шш in review DISCOURSE OF THE OTHER - University of British ...

BOOKS IN REVIEWtance des écoles et de la radio francophones,ainsi que des "vieilles vertus."Venue de la région de Winnipeg, villedont le nom, comme nous l'apprend Valais,signifie "eau boueuse," Maud va serendre dans l'Est du pays, faire la connaissanced'un Québec où elle se sentiradéplacée, étrangère et où elle va donc serendre compte que le Manitoba est sonpays. Y retournera-t-elle ou bien finira-tellepar se laisser assimiler per la mondequébécois? Valais ne nous le dit pas, nouslaisse libre d'imaginer la suite.La forme épistolaire, tout comme lemonologue intérieur, permet de nouveauun discours-fleuve, avec rapides, chutes,affluents. Valais utilise les deux formesavec aisance et un évident plaisir qui finitpar devenir celui du lecteur. Les deuxsoeurs est un beau livre, un de ceux quifont que les Éditions des Plaines méritentnotre respect et notre intérêt.ON STRATEGIESMARGUERITE ANDERSENROBERT KROETSCH & REINGARD M. NISCHIK,eds., Gaining Ground: European Critics onCanadian Literature. NeWest Press, $21.95;pa. $11.95.SERIOUS READERS OF Canadian literaturehave cause to be grateful to RobertKroetsch and Reingard Nischik for focusingattention in Gaining Ground onsignificant studies of the subject currentlybeing produced by European scholars.Although it has been an open secretamong academic specialists for the pastdecade that the study of Canadian literatureis a minor growth industry inEuropean universities, this is the firstbook to describe and illustrate the phenomenonin a reasonably comprehensivefashion. And it must be said at the outsetthat the book is a good one: dividedinto two sections, it not only offers atimely survey of the state of Canadianliterary studies in about twenty Europeancountries, but also presents evidenceof the scope and maturity of scholarlyinterest in the form of seventeencritical essays.In "New Horizons: Canadian Literaturein Europe," Dr. Nischik explains thegenesis and development of Canadianliterary studies in the countries where itcommands the most attention: France,Italy, and West Germany. She points tothe success of individual scholars in thesecountries in initiating and developingcourses for high schools and universities,up to the graduate level, and in specialprojects, such as Walter Pache's developmentof an inter-library loan base forCanadian journals at Cologne University,and the marathon translation workdone by Amleto Lorenzini in Rome. Shealso notes the growth of Canadian StudiesCentres such as those at the Universitiesof Bordeaux, Dijon, and Rouen,the proliferation of Canadian StudiesAssociations, and the increasingly frequentconferences on both general andspecialized aspects of Canadian writing.There is also a useful survey of CanadianStudies in the United Kingdom;and we learn that, curiously, Britishscholars seem more interested in French-Canadian writing than in Anglo-Canadianliterature, a situation that is reversedin France. There are brieferdescriptions of the interest in Canadianliterature in Scandinavia, the Low Countries,Austria, Switzerland, and EasternEurope, with names and university affiliationsof prominent scholars. There isalso a 300-item bibliography, divided byscholars' nationalities and entitled "EuropeanPublications on Canadian Literature,"which gives an indication ofthe range and focus of European scholarshipin the last ten years or so.Early in her survey, Dr. Nischik offersperceptive observations on the nature of184