Corolla Torontonensis: Studies in Honour of Ronald Morton Smith ed. by Emmet Robbins and Stella Sandahl (review)

116 LETTERS IN CANADA 1996 the country experienced leading into the heady years of the 1960s. Before that, art, in her view, was ,made acceptable and useful as 'political propaganda/ as 'morale booster' during the years of the Second World War, as a 'publicity tool' for the objectives of the CPR, as well as an agent 'promoting multiculturalism.' Support came also from private, voluntary organizations such as women's clubs. Philanthrophy was first received from American foundations (Carnegie, Rockefeller), followed eventuallyby Canadian donors. All this adds up to a slow, but also a rewarding, struggle as the COlll1try saw itself transformed from a pioneer society into what it is today. Beverley Diamond, in a deep-reaching text questioning underlying episternic frameworks, cogently suggests an alternative narrative for the study ofmusic in Canada now and in the years to come. Instead of centring studies on leading Canadian composers and their output, the focus should be broader, in response to emerging cultural change and new interpretations ofthe past. This broadly based historiography must be cognizant also ofpolitical theory and 'power-related dynamics.' One of Diamond's models appears to be Michel Foucault. She also supports her thesis with informative tables which clearly illustrate emphases and trends. She is aware of the importance of choice in the selection of the narrative to be adopted to sustain an intended argument. She asks, for example, '... what aesthetic values are associated with [a given] construction of "sophistication"?' 'Have we written about musical style using language which is consistent with the social values implicit in the structuring of the text books?' This contribution also merits careful consideration. Lawrence Beckwith's well-chosen list of his father's principal compositions and writings shows a characteristic restraint which appears to run in the family, as this valuable contribution to musical Canadiana comes to a close. (ISTVAN ANHALT) Emmet Robbins and Stella Sandahl, editors. Corolla Torontonensis: Studies in Honour ofRonald Morton Smith Toronto: TSAR, 1994. xix, 275. $30.00 paper From 1955 tmtil he died at eighty in 1'997, Ronald Smith was one of the University ofToronto's most colourful characters. In all his forty-two years in Canada, rain or shine, winter or summer, there were no sightings of this native Scotsman without a kilt. During his first Canadian winter, as the mercury plummeted, colleagues asked him how he felt. His answer: 'It's a wee bit cold around the ears.' They don't make very many like him these days. Smith represents an endangered species in a second sense. He was a philologist, a student of ancient languages and classical texts. Trained in HUMANITIES 117 Sanskrit and Avestan, he devoted long hours to the literature and culture of ancient India. Since his retirement, his university has not staffed the teaching of Avestan. Even Sanskrit, so fundamental to work in Asian literature, history, culture, and religion, faces curricular reduction if not extinction. They don't seem to value fields like his so highly these days. How do you celebrate the dedication and the colleagueship of someone like Ronald Smith? The perfect gift is yet another endangered species: the Festschrift. This genre, the commemorative volume of collected essays, has a cultural history of its own in academia. It started in Germany a century and a half ago; hence the German term meaning 'festival writing.' Thousands of such collections, in various fields, have appeared over the years; for a 1973 index on ancient Iran and Zoroastrianism alone, I located 1808 articles, scattered across 421 Festschriften. From a publishing point of view, a Festschrift is an almost certain money-loser, requiring subsidy; unless it's an issue of a subSCription journal, few individuals, even few libraries, will buy it. From a bibliographical point of view, a Festschrift is a minefield; cataloguing operates from editor and title, but users of Festschrift articles remember their location by the name of the honouree. From an editorial point of view, a Festschrift is a compromise; contributors' personal ties with the honouree function as a constraint on an editor's sense of quality or coherence. Frequently Festschriften prOVide a fine opportunity for younger scholars to get work into print, but a repository for minor offerings of...