English Studies at Toronto: A History by Robin S. Harris (review)

228 LETTERS IN CANADA 1988 In his chapters 'The Latin Christ' and 'The Anglo-Saxon Christ' Davies examines the influence of Gobineau (1816-82), Herbert Spencer (18201903 ), and a variety of lesser-known figures, all of whom developed a racism increasingly informed by evolutionary theory. The chapter is well argued and informative, although once more adeeper analysis of the role of evolutionary theory in the development of racism would give the book more bite. Chapter five presents a provocative account of 'The Afrikaner Christ' which is, I believe, essentially correct. Yet the author makes an important mistake when he describes the late Dr Hendrik Verwoerd (1901-66) as a 'Calvinist.' As far as I know, there is no evidence that Verwoerd considered himself a Calvinist; in all probability he was an agnostic like the founder of Afrikaner Nationalism, General Hertzog (1866-:1924). It also seems to me that Davies is wrong in saying that Verwoerd was not'a racist in at least the narrow scientific or biological understanding of the term.' Educated Blacks who met Verwoerd certainly came away with the impression that he was a racist in every sense of the word. To me the most provocative part of the book was the final case study, 'The Black Christ,' in chapter six. Here Davies convincingly links the development of Black theology through Du Bois (1868-1963) and Marcus Garvey (1887-194°) to Fichte and racist thought. Yet once again Davies fails to make links which his work seems logically to demand when he restricts his consideration of Black theology to American sources. If he had gone one step further and examined the work of a South African such as Alan Boesak (1946-), whose writings clearly reflect the thinking of Afrikaner Nationalists such as D.F. Malan (1874-1959), then it would have been a far richer study. In conclusion, this is a highly provo~ative and stimulating book which deserves to be widely read and studied as the basis for what promises to be a highly fruitful direction for continuing research. (IRVING HEXHAM) Robin S. Harris. English Studies at Toronto: A History Governing Council, University of Toronto. xvi, 310. $25.00 paper One searches the Anatomy of Criticism in vain for a category to contain a departmental history; but an older tradition provides an appropriate designation for this example of the genre: a work ofpiety and supererogation . Robin Harris has taken on a demanding task. A great deal of factual information has been painstakingly gathered and recorded, and a great many documents and minutes sifted and winnowed in order to present the panoramic story of the oldest, largest, most influential, and most distinguished department of English in Canada. Since that department was for much of its modern history an unusual amalgam of five HUMANITIES 229 departments, and since the author sets its story against the background of the development of the University of Toronto over a century and a half, the scope of this study is both broad and ambitious. This story deserves to be told because of its central importance to the history of English studies and English departments in Canada, and for the sake of their influence in turn on the formation of an intellectual and cultural national consciousness . His task has been accomplished and Harris has earned our gratitude for the commitment and professional dedication that enabled him to complete it, and for the respect and affection that characterize it. One ofthe high-priced and dubious benefits of age is the opportunity to peruse historical accounts of events recorded in our own personal experience; the inevitable comparisons can hardly fail to make us wiser about the nature of history. One danger for both departmental historian! participant and reviewer/participant lies in sounding like Justice Shallow and Justice Silence. Here, however, such scrupulous care has been exercised to exclude both anecdotes and anecdotage that we greet with delight those few exceptions that humanize the tale: the stories in Northrop Frye's foreword and Carlyle King's engaging account of his 1931 oral examinationfor the PH D degree. In fact the presentation tends to emphasize administrative and institutional :w;ather than social, cultural, or intellectual history. Accordingly ·we...