Jean Rivard - University of British Columbia

that publishers, reviewers and critics alike
have "failed to take up the challenge the
presence of other voices in Canada offers."
This she attributes, not to market forces,
but to racism. According to Philip, African,
Asian and First Nations writers are being
silenced —much as, in her view, they were
at the PEN Conference.
Marlene Nourbese Philip's commitment
to a non-racist Canada is beyond doubt. It
ill behooves a reviewer to doubt the sincerity
of her case when she writes out of personal
experience, much of which, to judge
from this volume, must have been bitter.
Her campaign against what she regards as
racism in Canadian arts institutions has,
however, encountered a good deal of opposition
and one may suppose that her vituperative
attacks have forfeited her some
support in the arts community, while her
allegations of systemic discrimination may
be regarded by some as not wholly credible.
Certainly, to the foreign observer surveying
Canadian publishing, it does not seem as
though minority voices are being silenced;
rather the opposite seems the case. Nor
does it help her case, when, on occasion,
she indulges in polemical exaggeration, as
when she argues that Callwood's famous
expletive is "tantamount to declaring open
season on individuals like myself" or
alleges that "this sort of irrational response
to legitimate protest comes close to being
the verbal equivalent of actions of governments
such as the Chinese government
toward its dissenters." One wonders, too,
what publishers might think of her suggestion
that they be required to give account of
"the number of manuscripts from African,
Asian and Native Canadians they have seriously
considered over the last fiscal year."
Philip's thought-provoking, if somewhat
argumentative volume is ultimately repetitious
and would have benefited from more
rigorous editing. The bibliographical references
are inadequate.
Reconsiderations
Mary Henley Rubio, ed.
Harvesting Thistles: The Textual Garden ofL.M.
Montgomery: Essays on Her Novels and Journals.
Canadian Children's Ρ $15.00
Irene Gammel
SexualizingPower in Naturalism: Theodore
Dreiser and Frederick Philip Grove. U Calgary Ρ η.ρ.
Reviewed by Judy Dudar
The writing of Lucy Maud Montgomery
has always had an appreciative general
readership, but it is late receiving academic
respect and only relatively recently has been
the subject of critical assessment. Mary
Rubio, editor oí Harvesting Thistles: The
Textual Garden ofL. M. Montgomery, suggests
that Montgomery was conscious of
the fact that her work was considered "'low'
culture" and "children's" literature, but the
essays that Rubio has collected bring
Montgomery into the stream of current
gender, cultural, and autobiographical criticism.
Rubio claims three goals for the collection:
"to establish Montgomery as a
serious, disruptive, political author of adult
books;" "to present new interpretations by
critics who have had the advantage of reading
Montgomery's journals;" and "to signal
Montgomery's identification with her
Scottish heritage." The first is attained, but
only if the terms "serious, disruptive and
political" are considered in a qualified and
modest sense. The third is of peripheral
importance to both essayists and readers,
although it does provide access to a neat
linking metaphor for the editor and
enlarges on the implications of the book's
title. The second of the goals, however, is
admirably achieved. The majority of the
essayists keep their sights on the intended
subject of their deliberations—the writings
of Lucy Maud Montgomery—but their
focus is not limiting and they do not make
the mistake of becoming mired in abstruse
criticism or language. Although a few of
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