Drama

274 THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUA!tTERLY suggest. The steady emergence of a few young novelists of integrity and of imaginative power is the most reassuring development in Canadian fiction. In 1947, you will recall, Mr. W. H. Mitchell's Who Hath Seen the Wind~ a first novel, occupied a similar place in the year's work to that occupied in 1948 by The Rich Man. As long as such novels are being written, we need not despair about the failure of the imagination in Canada. Indeed it is not imprudent to speculate about a not-too-distant annus mirabilis that will make the preparation of this review less of a dutiful progression through familiarly drab surroundings and more a voyage of delighted discovery. CHECK-LIST OF TITLES CALLAGHAN (MoRLEY), The Varsity story; ill. by ERIC ALDWINCKLE, O.S.A. (Toronto, Macmillan, viii, 172 pp., $2.50). CHILD (PHILIP), The village of souls; drawings by W. RoLoFF BBNY; new ed. (Toronto, Ryerson, viii, 294 pp., $3.25). *DAVIDSON (L. J.) and *BLAKE (FoRRESTER) eds., Rocky Mountain tales; ill. .by SKELLY (Norman, Okla., University of Oklahoma Press, 1947, 316 pp., $3.00). ELLIOTT (A. j.), The aging nymph (Toronto, Collins, iv, 252 pp., $3.00). GUITON (HELEN), A country lover; ill. by ]EAN SIMARD (Toronto, Dent, viii, 256 pp., $3.00). HANGO (ANGELINE), Truthfully yours; ill. by Ea1c TaoM (Toronto, Oxford, viii, 144 pp., $3.00). KEITH (MARIAN), Yonder shining light (Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, viii, 278 pp., $3.00). KNox (OLIVE), Red River shadows (Toronto, Macmillan, xii, 303 pp., $3.00). KREISEL (HENRY), The rich man (Toronto, McClelland & Stewart, 263 pp., $3.00). MACLENNAN (HUGH), The precipice (Toronto, Collins, x, 372 pp., $3.00). MEEK (G. C.), The devil's punch bowl (Edmonton, Institute of Applied Art, 1947, $2.00). SIMONDS (PETER), Red sepulchre: a story of adventure behind the Iron Curtain (Montreal, Adanac Press, 391 pp., $3.00). SuLLIVAN (ALAN}, The fur masters; new ed. (New York, Coward-McCann; Toronto, Longmans Green, vi, 244 pp., $1.49). WEES (F. S.L Someone called Maggie Lane (Philadelphia, Macrae-Smith; Toronto, American News Co., 1947, 244 pp., $2.35). WHITE (S. A.), Flaming fur lands (Toronto, Ryerson, vi, 153 pp., $2.50). III. DRAMA VINCENT TOVELL Two volumes of dramatic material were added to our still very small list during the year: A Play on Words and Other Radio Plays by Lister Sinclair and These English by Bernard Braden. Mr. Sinclair's anthology includes twelve of his early well-known scripts (excellently arranged for the general reader without knowledge of broadcasters' jargon), all of which were produced by Andrew Allan for the C.B.C. between 1944 and 1946. It makes available two interesting monologues ("Epitaph on a War of Liberation'' and "No Scandal in Spain") and a new verse version -of "Oedipus the King" which, among others in the volume, are suitable for stage as well as radio production, and a variety of scripts that show very well the uncommon range and technical ingenuity of one of the ablest radio writers on this continent. This collection, Mr. Sinclair's first, has alr~ady been placed among the classics in its field, and it deserves the at~ tention of radio students. It is valuable too as a partial record of the LETTERS IN CANADA: 1948 275 experiments that were made a few years ago by a remarkable group of artists and Mr. Andrew Allan in the C.B.C.'s Toronto studios. A volume to follow, containing some of Mr. Sinclair,s more recent plays and examples of his critical writing, would now be welcome. Bernard Braden's twelve sketches of contemporary life in England, produced under the series title "These English)) for the C.B.C. by Andrew Allan, were very successful radio reports, and now Mr. Braden has made them available for reading in a transcribed form that is part drama and part narrative. The _ material has not suffered at all in the process. It is lightly and entertainingly treated and Mr. Braden proves to be as good a story-teller in a book as he is on the air. John A. Hall has added some attractive illustrations to...