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HUMANITTBS 401 the major epic poems, concentrating on the poet's view of life and art and their tangled interrelationships. The poetry from Doctor Zhivago is dealt with both independently and in connection with the novel. The larger part of this study, however, focusses attention on the novel itself. The genesis of the work is documented, whereupon attention focusses once again on the various metaphysical problems encountered elsewhere: man, nature, history, art and its relationship to life. Not least of the important aspects reviewed in this chapter is Pasternak's attraction to, in Professor Dyck's Own expressive title, 'Dualism, Duplicity and Paradox.' A similar program of investigation is subsequently applied to Pasternak's shorter prose pieces. A final brief chapter takes a glimpse at Pasternak as a tranSlator of Shakespeare, Schiller, and Goethe. This work's major shortcoming is the author's seeming inability to provide clear theses with convincing documentation and straightforward conclusions. Frequently he attempts to grasp too many ideas simultaneously . Very little attention is paid to the formalistic aspects of Pasternak 's work. After all, for a poet, surely the mode of expression must be as important as the philosophical content expressed. Otherwise we have 'mere philosophy.' Finally, one could have wished for more biographical detail, particularly in a book professing to deal with the 'life' of a writer. Despite all, Professor Dyck has made a brave attempt at a subject already . encrusted with a great deal of contemporary interpretation. (S. CIORAN) R. Cummings, M. Doherty ct aI., compilers, The Brock Bibliography of Published Canadian Stage Plays in English 1900-1972. St Catharines 1972, 47; B.J.O. Brien, D.R. Clark et aI., compilers, The First Supplement to The Brock Bibliography of Published Canadian Plays. Playwrights Co-op 1973,43, $1.50 Two years ago Christopher Johnson's drama students at Brock University embarked on a class project to compile a list of Canadian stage plays in print. Confining their list to plays in English printed in this century, they anticipated perhaps One hundred entries. But The Brock Bibliography grew to include nearly 900 entries, drawn from such disparate sources as established printing houses, 'cottage industries' like the Playwrights' Co-op, summer school workshops, and Dominion Drama Festival playlists. A year later Professor Johnson's dramatic media class found it necessary to compile a supplement, which includes one hundred additional plays published since 1972, corrections and revisions to original entries, and an additional catalogue of books about theatre and scripts for radio, television, and film. The listings are descriptive, giving details of cast, plot, setting, performance 402 LETTERS IN CANADA rights, and productions. Both volumes also include a valuable list of publishers' addresses. Not always accurate, still inevitably incomplete, the listing is invaluable in its documentation of the history of play publishing in Canada. Not all the plays included are available for distribution or examination; far too many are out of print. However, the extent of the list is ample proof of the steady growth of Canadian theatre in this century, even before the gratifying upsurge of the sixties; and here is challenge enough to serious literary criticism. (ANN SADDLEMYER) T.e. McLuhan, Touch the Earth: A Self-Portrait of Indian Existence. New Press, 185, $8.95; Edward S. Curtis, Portraits from North American Indian Life. Introductions by A.D. Coleman and TC. McLuhan. New Press, XVI, 176, $25.00 The customs, values, and beliefs, as well as what has been variously understood as the 'predicament,' of the native peoples of North America have produced responses in a number of forms during the centuries since Columbus wrote his letter to Ferdinand and Isabella. But there is a general pattern, and the earliest reaction in the English-speaking world is also one of the most typical. It is contained in 'A New Interlude, and amery, of the nature of the iiij Elements,' a play by John RasteII written in London about 1520, in which the author describes a people Which as yet lyve all bestly For they nother knowe god nor the devell Nor never harde tell of hevyn nor hell Wrytynge, nor other scripture: But yet in the stede of god almyght The honour the...

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