Canadian Essay and Literature Index: 1973 ed. by Andrew D. Armitage, Nancy Tudor (review)

432 LETTERS IN CANADA books might inculcate loose attitudes to both listening to and making music since they concentrate only on the sensuous aspect of music, ignoring that art appeals to the intelligence as well as the sensuality of the beholder. But they are nonetheless splendid antidotes to a too common regidity in the resonating regions of the mind. (CARL MOREY) Canadian Essay and Literature Index: 1973, compiled and edited by Andrew D. Armitage and Nancy Tudor. Toronto and Buffalo: University of Toronto Press 1975, xi, 445, $27.50 I have had some experience in compiling works of bibliographical reference and I therefore know at first hand of the dismayed annoyance a compiler can experience when the reviewer says, in effect, that if he had produced the work he would have produced something different and, of course, superior to the work under examination. If the present volume were a once-far-all kind of reference tool my comments as reviewer would differ somewhat, but it is presented as the first work of a proposed annual series. I therefore feel justified in making suggestions to the compilers about how, in my opinion, future volumes might be improved - suggestions which, of course, they may well ignore because of valid reasons I have not thought of. First, however, some deserved compliments. Persons interested in Canada's intellectual or cultural life will find this volume an invaluable adjunct to the Canadian Periodical Index. It indexes not only material in _ periodicals which the cpr does not yet cover (hopefully most of these omitted periodicals will eventually be included) but also material in books such as collections ofessays and anthologies of literature for which the CPI will presumably never attempt coverage. We have so far never had in Canada a compilation of this particular scope. Examining this book makes one wonder a little about the CPl. I find it very surprising that in 1973 CPI did not index the contents of such _ periodicals as Books in Canada, Mosaic, Malahat Review, Canadian Author and Bookman, and Journal of Canadian Fiction - to mention only the better known . In indexing these and other journals, as well as a variety of books containing material (essays, poems, stories, plays) by a variety of authors , Armitage and Tudor have contributed a most useful reference work. In the words of the two compilers, their book is 'an author-titlesubject ' (for poetry, first line) index. The material indexed was contained in 91 anthologies and 38 periodicals published in Canada in 1973: index- ing the essays required 121 pages, book reviews 18 pages, poems 235 pages, plays 6 pages, and short stories 32 pages. This volume is intended as the first in an annual series designed 'to provide access to a wide range of printed materials ... in English language Canadian books and magazines that have not been indexed in any other standard reference tooL' HUMANITIES 433 As far as I could determine by spot checks, the entries are generally accurate, despite the intrusion of some inevitable inaccuracies. For example , the sentence on page vii about the 'list of books indexed will be found on p. 433' should read' ... on pages 433-440.' A similar imprecision can be found on page viii (19). On page 73 (under MacLennan) the name 'Littlejohn' should be 'Litteljohn' (see p 437, first line). On page 435 the name 'Downes, Gladys Violet' should be 'Downes, Gwladys Violet.' More important than such imperfections is the editorial decision not to indicate when a periodical commenced publication, although we are informed about which libraries hold the periodicals. Also we are not told when a book that is indexed is really a reprint of a much earlier edition. For example, there is no indication that the 1973 Tecumseh Press edition of E.K. Brown's On Canadian Poetry is really a reprint of the original 1943 edition, or that the 1973 edition of J.G. Bourinot's Our Intellectual Strength ... is a reprint of the original 1893 edition. Surely a parenthical (first published in - ) would have been valuable not only to beginning researchers but as a reminder to more mature ones. Although the material indexed was published in 1973, this book did not...