Poésies complétes 1955–1987 by Michel Garneau, and: Michel Garneau écrivain public by Claude Des Landes (review)

192 LETTERS IN CANADA 1988 A short fourth chapter summarizes the contribution to a Canadian image made by immigration pamphlets, popular descriptions of Canada, or specialized studies of its politics, society, religious life, history, and geography. The fifth chapter and a brief conclusion recapitulate positive and negative features of the profile of Canada, and stress its unchanging character: 'l'image du Canada transmise dans la plupart des ouvrages et des articles parus en France evolue ... peu. Du milieu du siecle a la Grande Guerre, la perception des aspects majeurs de la vie canadienne et la fa~on meme des voyageurs de presenter Ie pays restent quasi inchanges.' The last quarter of the book is given over to an impressive bibliography, in which books are arranged under a dozen subject headings and articles are listed under the titles ofapproximately a hundred periodicals in which they appear. The reader is thus confronted with more than a hundred pages ofbibliography, fragmented under more than a hundred headings, and not indexed in any way. The book's final index of proper names is similarly limited in its usefulness: it does not include either the massive bibliography or the numerous endnotes to chapters. Despite some shortcomings, Simard's study, recently awarded the Prix France-Quebec Jean Hamelin, is a useful synthesis of its subject, and its analyses of the major books and articles concerned are penetrating and judicious. The author's statistical approach introduces a new precision into inquiries about national images, and his attention to ideological presuppositions gives rise to relatively sophisticated assessments of French comment on Canada. Simard's work is more complete in its coverage, more professional in its methods, and more objective in its analyses than its predecessor, although it lacks the lively personal presentation and the anecdotal picturesqueness of Abbe Yon's book, itself the product of thirty-five years of erudite inquiry. On certain subjects (for example, the French commercial mission of La Capricieuse in 1855, or the visit of Jerome Bonaparte in 1861) Yon is much more informative than his successor. Future readers will no doubt wish to consult both these complementary studies, as well as the more recent contributions made since 1975. (DAViD M. HAYNE) Michel Garneau. Poesies completes 1955-1987 Guerin litteraturelL'Age d'homme. 772. $3°.00 paper Claude Des Landes. Michel Garneau ecrivain public Guerin litterature, colI 'Carrefour' 1987. 191. $9.95 paper Thirty-three years ago Michel Garneau produced his first little book of poetry, Eau de pluie, forty copies of which were published privately. This HUMANITIES 193 modest beginning, the twelve collections that followed it, and other poems scattered in various places are now almost impossible to find even in libraries. For this reason alone the publication of Garneau's complete poetic work is an importanteventin Garneau's careerand in the history of Quebec letters. The inclusion in his Poesies completes of a previously unpublished collection, 'Dans la jubilationdu respir Ie cadeau (1963-1987),' is an additional bonus, since he has not published a volume of poetry in the past decade. 'Dans la jubilation du respir Ie cadeau,' containing mostly recent work, shows the sureness ofcraft and subtlety of thought of the mature poet, always true to himself, always daring to explore and renew, reaching out to create new affinities. Garneau's writing career has been varied: poet, playwright, songsmith , translator, scriptwriter for film, radio, and television. He is also teacher, director, and facilitator in theatre, working/sur commande' with students, actors, and other theatre professionals in such a way as to encourage collaboration, improvisational enthusiasm, and imaginative invention throughout the group. The many tours he has made in Quebec and France and his writing workshops, frequently involving cross-over between the languages of poetry and theatre, have been adventures in the freeing of creative power. He calls himself an 'ecrivain public,' and a 'travailleur culturel,' an artisan more than an artist in the traditional sense. As he indicates in the title of Langage4, he considers making poetry to be useful work, as is all work done by craftspeople: 'j'aime la litterature elle est utile.' To write poetry, as he does in all genres, even interviews, is for him to assume...