Syllables of Recorded Time: The Story of the Canadian Authors Association, 1921–1981 by Lyn Harrington (review)

sample of Richler's work, and instead of his 'Memoir' the editors might have included a few poems by Isadore Gordon Ascher, the first Jewish poet in Canada to write in English, and by Hyman Edelstein, a pioneer in Jewish-Canadian poetry at the beginning of this century. If the anthology is overweighted, it is in the direction of autobiography; there are countless selections in this mode, ranging from fictionalized to raw, confessional-style articles. Among the best are Abraham Boyarsky's 'A Birthday Party: depicting his childhood in a Displaced Persons' Camp in Germany before coming to Canada, and Mark Samer's astute and analytical 'Beyond the Chanuka Candles.' Like most other writers in this anthology, Sarner finds no answers in his search for a Jewish identity but he asks the right questions. The selections in The Spice Box are supplemented with briefbiographies of the contributors and publication information; these help to 'place' each particular work in time. The book seems to be intended for the general reader, though I suspect the largest audience will be Jewish. Many Jews will be delighted to renew acquaintance with familiar works and to meet new and stimulating authors. But it would be a pity if the book did not achieve wider popularity; for those not familiar with Jewish-Canadian writing The Spice Box provides an excellent introduction to the concerns of contemporary Jews which, by extension, are those of modem man. (ESTHER SAFER FISHER) Lyn Harrington. Syllables of Recorded Time: The Story of the Canadian Authors Association, 1921-1981 Simon & Pierre. 3"9. $14.95 paper There exist stories that so define a nation's character and culture as to render even the dullest work a worthwhile read. Two of them occurin this social calendar of one of the outlying suburbs of the republic of letters. The 1926 convention of the Canadian Authors Association in Vancouver featured an afternoon lecture by F.P. Grove on weighty matters pertaining to 'fundamental standards of art and thought, based on the great classics of European literature.' Unfortunately for Grove, the Grouse Mountain and Scenic Resort Company offered a free ride to their chalet to the literati, who ended up, in Harrington's words, 'on Grouse Mountain on a beautiful August day, rather than sitting in the Court House being nagged or bemused by standards beyond their grasp.' Ottawa saw the unacknowledged legislators' gathering in 1938, where Wilson MacDonald arranged an impromptu flashlight procession to some godforsaken woodlot on the road to Aylmer where Archibald Lampman was said to have been inspired. No sooner had the sweet Singers assembled in the HUMANITIES 449 moonlit bush to recite their own effusions to Lampman's ghost than a farmer appeared with a shotgun and rousted the intruders off his land. Now both these incidents demand some complexity of response. Who, in his heart of hearts, would really prefer an evening of Wozzeck to one of Fledermaus? Could any group of conventioners besides the Apostles on Pentecost really be expected to pass up a funicular freebie in favour of the solemnities of F.P. Grove? And would you want your woodlot overrun one evening by bards whose fealty to Apollo overrode the laws of trespass? Yet the giggles no sooner cease than remorse arrives. Literature is important. Even bad, dull, and pompous writers deserve respect for theirhacking away at the loneliest and most miserable of cultural tasks. Darnrnit, the CAA fought for improved copyright laws when no one else did, and at least professed a concern for literature in a nation that has for a leading industry the production of pulp. The difficulty that academics and intellectuals have with taking such groups seriously is that our training of necessity involves us in questions of value and merit. If literature is considered as one of many kinds of production in an industrial society, then surely a special-interest lobby becomes a necessity. No one would ridicule the forestry lobby, for example, if some of its member firms proved less efficient or less distinguished in their output than others. We would all recognize that the firms as a group had common needs and aspirations, irrespective of the merits ofindividual members. However...