Fiction

THE UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO QUARTERLY poetry; in its brief life this perio4ical became one of the main vehicles in this country for original and powerful poetry. In 1937 alone it published a notable poem by Mr. A. M. Klein ("Of Daumiers a Portfolio"), one of Mr. Leo Kennedy's most vigorous pieces ("Calling Eagles"), and a large group of Miss Dorothy Livesay's moving lyrics. The Canadian Forum, among much that is excellent, published another of Mr. Klein's poems ("Blue Print for a Monument of War") and some notable satires by Mr. L. A. MacKay. The level of poetry in these two magazines and -in Saturday Night is higher than that i.n the volumes which have been noticed; and if the poetry of our periodical press is good, we may reasonably hope that the poetry appearing in book-form will steadily improve. Neither Mr. MacKay nor Mr. Klein has as yet published a volume of verse, and it is a long time sioce there was a collection 'of Miss Livesay's. When the survey of Letters in Canada for 1938 is writ.ten , we hope that books by each of these three highly individual and powerful poets wiU have appeared. II. FICTION J. R. MAcGILLIVRA V The year 1937 was one of only moderate achievement for Canadian fiction. Two novels, More Joy in Hen"en by Morley Callaghan and God's Sparrows by Philip Child, were perhaps better than anything published in the previous year, but on the other hand the total number of books produced seems to have been smaller, and there ~as less variety of type. Satire and economic criticism, both represented formerly, seem to have disappeared from our fiction when it was rumoured that business was better. Recognizable pictures of normal Canadian life, in our cities and on our farms, were as rare as usual. But other types of fiction apparently continued in brisk demand. Detective stories, novels of homicidal adventure in the far north, and books for children made up twothirds of the year's output. One remembers sadly the question with )Vhich Morley Callaghan concluded his article on "The Plight of Canadian Fiction" ·in a recent issue of the QUARTE.RLY: "How many writers of adult fiction have appeared in this country in the last ten years?" I offer no list} but I ima.gine that if they should meet together in round-table conference the table would not have to be very large. 348 LETTERS IN CANADA: 1937 In any such group Morley Callaghan himself would have a place. More Joy in Heaven is the story of how Kip Caley, a bank-robber whose 'name had been on the front page of'every newspaper, was reformed by a prison-chaplain, set free through the influence of 'a senator, welcomed home as the Prodigal Son with cheers and sobs by his hysterical admirers, and then, being soon f9rgotten, fell back into the company of his former gang, and finally was shot down by the police amid the execrations of outraged sentimentalists. This story is based on an actual and much publicized case of a few years ago; yet the author is quite right in his assertion that the characters and situations are "entirely fictional." M(Jre Joy in Heaven is 'not the detailed record of what did happen, but an imaginative realization of what might have happened under the circumstances. In several ways this novel indicates a considerable advance in Morley Callaghan's mastery of his art. He has become more observant , more sensitive to the subtler forms of human experien'ce. Most notably, he has improved on his former prose style. He still writes with clarity, economy, and simplicity of phrasing, but he has abandoned the tiresome mannerism of a dead-level evenness for greater variety and appropriateness of style. Here is a representative page, the account of Kip's arrival home from prison. He h~d just pushed his way past the curious crowds in the street and the jostling reporters and photographers who were trying to force their way into the house after him. Leaning all his weight against the door he bolted it, muttering. "They're not coming in...