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humanities 297 university of toronto quarterly, volume 73, number 1, winter 2003/4 between French and English. Carrière chooses to concentrate on poetry rather than prose fiction (although such generic distinctions break down), and concentrates on Brossard and Théoret to illustrate writing in French. This choice is not surprising, whereas the selection of English-language writers is less obvious. In particular, it excludes Daphne Marlatt, whose work has often been compared with that of Brossard (see Susan Knutson, Narrative in the Feminine, 2000). The three represented here include two who have connections to French (Erin Mouré and Lola Lemire Tostevin) and one who has none (Di Brandt). The work of all five authors is assessed in relation to >feminine= imagery and themes, primarily based on the motherdaughter relationship, which has different functions in the case of the three (Brossard, Mouré, and Brandt) who incorporate a lesbian subjectivity into their texts. The study is framed by a general theoretical discussion of the ethics of intersubjectivity, as elaborated by Levinas and Ricoeur as well as Irigaray and Kristeva. The rapport to the maternal-feminine as same and other, and its varied effects on and in these writers= poetic use of language, provide a common basis for a closer look at a range of individual texts. Skilful detailed analysis demonstrates the sophistication and literary value of the works concerned. Ambivalence and tension emerge as central to the dynamics of a variety of writings that claim to be >in the feminine,= with overtones of an essentialism deemed to be dangerous, while deploying the techniques and motifs of postmodern instability where subjectivity is concerned. This ambivalence is reflected in Carrière=s own vacillation between admiration for these writers= literary achievements and a somewhat suspicious attitude towards their >utopian/idealist= feminist or feminine agenda(s). Her thought-provoking study draws attention to the limits and the possibilities of >strategic essentialism,= in the context of an ethics of alterity that seeks to recognize the other without recourse to mirror images. (VALERIE RAOUL) Angela Nairne Grigor. Arthur Lismer: Visionary Art Educator McGill-Queen=s University Press. xv, 447. $65.00 In Arthur Lismer: Visionary Art Educator, Angela Nairne Grigor provides us with an insightful look into Lismer=s little-known career in art education. He was better known as a member of the Group of Seven and, to a lesser extent, as principal of the Victoria School of Art and Design in Halifax (now the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design) and later vice-principal of the Ontario College of Art, but Lismer=s work in art education spanned more than thirty years. His work with children, teachers, and lay art audiences across the country and internationally, promoting the value of the arts in daily life, has generally been minimized or excluded altogether in the 298 letters in canada 2002 university of toronto quarterly, volume 73, number 1, winter 2003/4 historical record. Grigor sets out to remedy this by demonstrating Lismer=s >seminal importance to the development of modern methods of art education in this country.= The book is a valuable contribution to an emerging body of literature in art education history which seeks to chart the links among the arts, education, and social and cultural imperatives. Significantly, it also offers us the possibility of a more critical and integrative way in which to reconceptualize the relatively bounded disciplinary paridigms that constitute our ways of knowing. Grigor has amassed a wide array of historical evidence collecting Lismer=s writing and speeches and conducting interviews with Lismer=s family, friends, and colleagues, in order to demonstrate Lismer=s contribution to the art education practices and theories in pre- and postwar Canada. While the archival literature is ample and fascinating, the book is completely under-researched in regard to secondary literature. The secondary sources cited are often out of date, their interpretations long since reconsidered. More troubling is Grigor=s decision to omit contemporary literature which speaks to Arts and Crafts influences in Canadian schools prior to Lismer=s emigration to Canada in 1911, and this has critical ramifications for Grigor=s overall thesis. Grigor=s argument is shaped around two problematic assumptions. First, she...

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