I love coincidences, the unpremeditated recurrence of themes and ideas in reviews of otherwise very different books, and references to literary figures appearing unexpectedly in unrelated contexts. The density of these coincidences in a book review publication is perhaps more than anything the mark of a mature intellectual and literary culture. Coincidences afford readers a sense of continuity throughout an issue, but more importantly, they broaden and clarify a discussion contained in any single review. A reviewer's purpose may be to draw out a social, political, or philosophical issue an author is expressly grappling with; or she may want to highlight a more subtle aspect of a literary work. Either way, when several reviewers undertakeùcoincidentallyùto engage with related themes or ideas, the reader's perspective is enhanced, and her intellectual journey yields more in the way of understanding. I hope the reader takes note of these concurrences in the April issue and delights in them as much as I do.
In this issue, there are reviews of novels by David Gilmour, Rudy Wiebe, Gerald Lynch, and Antonia Logue, among others. Alice Munro's Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage is wonderfully reviewed by Michael Greenstein, followed by Chris Jennings' well-wrought piece on another short story collection, Gambler's Fallacy, by Judith Cowan. Jennings lays bare a different kind of fallacy: the widely-held belief that short stories are necessary precursors to novels. Jennings calls this "illusory progress," for while writers like Michael Winter, Dennis Bock, and Alistair MacLeod, serve as recent examples of those who've crossed over to the novel's domain, this transition is not to be considered a graduation of sorts, but a changeover from one distinct literary form to another.
John Ralston Saul's On Equilibrium, an object of much critical attention, and ad hominem attacks, receives even-handed treatment by Frank Smith. Smith breaks down Saul's philosophy of man into bite-sized concepts, facilitating understanding of a complicated work.
Nella Cotrupi's feature review of The Diaries of Northrop Frye, 1942-1955, is a look at the character that emerges from the diurnal writings of a prominent thinker and critic. Readers are made privy to Frye's spiritual quest, a quest he attempts to define for himself, and which he ultimately comes to see as the selfless dedication to his calling, the profession of teaching.
Finally, in keeping with April's status as National Poetry Month, the issue offers an extended poetry section, with biographies of poets (Eric Miller reviews Ekbert Faas' Robert Creeley: A Biography, Michael Greenstein writes about Nanm Kattan's A.M. Klein: Poet and Prophet), and retrospective examinations of poets' works (William Ford reviews Richard Bozorth's Auden's Games of Knowledge, Kenneth Sherman looks at Czeslaw Milosz's New and Collected Poems and To Begin Where I Am: Selected Essays). In addition, we are proud to publish an interview with Matthew Sweeney, an acclaimed Irish poet, and a feature on Peter van Toorn with a sample from his Mountain Tea and Other Poems due for republication next year. A particularly delightful and humorous contribution to this issue is Joe Rosenblatt's expansion on Lunacy and the Mythopoetic in Canadian poetry and literature. It's bound to make you laugh.
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