Surviving the Paraphrase by Frank Davey, and: Approaches to the Work of James Reaney ed. by Stan Dragland, and: A Place to Stand On: Essays by and about Margaret Laurence ed. by George Woodcock (review)

HUMANITIES 459 generous, lucid introduction to the dilemmas faced by Richler's protagonists , the book suffers from inattentiveness to the logic and implications of its own arguments. (MARK LEVENE) Frank Davey. Surviving the Paraphrase Turnstone Press. iv, 193. $9.95 paper Stan Dragland, editor. Approaches to the Work of James Reaney ECW Press. 235· $8.95 paper George Woodcock, editor. A Place to Stand On: Essays by and about Margaret Laurence NeWest Press. 301. $17·95; $7.95 paper The title essay of Frank Davey's collection of articles, 'Surviving the Paraphrase,' first appeared in Canadian Literature in 1976 (the 1974 date given in Eli Mandel's brief preface is a typographical error). Attacking the dominating and seemingly entrenched thematic approach of Canadian criticismat that time, it has itselfbecome a criticalclassic that, both directly and indirectly, has had a remarkable and for the most part enriching influence on literary commentary in the past seven or eight years. Although skirting - to my mind, unfortunately - the vexed question of critical evaluation, it argues cogently for fresh and more rigorous thinking and explores many new avenues. A timely manifesto, it still retains force and relevance. Were I dictator, I would require all Canadian teachers of literature to display a knowledge of its arguments before they were permitted to step into any classroom. At first Sight, the ten subsequent essays in the collection appear a motley gathering. There seems to be no particular order (only one is dated); there has been no consistent attempt to update them (thus Geraldine MacEwen's Armies of the Moon, 1972, is still listed as her 'most recent book of poetry'); and the critical approaches vary drastically from essay to essay. But that, one comes to realize, is in a sense the point. 'Surviving the Paraphrase' suggests numerous lines of critical inquiry as alternatives to the thematic emphasis, and in these essays Davey offers some practical demonstrations of what might be done. There are two essays each on Pratt and Atwood, and studies of writers as various as Robert Stead, SinclairRoss, Geraldine MacEwen, and Clark Blaise. Oddly enough, given his own standing as a poet, I find him generally more interesting when writing about fiction. And it is not difficult, certainly, to argue with many of his pOints. When he tries in one essay to compare Ethel Wilson and Robert Kroetsch, one senses something close to critical desperation. But, as in his challenging (and challengeable) analysis of Pratt as 'apostle of corporate man: he is more valuable than most 'safer: less original critics. Despite the variety, however, certain common concerns emerge. Davey generally seeks the total impression of a writer, the central quality that provides an ultimate key to interpretation. He has a remarkable capacity to identify and trace within a writer's work a revealing preoccupation manifesting itself in structure (of thought and feeling as well as plot), imagery, and formal repetition. This is a book useful not only for its individual insights but for its overall contribution to critical discourse in Canada. Davey is one of those critics who quietly and efficiently set an intellectual critical standard. After reading him, it is inevitable that one should judge other books according to the criteria he has shown to be possible. A book with the title Approaches to the Works of 'ames Reaney ought, one would think, to exemplify some of the variety Davey calls for. Unfortunately, however, Reaney has always been badly served by his critics, and this collection in no way alters the general pattern. Most discussions of him stem from an inner circle of admirers who learnedly discourse upon his archetypes, praise his work with enthusiasm, but rarely address themselves to the all-important question of his use of language or face up to the problems many readers encounter in exploring his work. Hitherto - and, indeed, still - the one piece of criticism to which students can confidently be directed is Louis Dudek's 'A Problem of Meaning: originally published in Canadian Literature in '974 and now available in his Selected Essays and Criticism (1978). It raises all the right questions, and is as relevant to Reaney's poetry as to his drama (upon which it concentrates...