Everyday Magic: Child Languages in Canadian Literature by Laurie Ricou (review)

Book Reviews121 LAURIE RICOU. Everyday Magic: Child Languages in Canadian Literature. Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 1987. 158 p. Much has been written about specific children in the work ofspecific writers, but only five books have been devoted to a broad treatment ofliterary children: Horace Scudder's Childhood in Literature and Art (1895); Peter Coveney's The Image of Childhood (rev. ed., 1967); Robert Pattison's The Child Figure in English Literature (1978); Reinhard Kuhn's Corruption in Paradise (1982); and Richard's Coe's When the Grass Was Taller (1984). None of this material has been concerned with child language; literary children's language has, until now, received attention only in a few conference presentations and in a small assortment of published articles. Laurie Ricou's Everyday Magic provides us with the first book-length consideration of child language in literature. Everyday Magic has many merits in addition to its unique focus on child language. Ricou's professional specialization in Canadian literature and his work on the journal Canadian Literature: A Quarterly ofCriticism and Review qualify him to examine the wide range of Canadian fiction, poetry, and drama presented in this volume, which could stand as an introduction to modern Canadian literature written in English. Also, children in poetry and drama have previously been given less scrutiny than children in fiction, so the balance here is refreshing. Furthermore, the contents of this book are clearly arranged. The author begins by explaining his intent in using the phrase "child languages" rather than the singular "child language." He argues that this is "my abbreviated way of designating the many written interpretations ofthe child's perspective in literature. The intersection ofchild languages and writers' various grammars of childhood is my territory. . . . Child languages are plural: different writers, in different cultures, in different periods will use different methods to write the child's point of view" (2). An awareness of the complexity and plurality of children's and writers' languages pervades the book. Following an introductory chapter, eight loosely-connected essays focus on children in the works of Alice Munro, Margaret Laurence, Clark Blaise, WO. Mitchell, Ernest Buckler, Emily Carr, Miriam Waddington, RK. Page, Dorothy Livesay, James Reaney, Dennis Lee, and bill bissett. Ricou's analysis, which opens with the more traditional writers and moves toward the avant-garde, illuminates all of the texts it explores. From Ricou's definition of child languages and from his arrangement of material by authors rather than by language issues, it should be obvious that his concern is with literature, not linguistics. This may be the book's greatest strength or its greatest weakness, depending upon the reader's outlook. On the one hand, Ricou's discussions show a remarkable sensitivity to the nuances of children's ways of speaking, and his conclusions are valuable from a literary standpoint. On the other hand, although fundamental concepts of language study are accurately represented in the book, its linguistic base is thin. In fairness, however, it must be observed that Ricou expressly separates himself from a linguistic framework. In his preface, for instance, he candidly acknowledges that "while I salute my colleagues in psycholinguistics—both 122Rocky Mountain Review those cited and the many who have contributed indirectly—I can lay little claim to their methods" (xi). Despite this admission, the author does cite a limited number ofclassic and standard linguistic studies at appropriate points. In his chapter on W.O. Mitchell's Who Has Seen the Wind, for example, he makes good use of Piaget's theories about the stages in children's cognitive and linguistic development. Too, in his closing comments Ricou says, "In dealing with a subject [i.e., child language] so universally familiar, and an academic discipline which was completely new to me, I have been continually aware ... of the angles and byways and interstices still to be explored" (138). As the author realizes, more could be said regarding his subject, yet his approach is informed by a joyful curiousness about language Indeed, Ricou displays at every turn such a contagiously inquisitive spirit that his book offers a delightful reading experience. The title ofEveryday Magic reminds us ofthe surprise and pleasure involved both in the...