The Other Side of Hugh MacLennan: Selected Essays Old and New by Hugh MacLennan (review)

One turns to the first article, John Baxter's 'The Stone Angel: Shakespearian Bearings: and finds this: 'That Margaret Laurence is a writer of genuine talent is widely recognized, but in the never-never land of Can Lit criticism where everything is 'great' and new traditions are founded weekly, that recognition is a dubious honour at best, leaving the real nature of the talent obscure.' Here, I find myself saying (with a surprise the editors will understand), is an opening that promises to offer a genuine literary-critical approach - in Canada! And although I was not initially convinced by the 'Shakespearian' analogy, at least I could take Baxter seriously. This was not dreary thematics, scholarly pedantry, in-group chitchat, or nationalistic puffery but- one must repeat-literary criticism. The model for the journal is clearly Scrutiny. The editors' own contributions loom large in the opening issues, and known 'Leavisite' writers like John Fraser, C.Q. Drummond, and Ian Robinson are represented; even the light-blue cover produces a shock of recognition . But the most important resemblance is to be found in the committed seriousness (not ponderousness) of the articles and the high critical standard maintained within them. On the other hand, this is not an imitation in the silly sense. Edmonton in the 1970S can never be Cambridge in the 1930s. The editors recognize an exemplary tradition but know that it must be transformed to serve a 'new land' and a new situation. The subjects treated in the first four issues include Yvor Winters (who is clearly as much a mentor as the Leavises), J.V. Cunningham, and the Milton controversy continued; there are also searching critiques of M.H. Abrams' Natural Supernaturalism, the Literary History of Canada, and David Perkins's History of Modern Poetry. Poetry and philosophical and political commentary also appear regularly. In short, The Compass has established both its attitude and its range. And it has declared war on the second-rate. Will it survive? Not if the second-rate can help it, and only if there are enough Canadians interested in excellence to provide support. This journal has already shown what the west is capable of offering; the future could be bright indeed if it became recognized as a standard to be emulated . As soon as I encountered the first issue, I sent off a subscription ; all readers of 'Letters in Canada' should do the same. (w.). KEITH) Hugh Maclennan. The Other Side of Hugh MacLennan : Selecled Essays Old and New. Edited by Elspeth Cameron Macmillan of Canada. 301. $12.95 Though Hugh MacLennan has been a major figure in Canadian letters for nearly forty years, many readers have had difficulty reconciling that fame with his highly didactic, strainedly allegorical novels. 'Look to his es- 446 LETTERS IN CANADA 1978 says: they say. 'He's more at home there.' But the dodge misses the point. When he writes, Hugh MacLennan is simultaneously novelist and essayist, maker and explicator, artist and historian.To be worthwhile for him fiction requires a significant historical context, a specific regional setting, and a set of crucial cultural issues. By self-definition he is 'a novelist engage: a 'citizen' seeking 'to understand and interpret his time,' to express his ever-serious amor patriae and to minister to the ills at large in the world he values. On the other hand, to his essays he brings a novelist's special powers - the ability to create scenes and characters, to dramatize representative events, to move gracefully between narrative observation and convincing dialogue. His essays are conSciously a 're_ covery of reality' designed to take the reader behind the mere facts and statistics of history and personal experience. Their freshness and incisiveness are in large part a function of the lively imagination MacLennan exercises in the act of analysis. This collection of essays, edited by Elspeth Cameron, provides an opportunity to consider the 'other side' of Hugh MacLennan - the essayist who writes novels. It gathers 34 articles and addresses, spanning the years 1947 to 1978 and incorporating 'the best' material from his three previous, now out-of-print, collections, Cross-Country (1949), Thirty and Three (1954), and Scotchman'S Return (1960). In addition, Cameron...