Canada Observed: Perspectives from Abroad and from Within ed. by Jürgen Kleist, Shawn Huffman (review)

386 LETTERS IN CANADA 2000 alongside the likes of Barolini=s The Dream Book and Gardaphè=s Italian Signs, American Streets. Finally, as I mentioned above, Scambray closes his introduction with the following admission of the book=s limitation: >What follows is only a small but important representation of the historical breach in that silence in what can be called The North American Italian Renaissance in literature=: a small statement about a big title, to be sure. To exclude circa three of five significant anthologies and circa five of six critical studies does not, however, necessarily underscore >important.= In turn, since this is a >small ... representation of the historical breach,= then an editorial decision might have prompted a more representative title. Something similar to >Breaking the Silence= B the title of one of Robert Viscusi=s often cited essays B seems more appropriate for this collection of previously published reviews. At the same time, it would have also paid homage to, perhaps, the first contemporary thinker of Italian/American studies to breach the longpractised thematic-based criticism, thus bringing Italian/American critical studies into the contemporary world of literary studies. (A.J. TAMBURRI) Jürgen Kleist and Shawn Huffman, editors. Canada Observed: Perspectives from Abroad and from Within Peter Lang. viii, 204. US $53.95 It is practically a civic duty for all Canadians, at home and abroad, to try to dispel the popular misconception of Canadians as toned-down, more polite versions, of Americans. If pressed for specifics about how exactly we differ, Canadians resort to platitudes as well as more subtle distinctions: hockey vs baseball, mosaic vs melting pot, evolution vs revolution, beaver vs bald eagle, poutine vs apple pie, appropriationists vs neo-imperialists, collective good vs individual interests, medicare vs private health plans, to name but a few. Insisting that we are not Americans reflects more than a collective inferiority complex; it is a unifying force in a country whose people are divided by values, history, culture, religion, language, and region. In Canada Observed: Perspectives from Abroad and from Within, fifteen contributors from multiple disciplines (history, political science, sociology, English, French and German literature, modern languages, and accounting) tackle the complex, rich, and intertwined topics of identity, perception, and representation. The organizing theme of the volume is perception: the way Canada appears to outsiders (German and British travel writers, American business, American draft dodgers, and Americans in general), and to different communities, groups, and individuals within the country (the Irish, James Bay Cree, Carol Shields, and Margaret Atwood), as well as the way Canada is represented (national parks, Quebec, in postmodern eyes, HUMANITIES 387 and in Small Ceremonies and Lady Oracle). The table of contents is like an eclectic and appetizing menu in which the reader cum diner wants to sample widely. Alas, the fare served up is not fully cooked. Like all edited collections, this one suffers from unevenness in research, writing, clarity, consistency, and originality. There are a couple of articles that do not obviously adhere to the scholarly mandate of the book and which throw the reader off course (most notably Imbeau). To further complicate the challenge to collected volumes, this one is multidisciplinary. No reader will be an expert in all of the fields covered. Therefore it is incumbent on the contributors to present their material in an accessible way without undermining the substance or sophistication of their argument. Not all do this equally well. Moreover, the opaquely theoretical contributions need to set out the connection to perceptions of Canada more clearly (Imbert, Hertz-Ohmes). Finally, many articles make tantalizing suggestions but race through their arguments and evidence too quickly. Ten of the fifteen articles are between six and nine pages. The result is essays that are fragmentary rather than concise. If the scholar=s meal as a whole is disappointing, there are some tasty morsels. This reader finished the book eager to read Carol Shields=s portrayal of the sentimental attraction of Britain and the assimilative force of America on Canadian culture; surprised at the control and contrivance over the supposedly back-to-nature experience of Canada=s national parks; enlightened about the subtlety of the nationalist strategy of First Nations groups...