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

BOOKS IN REVIEWmore elastic than his right. Not only that„but his tongue was so rough and his gulletso rasping that words lost a vowel or two, orgot their consonants jumbled as they camethrough. In passing it on to me, my fatherhad no choice but to plane the sentencesdown and scour the phrases clean of mossand verdigris. And now I in turn pass onthis true story to you, stripped of all verbalornament or twist of wit.Maillet's diction is not "stripped of allverbal ornament"; on the contrary, sheoften strains for literary effect: "the redball leaps to the eastern horizon andstrikes the sea like a gong." The bookseems overwritten. Repeated motifs, suchas the veering of the weathercock signallinga change of fortune, or the reiteratedphrase "The devil is loose!" after awhilebecome tiresome and heavy-handed. The"ballet" of the cows in the nuns' pasture,drunk on bootlegged wine and cognacfrom St. Pierre, should be funnier thanit is. Maillet falls between two stools —the straining after literary effect, cleverness,showing off as a writer; and thestraining after authentic folklore and oraltradition. The book is pulled between thetwo styles and becomes artificial andforced.Maillet is perhaps more effective atthe pathetic than the "rollicking." Twoimages stand out: the homeless wanderer,Ti-Louis the Whistler, seekingrefuge in a barn on Christmas Eve,being warmed and watched over by theanimals; and the pièta of Crache-à-Picprotectively cradling her epileptic brotherin her arms.ROBERTA BUCHANANCOMIC SOLUTIONSHOWARD ENGEL, A City Called July. Viking,$18.95.WITTY CONVERSATIONS, fast-paced action,and entertaining characters — theseare the elements of Howard Engel's mysterynovels. Add to that a sense of placeand an affection for Toronto's Jewishcommunity, and one has mystery fictionthat can interest the literary critic as wellas the general reader. Four previousBenny Cooperman novels — The SuicideMurders, The Ransom Game, MurderSees the Light, and Murder on Location— have made Engel's intuitive privateinvestigator a Canadian institution, asort of Canadian version of Columbo,the energetic, rather disorganized, andyet obviously good-hearted detective popularizedby the American actor PeterFalk.A City Called July deals with yet anothercrime solved by the bumblingCooperman, whose intelligence and goodhumour extricate him from some difficultand embarrassing situations. Refusing totake himself too seriously, Coopermanassures the reader that "I'm a professionalprivate investigator as well as amember of the Jewish community. It'slike talking to the doctor. Practically thesame thing." Nevertheless, his skills asan investigator leave much to be desired,though he is a master, when necessary, ofevasive action: "I splashed my way outof there fast, nearly skinning the Olds ona silver Audi driving through the gate."Cooperman's eye for detail and ability tosee the humorous side of situations keepus interested as the witty, accident-pronedetective lurches from one crisis to another.This investigator likes readingmysteries because of "the way things happenedbang-bang-bang one after theother. Nobody ever sits around listeningto the shadows growing longer." Andwhat Cooperman likes in his own readingis certainly found in Engel's imaginativerendering of the detective's latest mockheroicadventure.The story concerns the mysterious disappearanceof Larry Geller, a local lawyerwho has departed with several milliondollars in investments, savings, and214