
felis_ultharusJust because I can't concentrate on any of the vital things I need to be doing. "The good, the bad, and the ugly" of Canadian literature, in roughly chronological order. These books weren't selected because they were great or awful, merely because they were on my shelf.
Bonheur d'Occasion/The Tin Flute
What is it? Gabrielle Roy's very heavy novel about poverty in St-Henri -- which, judging by her description, was the vacation spot for all Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (time, famine, disease, and war all play their parts here). Surprisingly, it is not one of the most depressing novels written in this country -- Roy is a deft hand at comic relief and social satire, and she does leave the reader with some reason to hope.
Review: I like it, but then I came from a neighbourhood like that. I realize it won't always be everyone's cup of tea. Roy is a brilliant author, though The Tin Flute can be heavy going. The best translation is Alan Brown's -- the more recent one.
Two Solitudes
What is it? One of the three most misquoted titles in Canadian literary history (the others being Survival and Generation X), Two Solitudes is not about how English and French in Montreal and Canada are inseparable, but rather how the two are not really that separate at all. It's the story of Paul Tellier -- a man who's half-English, half-French, half-Catholic, and half-Protestant, in an age when these things matter --and it's about the people around him. Hugh Maclennan's message is, "Most people get along easily with the other "solitude" -- and the rest just have a political chip on their shoulder.
Review: Heavy-handed and polemical at times, this is still not a bad book. It's particularly refreshing how he takes aim at the received wisdom on both sides. His racist characters are fairly two-dimensional, though, and don't give that much insight into the mind of a bigot.
The Second Scroll
What is it? Abraham Moses Klein's paean to the foundation of Israel. The narrator is searching for his uncle, Melech Davdson, who he was separated from by pograms and the holocaust. As uncle and narrator bounce from country to country, the uncle seems to change completely.
Review: It's often beautiful, poetry written in prose. Sometimes it verges on the experiemental. A good lot of it is inaccessible unless you know a lot about Jewish tradition and texts. Still recommended.
The Double Hook
What is it? A strange little book, an experimental novel that -- among other experiments -- does away with quotation marks. Again very poetic, it's the story of a strange, unpleasant little community in the badlands of the BC interior. In this community, God has died (in a metaphor so obvious, it's practically in neon with the flashing word "METAPHOR" above it), and Coyote seems to have taken over. Meanwhile, in the plot (there's one of those, sort of), a married guy gets a teenage girl pregnant and all hell breaks loose.
Review: I have to admit I liked it. A lot more lucid than most experimental novels, and just enough mythology and philosophy to keep me interested. Nice use of Jungian stuff, which is always a plus with me.
Well, that's all I have time for. In other news, I talked to a friend of mine in Germany I haven't spoken to (by any means other than email) in 3-and-a-half years. So that was cool.
Bonheur d'Occasion/The Tin Flute
What is it? Gabrielle Roy's very heavy novel about poverty in St-Henri -- which, judging by her description, was the vacation spot for all Four Horsemen of Apocalypse (time, famine, disease, and war all play their parts here). Surprisingly, it is not one of the most depressing novels written in this country -- Roy is a deft hand at comic relief and social satire, and she does leave the reader with some reason to hope.
Review: I like it, but then I came from a neighbourhood like that. I realize it won't always be everyone's cup of tea. Roy is a brilliant author, though The Tin Flute can be heavy going. The best translation is Alan Brown's -- the more recent one.
Two Solitudes
What is it? One of the three most misquoted titles in Canadian literary history (the others being Survival and Generation X), Two Solitudes is not about how English and French in Montreal and Canada are inseparable, but rather how the two are not really that separate at all. It's the story of Paul Tellier -- a man who's half-English, half-French, half-Catholic, and half-Protestant, in an age when these things matter --and it's about the people around him. Hugh Maclennan's message is, "Most people get along easily with the other "solitude" -- and the rest just have a political chip on their shoulder.
Review: Heavy-handed and polemical at times, this is still not a bad book. It's particularly refreshing how he takes aim at the received wisdom on both sides. His racist characters are fairly two-dimensional, though, and don't give that much insight into the mind of a bigot.
The Second Scroll
What is it? Abraham Moses Klein's paean to the foundation of Israel. The narrator is searching for his uncle, Melech Davdson, who he was separated from by pograms and the holocaust. As uncle and narrator bounce from country to country, the uncle seems to change completely.
Review: It's often beautiful, poetry written in prose. Sometimes it verges on the experiemental. A good lot of it is inaccessible unless you know a lot about Jewish tradition and texts. Still recommended.
The Double Hook
What is it? A strange little book, an experimental novel that -- among other experiments -- does away with quotation marks. Again very poetic, it's the story of a strange, unpleasant little community in the badlands of the BC interior. In this community, God has died (in a metaphor so obvious, it's practically in neon with the flashing word "METAPHOR" above it), and Coyote seems to have taken over. Meanwhile, in the plot (there's one of those, sort of), a married guy gets a teenage girl pregnant and all hell breaks loose.
Review: I have to admit I liked it. A lot more lucid than most experimental novels, and just enough mythology and philosophy to keep me interested. Nice use of Jungian stuff, which is always a plus with me.
Well, that's all I have time for. In other news, I talked to a friend of mine in Germany I haven't spoken to (by any means other than email) in 3-and-a-half years. So that was cool.
