Drama

DRAMA 353 Signalons enfin, qui meritent d'etre consideres de fa~on particuliere, Chansons de Shippagan, recueillies par Dominique Gauthier et transcrites en musique par Roger Matton (PUL, 177, $12.00), et Les Bengalis d'Arthur de Bussieres, edition augmentee et critique, que presente tres bien Robert Giroux (Eds Cosmos, 126, $6.00). Parmi les etudes interessantes sur la poesie quebecoise il importe de mentionnerIe volume erudit de Jeanne d'Arc Lortie, La Poesie nationaliste au Canada fran~ais, 1606-1867 (PUL, 535, $13.00), qui ouvre ala recherche et ala critique un secteurjusqu'ici bien mal connu ou ignore; De l'ordre et de l'aventure de Jacques Blais (PUL, 410, $12.00), premiere etude approfondie sur la poesie quebecoise des annees 1934-44; Parti pris litteraire de Lise Gauvin (PUM, 219, $7.50), qui permet de mieux situer la poesie joualisante de la derniere decade; Alain Grandbois de Madeleine Greffard (Fides, 191, $3.95), une introduction scolaire al'reuvre de ce poete; L'Univers poetique d'Alain Grandbois par Sylvie Dallard (Eds Cosmos , 135, $5.00), un bon travail d'etudiant; Henry Desjardins, l'homme et l' reuvre, de Suzanne Lafreniere (Eds Asticou, 145, $5.00); Antonio Pelletier de Jacques Gouin (Eds du Jour, 202, $7.95). En somme, 1975, comme annee poetique, ajoute au patrimoine quebecois son poids d'reuvres multiples et diverses, quelques beaux livres, d'autres promesses, aucune perle dont Ie prix ne puisse etre suppute modestement. (RENE DIONNE) DRAMA Canadians used to think of their country as a dull, respectable nation, a nation without myths, understanding itself in terms of statistics about wheat production and codfish. The only thing dramatic about us was our scenery, for which we were not responsible. This kind of thinking, though demonstrably in retreat, is by no means routed, and Robertson Davies's new play, Question Time (Macmillan, 71, $5.95) issues a necessary challenge to it. In an early scene we are told (with an image that ironically acknowledges our prosaic concerns) 'Free trade between the world offantasy and the world of reality is what gives dimension to life.' This might serve as a motto for the playas a whole, which explores the importance of the imagination in a man's understanding of himself and a people's understanding ofits country. A plane carrying the prime minister of Canada, Peter Macadam, is forced down in the Arctic. While his body lies in an explorers' tent he himself undergoes, under the guidance of a shaman, an internal journey ofself-discovery. In the first act there is a neat ironic interplay between Macadam's spiritual gropings and the fussy concern of the bureaucrats in Ottawa, worrying about the funeral arrangements, the right tone for the speeches, and whether or not the 354 LETTERS IN CANADA shaman is a properly qualified member ofthe Canadian Medical Associa, tion. In the second act the Arctic, Ottawa, and the Terra Incognita of Peter Macadam are fused, as the stage becomes a parliament in which Macadam is both prime minister and leader of the opposition, debating the question: is he to live or die? This expands to the larger question of what sort of man he is, and then to the still larger question: what sort of country is Canada? The answers are suggestive rather than specific. Davies is not so concerned to tell us what Macadam is, or what Canada is, as he is to tell us that we can find out only by an act of submission. Macadam is a proud man, and much of his self-discovery involves breaking down his pride. Challenged to choose his totem animal, he confidently picks a bear, but finds bearhood utterly beyond him. Later, as leader of the opposition, he learns to ask awkward questions about himself. Finally he comes to terms with himself through an act of submission to La Sorciere des Montagnes de Glace, who suggests the spiritual power that rules both his country and his soul. This act forms a parallel to the way in which his wife Sarah has found a role for herself - in loyalty to him and to what she calls the Macadam Complex, the small organization of women who...