Northrop Frye: An Enumerative Bibliography by Robert D. Denham, and: Archibald MacLeish: A Checklist by Edward J. Mullaly, and: Robert Creeley: An Inventory, 1945–1970 by Mary Novik, and: Indian-Inuit Authors: An Annotated Bibliography, and: A Concise Bibliography of English-Canadian Literature by Michael Gnarowski (review)

HUMANITIES 413 study is very much under the influence (a good influence, by the way) of Wallace Stegner's Wolf Willow, the first chapter of which, The Question Mark in the Circle: is a meditation upon what the prairie does to and means to the people who live on it. Certainly the pervasive image in serious writing about the prairie provinces has been one of lonely distance; the prairie is extensive, empty, quiet - and unconcerned. Man is alone, and nature is indifferent if not hostile; he must come to terms with this situation. How have novelists of the prairie represented man in this situation ? This is Professor Ricou's subject. The marks of the PHD thesis are upon the book: in the iteration of the theme of a man standing up in a surrounding flatness, in the concern to find in every novel a lonely figure intruding on a hostile landscape, and in the attention given to many writers (like Ralph Connor, Nellie McClung , Arthur Stringer) who are sub-literary. This means that more pages are given to a discussion of a mediocre novelist like Edward McCourt , who fits the pattern, than to Margaret Laurence, who does not. The main part of the book, however, and the best, is given over to a careful examination of Grove, to whom the prairie is the beloved enemy; of Sinclair Ross, who introduces the prairie landscape as a metaphor for man's mind and emotions; and of W.O. Mitchell, whose vertical man on the prairie horizontal is essentially a thinker. There is a glance at the end at some contemporary novelists, like George Ryga and Robert Hunter, for whom the prairie is a metaphor for the meaningless. The book has a good bibliography and a useful index. (CARLYLE KING) Robert D. Denham, Northrop Frye: An Enumerative Bibliography. Metuchen, NT' The Scarecrow Press, "49, $5.00; Edward J. Mullaly, Archibald MacLeish: A Checklist. Kent State University Press "973, 95, $5.00; Mary Novik, Robert Creeley: An Inventory, ~945-1.970' McGill-Queen's University Press 1.973, 21.0, $6.00; Indian-Inuit Authors: An Annotated Bibliography. Information Canada, 108, $2.50; Michael Gnarowski, A Concise Bibliography of EnglishCanadian Literature. McClelland and Stewart 1973,1.27. $2.95 These five bibliographical works provide an unexpected insight into the bewildering condition of current Canadian bibliography and the vagaries of publishing. Three are devoted to Canadian subjects; two are checklists of living American poets. They range from the handsomely produced bilingual government publication Indian-Inuit Authors, through two university press publications, one of which, Robert Creeley: An Inventory, 2945-2970, was supported by the Canada Council, and two from trade publishers. The publications by McClelland and Stewart and Scarecrow Press are the least handsome of the lot and for different reasons. Gnarowski's A Concise Bibliography of English-Canadian Literature is in paperback format and obviously designed for high school and university students; the Scarecrow Press book is simply a shoddy production unworthy of its subject. Robert D. Denham's Northrop Frye: An Enumerative Bibliography is thorough, well arranged, and its sub-title is honest. It is an enumeration in four parts. The first covers Frye's writings from 1935 to '973 and includes over three hundred articles, reviews, and books; the second lists biographical essays and notices (one wonders about the value of this section and one must quarrel with the inclusion here of Ronald Bates's monograph on Northrop Frye alongSide ephemeral notices in biographical dictionaries ); the third part lists over one hundred and twenty-five writings about Frye's criticism; the fourth lists reviews of Frye's books. The introduction to this work is not bibliographical but reveals the compiler's main interest to be that of the 'theory and history of literary criticism.' Archibald MacLeish: A Checklist is included here because the compiler is at the University of New Brunswick, where he received research grants and other assistance. Works by Archibald MacLeish and about him are included but 'information concerning British editions of his works is included only when such volumes differ significantly from the American editions.I One must ask, why? Private collectors and university libraries anxious to use this...