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238 LEITERS IN CANADA 1992 Robert Stacey's essay, "'Magical Presences in a Magic Place": From Homage to Etty to T7le Island' offers a very detailed look at The Island, one important work that Lewis painted in Canada, and the series of drawings that led up to it. The author's intention is to reinsert this significant work into the body of Lewis studies, for the painting has not received much attention owing to a scattering of the related works. Whereas Mastin's essay looks at the broad terrain, Stacey's burrows deeply by examining The Island from every conceivable angle in order to determine its meaning specifically , its meaning according to the 'language and iconography of Symbolism, brought up to date by wartime overtones.' A long list of artists and art historians is invoked, from Giorgione, William Etty, and Arnold B6cklin to those famous moderns, Paul Cezanne, Edouard Manet, and Henri Matisse, to name a few. All of this attests to Lewis's broad knowledge of the traditions of European art. However, since the author himself confesses at one point that he may be 'pedantically belabouring' an argument, it must be said that the essay is over-long and makes for laborious reading for all but true Lewis devotees. By contrast, Thomas Dilworth's essay, 'Out of Canada: Wyndham Lewis's North American Writings' is brief (nine pages), perhaps disappointingly so for those who were expecting more. It is nonetheless a concise record of Lewis's literary activity in Canada, describing the circumstances W1der which the works were written and their reception. The contribution of Professor Dilworth, who teaches English at the University of Windsor, went beyond his own essay, for he is acknowledged as having assisted Catherine Mastin in aligning the literary with the visual arts aspect of Lewis's work in Canada. 'The Talentedlntruder': Wyndham Lewis in Canacin, 1939-1945 is a valuable resource for those interested both in Lewis and in the cultural climate in Toronto and Windsor during the Second World War. The major flaw is in the editing, for the numbers in the text do not consistently correspond to the catalogue listing at the back of the book, and incorrect captions further frustrate the reader who tries to refer to the figures while reading the text. (CHRISTINE BOYANOSKI) Atom Egoyan. Speaking Parts. With an introduction by Ron Burnett Coach House Press. 175. $19.95 The publication of scripts of English-Canadian films is regrettably a rarity. Coach House's Speaking Parts, the script of Canadian fihn ,director Atom Egoyan's 1989 film, is a model of how a script should be presented. In addition to the script, there is an introductory essay by Professor Ron Burnett of McGill University, an interview with the director conducted by film critic Marc Glassman, a short piece by the director, and a wellprepared filmography. HUMANITIES 239 The appearance of the book raises several issues. The first is the necessity of its elaboration, which is a bit saddening. Since his midtwenties , Egoyan, now thirty-three, has frequently been declared to be the leading English-Canadian director of his generation. However, no critic has come forward with a cogent account of why he is to be so highly regarded. The writing on Egoyan is little more than press publicity and, for a director of his notable intellectual and artistic ambition, this must be a disappointment. For those of us less impressed by the idea of Atom"Egoyan projected by the press - and who have never been able to see that idea realized on the screen - the -postponement of some substantiation of all the claims made for him seems inexplicably long. His films, and Speaking Parts especially, have become classroom fixtures and Egoyan has become today's object of Canadian film culture's desire for an 'art cinema' hero. The least question (though it is also a most polysemous question) we doubters might like to have answered is 'What does Atom Egoyan mean7' In this respect, appreciation of this volume must be limited to the merely ceremonial. Egoyan's interview with Glassman and Burnett's introductory essay are no help in answering our question. The interview strays away from Speaking Parts...

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