The Carpathians - University of British Columbia

into Amy's point of view to spell it out: "It
was not that he didn't want to help them,
they were his people after all, but that he
had always believed that things of the spirit
were everlasting, while political oppression
or freedom were equally fleeting. She knew
it, thought he was wrong, but loved him for
his belief." A few lines later, in case we've
forgotten the discomfort motif, there are
some additional gestures: "he frowned...
glanced toward the platform as if it represented
something that frightened him, or
that was somehow not quite the way things
should be. Amy wanted to reassure him." It
is not that there is anything terribly wrong
with these sentences; the problem is that
that Butala overburdens the text with
repeated physical cues backed up by overexplanation
by one or more of the characters.
The omniscient point of view
contributes to this problem: the reader has
access to the thoughts of many of the characters,
and some limitation of perspective
would be helpful.
If Butala tells too much in The Fourth
Archangel, Peter Stevens leaves the reader
wanting more. His Dorothy Livesay: Patterns
in a Poetic Life provides a lucid and highly
accessible overview of the people, places,
events and ideas which have contributed to
Livesay's poetic vision. "Overview" is the
key word here: the main body of the text
runs a mere fifty-nine pages (including
photographs) and this is clearly designed as
an introductory book. What is not clear is
why ECW has decided to print a series of
such abbreviated biographies: surely anyone
interested enough in Livesay's work to
read a Life would also be interested enough
to read something with a bit more detail.
An expanded version would have permitted
more discussion of the relation between
Livesay's personal development and that of
her writing (Stevens does refer to the
poetry, but not very often).
Brevity is also a chief feature of the individual
sections of this book, most of which
are two or three pages long— perhaps the
intended reader has a short attention span.
The titles of these sections indicate the
focus on people ("Parents," "Father,"
"Mother," "The Death of Duncan
Macnair") and places ("Paris, 1931-32,"
"Return to Toronto," "Montreal,"
"Englewood and Toronto," "Zambia"). In
the second half of the book they reveal a
closer attention to Livesay's artistic career
("New Frontier! 1 "Contemporary Verse"
"The Search for a New Poetry," "Poetry and
Sexuality").
Stevens' discussion is generally clear and
engaging and it requires no background
knowledge of the subject. There is the occasional
oddity: the section entitled
"Recovery," for example, begins with the
assertion that "The cancer surgery Livesay
underwent could almost be viewed as symbolic,
on one level." The doubled qualification
("almost... on one level") does little to
mitigate the bizarre and rather exploitative
suggestion. In the second half of the book
there are occasional summaries (of
Livesay's illnesses, her trips to London)
which might be useful reminders in a
longer work but which here seem unnecessarily
repetitive. These, however, are minor
points. Dorothy Livesay has led a long and
eventful life, and Stevens' thoughtful selection
of material provides a useful starting
point for anyone interested in the subject.