The Carpathians - University of British Columbia

skin deep." Smithson knows words are a
scrim, yet he chooses to believe the chorus
of his colleagues, family, and doctors,
"doubtless it's harmless." He weeps because
he is "not the one who has the story that
will bring it all down."
There is an irresistable temptation to
assume that Sarah Murphy shares Wesley
Smithson's frustration. (The initials WS,
turned upside-down, are SM. Is there
metastructural significance?) Murphy has
told us before that people — children and
old people and strong useful young adults
— are being tortured and murdered and
spirited away, and she has told vividly and
well, but the terror spreads, and the systems
do not fall. Alone in a hotel room,
Smithson stares at the ceiling and tries to
project an image of a carousel; he sees a
helicopter, never reality — not in prayer,
not in experience — never a ceiling fan. I
hear — and wish to share with Smithson
before he dissolves into rotating blades and
words — some lines from Di Brandt's
Mother, not mother, "i stole the language /
of their kings & queens.. .. oceans are
dying & here we sit / discussing words."
Women's Histories
Helen Duncan
Kate Rice: Prospector. Simon & Pierre $22.95
Doris Pennington
Agnes Macphail: Reformer. Simon & Pierre
$24-95
Reviewed by Deborah Blenkhorn
Doris Pennington's biography of Agnes
Macphail is a comprehensive account spanning
the early life, political career, and
mature years of the woman who was both
lauded and criticized in her role as
"Canada's First Female MR" Macphail was
born in 1890 and died in 1954; her career in
politics was illustrious, and her views on
social reform were provocative and controversial.
She worked actively for gender
equity in all aspects of private and public
life, and was generally a spokeswoman for
the downtrodden—whether they were
imprisoned, unemployed, disabled, or otherwise
disadvantaged.
Kate Rice, the subject of Helen Duncan's
biographical study, was also a rebel of
sorts—although certainly more in a personal
than a political context. Rice lived
from 1882 to 1963; as a prospector in the
Yukon in the early decades of this century,
Rice flaunted her difference from the
norms and expectations of the day; overthrowing
a teaching career, she was
inspired by her father's tales of "the
Northwest Frontier" to live an isolated life
fraught with hardships in order to attain
the elusive goal of striking it rich. Rice also
raised more than a few eyebrows by living
with her business partner, Dick Woosey,
whose journal entries are interwoven with
Duncan's narrative.
Simon and Pierre have published several
recent works on notable women in
Canadian history, including these portraits
of Agnes Macphail and Kate Rice. Although
both of these works purport to be biographies,
they differ considerably in both style
and substance: the former is a collection of
rich and diverse source material, categorized
into a chronological, highly structured
format; the latter is a narrative
account that virtually takes the form of a
historical novel.
Besides the structure of their titles, these
books share a number of other similar features.
Both authors, Doris Pennington and
Helen Duncan, had personal knowledge of
and contact with the subjects of their biographical
studies: Doris Pennington's father
was a one-time suitor of Macphail, and
maintained contact with her throughout
her political career; Helen Duncan met the
adventuresome and rebellious Kate Rice
when Duncan was a child and Rice was just
setting out on her life as a prospector. Both