Canadian Literary Power by Frank Davey (review)

216 LETTERS IN CANADA 1994 close of Abram's Plains, aptly represents. This sense of place, of society, and of nation, it may be inferred, evolved towards dominion (and beyond it, with the Statute of Westminster [1931] and the Constitution Act [1982]). How, then, can the evaluation of early Canadian culture be properly undertaken with any critical perspectives - Modernism, post-colonialism - that implicitly value republic as the model by which ideally to form collectivities? Innocent of Canadian literary history, what must critical orientations ignore about the past if they posit, however unconsciously, a republican view of Canada? A second consideration is perhaps related to the first: because, apart from some indebtedness to Longfellow, the poetry. discussed by Bentley seldom exhibits American influences, has Mimic Fires made necessary a subsequent study of them? Alternatively, is their apparent lack a real lack, and is it a lack or an absence intentionally and cumulatively practised against American/republican ideas by poets in British North America and Canada? One might be tempted to surmise answers, but this penetrating book deserves considered, not notional, responses. (1.5. MAC LAREN) Frank Davey. Canadian Literary Power NeWest Press. The Writer as Critic Series, 4. 317. $17.95 This book is not about the goings-on at editorial meetings at the large publishers or who decides what gets reviewed in the Globe and Mail, and by whom. Here literary power is the power to canonize, to pronounce certain texts worthy of classroom use or scholarly attention, and to determine how such works will be interpreted. Its thesis is that at one time but no longer this power rested with those at the 'centre,' which is sometimes defined geographically, at others as a group of ideas and attitudes variously labelled 'high modernism,' 'humanism ,' or 'universalism.' Nowadays, it is argued, we have not one establishment but a diversity of cultural communities competing to be heard; any attempt to reduce Canadian literature to a simple model, whether under the flag of Canadian nationalism or universalizing humanism , will at best be false, at worst perpetuate the silencing of the marginal and . multiple. In other words, this book continues Davey's lifelong crusade of taking down the mighty from their seats, a crusade which has made Canadian literary studies a more interesting, intellectually challenging , but, most important, politically useful activity. 'At stake, Davey says, 'is both how a culture may be led to perceive its internal relations - as hierarchy, network, centre-margin, isolated regions, separate populations - and what constituency or alliance of constituencies will be perceived to have priority within the power structure of received perception .' HUMANITIES 217 It is hard to imagine that many readers would deny this diversity, though Davey finds a few. His book is at its most persuasive when it surveys our recent literary history or examines other critics' work. His chapters on recent discussions of 'the canon' and on the ways the work of the poet Phyllis Webb has been appropriated over the years for various political projects are so valuable a reminder to us to be always aware of the axes we are sometimes - perhaps unintentionally - grinding that occasional disagreements of interpretation are of secondary importance. In these chapters, too, Davey is willing to remind us of his own position and interests in the debate. There are moments, however, when Davey the axe-grinder takes over entirely from Davey the analyst of power. Davey has for many years wielded considerable power in central Canada as editor-publisher of Open Letter, as a member of the editorial board at Coach House Press, and as professor in the English Department at York University, and now as a holder of a prestigious chair at the University of Western Ontario, not to mention involvement in countless juries, selection panels, and so on; his friends and former students teach Canadian literature, review books, and publish their work all across the country (I am one of them). He has used this power altruistically to benefit the larger project, that of undermining the position of people like himself. Because of my respect for his work, I am reluctant to admit that my unease with this book stems not from disagreements over the interpretation of...