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296 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY ' '·The arrangement-of the material is about the same as formerly, w~th one exception._ A head-line has been added to each numbered sub-section .to-indicate-subject and author and to take the place of editorial-explanations in connective· paragraphs and foot-notes. 1. CRITICISM, .BIOGRAPHY, "AND AUTOBIOGRAPHY J. c. GARRETT During the past year several signincant books in the general field of the humanities were published by Canadian academics, and it seems appropriate therefore to speak of them first even although some of them have been,- or are to be, reviewed separately in this journal. Two li~erary studies of the first rank have appeared: H. N. Frye's Fearful Symmetry and ·Barker Fairley's .d Study of Goethe. The _ :first 0f these, which has already been reviewed in the QuARTERLv;is an explora-tion into the mind 1of William Blake and an '!-ttempt to expound Blake's symbolism. Professor .Frye untangles the intricacies of his subject with remarkable perception and scholarship," and writes in a ·prose style of unusual .distinction and power. , Professor Fairley's book, which is a study in the psychological development of Goethe, comes from a scholar of international .reputation, and this latest book has received praise on both sides of the Atlantic. It will be reviewed at some length in a forthcoming issue, as will still another work, Professor F. E. L. Priestley's edition of Godwin's Political -Justice. For over a hundred years no complete edition of this influential book has been published, and as Godwin revised his original work considerably, a critical .text has been greatly needed by scholars. It has been the practice of writers on English political thought to read Godwin at se~ond hand, or in excerpts: Professor Priestley has now made a facsimile of the third edition available, and has added a critical analysis not only of the text, but of Godwin's political philosophy.itsel£.1 An'other study from the academic world is The Showman of Vanity Fair by Lionel Stevenson, w;ho, though Ptofessor of English at the University of Southern California, still looks upon himself, in part at _least, as a Canadian. This biography, coming at a time when Thackeray's voluminous correspondence is being published, is of great interest; it is a full-dress account,· amplified with considerable background material and illustrated with a great many Thackeray drawings. .It does not indulge in a speculative analysis of the novelist's personality, but it does shed con- _ siderable light on his relationship with other great Victorian figures. Particularly interesting is the demonstration of the profound influence which Thackeray's attachment to Mrs. Brookfield had on ~orks like Henry Esmond and Pendennis. Even here of course much is left obscure, but the biographer is too honest to indulge his fancy. , . lPreliminary reference should also be made to,Tlu Humanities in Canada by Watson -Kirkconnell and A. S. P. Woodhouse which is likewise to be reviewed in an early issue of the QuARTERLY. I. LETTERS IN CANADA: 1947 297 Fundamen tally the book presents the pathetic pi<;ture of a nineteenthcentury author trying to dignify the profession of letters and endeayouring at the· same time to earn an adequate livelihood. The first demands abs. olute honesty; the second entails catering to the market. This divided; purpose built up a terrible tension in Thackeray, who, obsessed with the objective of leaving a competence for his daughters, wa:s literally worn out by journalism. Many a compromise had to ·be made, not only. in producing second":"rate reading matter to meet editorial dead-lines, but a]so in. suiting the middle-class palate. This accounts for Thackeray's reticence (and his sarcasm); it accounts for his disingenuous treatment of the eighteenth-century humourists in order to titillate a prudish public. Even ino}aunching the Cornhill Magazine he

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