\s mYevtew ELECTRONIC ADDITION - University of British Columbia

OPINIONS AND NOTESit was felt in the literary community likea sudden withdrawal of current, a dimmingof lights. This consciousness of theloss of a distinct vitality is still with us.Marian did not go gently. There was nofolding up of tents here, but rather thefeisty determination to be taken, if at all,in midsentence, to leave her voice stillringing. She has left those of us whoknew her and respected her work with acontinuing regret for a life too early, aunique voice too soon interrupted.Born in Toronto in 1933, Marian Passmorewas raised in various towns in Ontario,where her father worked as a highschool teacher. She managed to takeevery course in English Lit. which Mc-Master University offered and stillemerge with a degree in French andGerman, in 1955. At McGill Universityshe completed a thesis on CanadianLiterature under the guidance of HughMcLennan, and received her M.A. in1957. Subsequently, she taught at AcadiaUniversity, Montana State University atMissoula, and The Study School in Montreal.In 1961 she attended the Universityof Aix-Marseille at Aix en Provence,on a Rotary Scholarship. For a periodshe taught in private schools in England,and worked as a Financial Translator.In 1962 she married Howard Engel,with whom she travelled to Nicosia,Cyprus, where she taught at the St.John's School. On their return to CanadaMarian eventually gave birth totwins, Charlotte and William, and settledin to the hectic life of a mother andhousewife who is also a socially consciousand political human being, as well as,beyond all this, but permeating all, aconstantly working writer. She exploredgenres, writing in the third floor attic ofthe house on Brunswick, often able tofind time to work only at night. Once— viscisitudes of motherhood — she describedto me the night when she lookedup from her work and saw outside theattic window, hanging from the roof,little son William grinning in at her.In those early years she wrote plays,radio documentaries, journalism, children'sstories, and finally found her preferredforms in the novel and short story,though she could still turn her hand, inneedy times, and produce craftswomanlyprose in whatever form required. In 1968she published No Clouds of Glory (sincere-issued as Sarah Bastard's Notebook),in 1970 The Honeyman Festival, Monodromos(since re-issued as One WayStreet) in 1973, and Inside the EasterEgg in 1975. These early works are strikingparticularly for the crisp elegance oftheir prose and the surprising depthswhich she could suggest beneath the apparentlyordinary surfaces of the heroineswho carried the burden of her stories.At this period Marion Engel was playinga key role in the organization of TheWriters Union of Canada and became itsfirst Chairperson. She spearheaded thestill continuing battle for writers to receivecompensation for library use oftheir works. A staunch member of theNDP she was active in civic politics andon the City of Toronto Library Board.Separated from her husband, she wasfinally divorced in 1977.The 1976 publication of the brilliantnovel Bear won her at last the seriousattention she deserved. This fable ofmythic proportions, realistically dressedfor maximum viability in the Canadiancultural climate, brought her a certainamount of notoriety as well as the GovernorGeneral's Award for Fiction in 1976.Daring in conception, masterful in stylisticcontrol, perfect in pitch, it establishedthe mature craft found in her next twonovels, The Glassy Sea ( 1978) and LunaticVillas ( 1981 ). The former is a seriousexamination of female isolation and spiritualneed, and the latter a kind of unbuttoned"Tempest"-like mature comedyof a large hearted and slightly