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

BOOKS IN REVIEWguage whose literature he had barely begunto discover. What the fiction showsmost clearly is Kreisel's early commitmentto the study of human character insituations of stress, where moral andspiritual challenges are encountered, andpowerful basic emotions are endured. Hisattraction to the simplicity and clarity offable is also evident, as is his reliance onsymbolism and symbolic action to manifestinner reality. Indeed, although thelater stories and novels demonstrate amuch greater control over the techniquesof realism, like their predecessors theycontinue to suggest to the reader thatverisimilitude, the carefully constructedpersuasiveness of observed details thatring true, is for Kreisel not a virtue torank with the kinds of moral truth thata shaped tale can communicate. Readingearly or late Kreisel we often find ourselveswanting to suspend our disbelieffor the sake of what we can learn aboutthe human condition.It is this sacrifice of superficial consistencyfor underlying power that temptsKreisel's critics, and even Kreisel himself,to be apologetic sometimes. Theyseem to believe that there are ways ofapproaching the novels and short storiesthat will remove a recurring sense of uneasinesswith the realistic texture. Butthe limitations even of mature works likeThe Rich Man and The Betrayal aresimpler to ignore than to argue away,just as those who find the Biblical parablesilluminating and moving are unlikelyto question whether dialogue orsettings are entirely convincing. It is notby accident that the two principal modelsKreisel found to help him enter thestream of English language writing andCanadian literary culture, Joseph Conradand A. M. Klein, also pay only lipservice to the conventions of realism.Understandably, Klein had more tooffer than Conrad, though Kreisel ponderswith insight the different motivesand methods that brought that greatPolish predecessor into the heart of Englishliterature. "Conrad's solution of howto deal with the raw materials of hisexperience could not be mine. It wasA. M. Klein who showed me how onecould use, without self-consciousness, thematerial that came from a specificallyEuropean and Jewish experience." Howquickly and fully Kreisel seems to haverecognized the necessity for him to becomeCanadian without ever abandoningthe "strength and vividness" of his deepestroots.It is Henry Kreisel's personal story,sketched in, supplemented, recapitulated,consolidated in section after section datingfrom the 1940's to the 1980's, thatAnother Country tells so eloquently. Theintense, idealistic Jewish refugee boyclings to his sense of the value of art andliterature as the expression of the greatnessof the human spirit, in the confinesof internment in England and Canada;freed, he plunges into the stream ofCanadian social and cultural life andagainst all odds swims strongly to the topof the educational system; he achievessuccess as a creative writer and as aprofessor and active citizen of the socialand academic community. All the whilehe never forgets the dark forces of evilwhich decimated Jewry and drove himand his family into exile, which nearlydestroyed civilization, which at times appearall too close to doing so still. Andall the while he studies, compassionatelybroods over, keeps flowing freely, thedeep stream of human passions, especiallythe need to give and receive love,which is the only real counterbalance tothat evil. It is a voice concentrated bythe painful experience of absolutes in thecrucible of modern times, but speaking apowerful affirmation, that reaches usclearly and simply from the life and workof Henry Kreisel.F. w. WATT203