Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty by Conrad Swan (review)

HUMANITIES 465 hebertienne, il est genant de voir attribue a Antoine Tassy un acte agressif (tuer l'oiseau) qui est Ie fait d'Elisabeth (dans Kamouraska): la phrase 'I'oiseau pantelant, une etoile rouge sur la gorge' (Kamal/raska, Seuil, 1970, p 67), rattachee adeux reprises par Bouchard aun oiseau qu'aurait tue Tassy (Bouchard, pp 26, 28), se rattache en fait tres clairement aI'oiseau que tue Elisabeth - qui, elle, souligne, 'Cest moi qui tire. Cest moi qui tue' (Kamal/raska, p 67). II faudrait, en outre, lire non pas 'son carnier' (Bouchard, p 26), mais 'mon carnier' (Kamal/raska, p 67), ainsi que 'trouee par Ie jour' (,Naissance du pain: Poe.nes, Seuil, 1960, p 78) ala place de 'rouee par Ie jour' (Bouchard, p 56), et 'enchainee tout Ie jour' (Les Chambres de bois, p 70) au lieu de 'entrainee tout Ie jour' (Bouchard, p 158) - et (en passe. Cet ouvrage se termine par une bibliographie (d'une quarantaine de pages) d'articles de critique journalistique parus principalement en France et consacres atel ou tel ouvrage d'Anne Hebert, ou al'attribution aAnne Hebert de tel prix litteraire. Cette bibliographie pourrait fournir des elements utiles aune etude relevant non pas de la socio-critique, mais plutot de la sociologie de la litterature, etude qui viserait, d' une part, acerner les rapports entre la litterature quebecoise et I'edition en France et, d'autre part, aexplorer les mecanismes de lancement et de distribution du Iivre-marchandise. Ce livre, en somme, fidele a son titre, nOllS affre une lecture interessante d'une partie de l'ceuvre hebertienne, et, fidele a son sous-titre, propose et ebauche une lecture et une analyse de I'ecriture mythologique dans cette ceuvre. Bouchard appelle de ses vceux une etude plus poussee de cette ecriture mythologique (p 196): esperons que lui-meme nous donnera bient6t une telle etude, dans laquelle les rapports entre l'ceuvre hebertienne et les grands mythes quebecois seront etudies selon une demarche rigoureuse. Mais, d'ores et deja, son livre actuel constitue une contribution utile aux etudes hebertiennes. (NEIL B. BISHOP) Conrad Swan. Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty University of Toronto Press. Xl, 274, illus. $29-95 Heraldry, vexillology, and sigillography may not be everyone's preoccupation . But happily it is not necessary to be preoccupied by these archaic and arcane studies to be fascinated by Conrad Swan's latest book, Canada: Symbols of Sovereignty. The subtitle aptly summarizes the contents of the book: 'An investigation of the arms and seals borne and used from the earliest times to the present in connection with public authority in and over Canada, along with consideration of some connected flags'; but it does not do justice to the expertise with which this content has been selected, documented, and presented. And Dr Swan may well be 466 LEITERS IN CANADA 1977 the only person to have this expertise. As the York Herald of Arms he writes with a recognized professional authority on armorial and heraldic matters; and as the only Canadian member of the College of Arms he presents the tradition of arms of his own country, in which he has deep personal roots and an intense personal interest. His book is therefore not merely 'the only complete account of the evolution of the arms, seals, and the official flags of Canada from the time of the discovery to the present,' but also a truly superb account of these: both superb in its thorough and critical scholarship, and superb in the moving artistry which presents the growth and development of the country and its regions from colonies to nation through the investigation of the history of their arms and seals and flags. Profusely illustrated throughout (including twenty-four pages of fullcolour illustrations), the book opens with a discussion of the concept of arms of dominion and sovereignty and arms and seals of public authority (as distinct from personal arms) borne and used by British and French sovereigns both in Europe and in North America. This constitutes the prior theoretical background to the subsequent history of the arms of dominion and sovereignty for Canada, and of the public seals and flags of Canada. Successive chapters then...