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HUMANITIES 163 surroundings in reference either to his literature or his social science; pays no attention to his involvement in the events of his time, such as his participationin elections and the formation ofpolicies and public opinion; and does not examine, apart from a few sentences by Findley and Vanderhaeghe, his accomplishment as an English stylist and as a personal essayist eminentin the great heritage ofthis form. More could be added to the list, but emphasis here is properly upon what Stephen Leacock: A Reappraisal does provide: testimony to the admiration and thought that Leacock still provokes. (ALBERT F. MORITZ) David G. Pitt. E.]. Pratt: The Master Years, 1927-1964 University of Toronto Press. xviii, 555· $34.95 The first volume of David Pitt's biography of E.]. Pratt, published in 1984, was warmly received. Readers noted its importance as the first complete biography of a major Canadian poet, and praised its scholarly yet casual style and its critical yet sympathetic approach. Most were with Robin Mathews, having 'put down the book crying "More! More!'" As confident, insightful, and articulate as the first volume, E.]. Pratt: The Master Years, 1927-1964 will not be disappointing. The second volume begins in 1927, a major turning point in the poet's life and career. Pitt argues that Pratt's The Iron Door: An Ode (1927) not only commemorates his mother's faith but also demonstrates 'his own continuing quest for final certainty.' Discussing his acceptance of spiritualism, Pitt suggests that Pratt balanced his intellectual attraction towards science with a personal but private faith in life after death. In his poetry, however, Pratt never publicly resolved his 'dual or split sensibility .' Pitt skilfully interweaves the story of the inception and reception of Pratt's poetry with the stories ofhis family life, friendships, and academic pursuits. The organizing themes of the first volume were Pratt's adoption of eccentric, 'truant' personae to compensate for perceived psychological weaknesses, and his inability to reconcile conflicting attractions to faith and science. In the second volume the former is displaced by Pratt's gradual elevation from uncrowned laureate to national bard - 'no longer adrift on uncharted seas desperately in need of an anchorage, but firmly on course, the captain at his own helm, heading confidently out into the deep.' The latter theme modulates into Pratt's view of poetry as public communication. For Pratt, influenced by Northrop Frye, 'the true culture heroes are ultimately the wordsmiths, the word-bringers, the wordwielders , and the form which a culture must take, before it is either a garden in the wilderness or a city which cannot be hid, is a state of mind and imagination.' Now that we have the complete biography before us, we can better 164 LETTERS IN CANADA 1987 appreciate its nature and importance as biographyand as an expression of Canadian culture in the twentieth century. The book's eloquence ensures that its audience will extendbeyond academic circles; its length, some one thousand pages in all, is not 'long' for a biography ofits kind. Like the first volume, The Master Years divides into four books of relatively short, well-rounded chapters that read quickly and suspensefully. In this compelling portrait, the reader empathizes with Pratt the man, wondering 'What will happen next?' 'Will Claire's next operation be a success?' 'Where will the money come from?' 'Will Pratt's next book of poems be well" received?' In the concluding chapters, the sadness is almost palpable, as Pratt's 'surrogate brothers' pass away one by one, leaving him increasingly alone, addicted to radio and television, writing no verse, feeling that poetry in Canada had 'passed him by' while at the same time accepting numerous adulatory academic speaking engagements. Pitt's judicious use of novelistic techniques presents a moving dramatic narrative and a convincingly detailed record of the man and his milieu. The care that Pitt has taken since 1969 in his research and the artful selection and arrangement of his materials must be applauded. It is a standard biography, a faithful portrait that transforms 'the minute details of daily life,' inJohnson's phrase, into a true record that re-creates a sense of the living character. Yet there is...

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