New-Canadian Letters

300 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY Trois-Rivic.res, janvier (Trois-Rivicres, Ie Seminnire, 31 pp., 10c.). Societe des Eerivains canadiens, Bulletin bibliographique, annee 1943 (Mont'real, La Societe, 109 pp.). Societe Historique du Nouvel-Ontario, Sudbury, Documents historiques: no. 4, Chelmsford, Coniston, Chapleau; no. 5, Families pronnieres; no. 6, Fondateurs du diocese du Sault-Sainte-Marie, by L. CADIEUX (Sudbury, In Societe, College du Sncre-Creur, 48 PP'J 6B pp., 48 pp.). Societe Radio Canada, Le Cntholique devant la guerre: treize causeries donnees a Radio Canada en {'annee 1943 (l\Iontreal, la Societe, 144 pp.). ' Tanthe (Raymond) ed" Le Canada dnns l'ordrc international: tribune d'information sur les problemes de l'apres-guerre dirigee par Raymond Tanghe (Montreal, Fides, 350 pp., $1.50). Tanghe (Robert), Geographie economique du Canada (Collection Radiocollege , 4; Montreal, Fides, 278 pp., $1.50). Tessier (Albert), La femme dans l'histoire du Ca'nada; dessins de ROLLAND BOULANGEll (Pour survivre, tome VI, no. I, Quebec, Comite permanent de la survivance fran~ajse en Amerique, Uninrsite Laval; 4Tpp., lOc.); Terre d'election (Pour survlvre, tome VI, no. 4; Quebec) Comite permanent de la survivance fran!;aise ell Amerique, Universi te Laval, 47 pp.). Tessier (A.) et Biron (Hen'e), Vers les pays d'en-haut (Montreal, Fides, 252 p'p., $1.00). Theriault (yves), Cantes pour un homme seul (Montreal, Edns. de l'Arbre, 195 pp., $1.25). Tonnancour (J. G. de), Roberts (Collection art vivant, 3; Montreal, Edns. de l'Arbre, 32 pp., 80c.). Tremblay (Victor), Un coin de 10. paroisse des Bergeronnes, Bon-Desir (Societe historique du Saguenay, no. 7; Chicoutimi, Impr.le Progres du Saguenay, 31 pp.); Les oblats au Saguen.ay (Societe historique du Saguenay, no. 9; Chicoutimi, Impr. Ie Progres du Saguenay, 22 pp.). Tur~eon (J.-M.), Les vendredis de }'oncle Gaspard (Quebec, Laflamme, 206 pp., $1.00). Union des jeunesses eatboHques C9Iladiennes, Journees d'etudes sacerdotales, specialisation et unite en action catholique: conferences .et rapports (Montreal, Fjdes, 189 pp., $1.00). . Valigny (Pacifique de), Ch.roniques des plus anciennes eglises de l'Acadie: Bathurst, Pabos et Ristigouche, Riviere Saint-Jean, Memramcook (Montreal, Echo de Sail1t-Fran~ojs, la Reparation, Pointe-aux-Trembles, 147 pp.). Vanier (G. P.), Paroles de guerre .(Montreal, Beauchemin, 152 pp., 75c.). IV. NEW-CANADIAN LETTERS. WATSON KIRKCONNELL The chief event of the year in New-Canadian letters was a substantial volume of verse, entitled Hunangsflugur, by the prominent 'Icelandic poet Guttormur J. Guttormsson, of Riverton, Manitoba. Mr. Guttormsson's last previous volume, Gamal1 og Alvara, was published in 1930; and now, in his sixty-sixth year, he has issued his fifth book, a collection of over one hundred poems, chiefly lyrical. There are three main types of poetry in the volume: (a) salutatory verses, prepared in Icelandic fashion for special occasions, (b) nature verse, and (c) satiric verse.. Good examples of his occasional verse are his greetings to Lord Tweedsmuir when the GovemorGeneral visited Gimli, his praise of the gifted young Canadian musician, Agnes Sigurdsson, his salute to the silver wedding of Dr. and Mrs. S. E. Bjornsson, and two.very eloquent poems in honour of Iceland. His nature verse i~ best represented by such poems as "Icelandic River" and "The Tree," in which intricate prosodic patterns are masterfully wrought out. Most typ·ical. of all) however, are the poems in which he makes ironic comment on life, as in his lines on our political parties, on a "Holy Roller," on a crook, on Jud~s) or on dictators. Special mention might be made of a sequence of thirty poems, entitled collectively CCA vid og 'dreif' (Scattered abroad). LETTERS IN CANADA: 1944 301 'In the German language, two Mennonite writers have been active: the Rev. Dr. Jacob H. Janzen, of \Naterloo, Ontario, and Mr. Peter Klassen, of Superb, Saskatchewan. Dr. Janzen has published during the ye'ar a formidable series of stories from the Bible, totalling nearly 800' pages. He has also issued the third and fourth volumes of an edifying novel, Die Geschichte der Grajschajt Ebenjeld. As he explains in a preface to volume III, "Ebenfeld (Plainfield) is a county in the prairies of Canada or of the United States, inhabited by...