\s mYevtew KALEIDOSCOPE - University of British Columbia

OPINIONS & NOTESbubbles with a contemporary twist or context,so that the sundappled creek with whichRaven falls in love is "in this century. . .driven underground by the clear-cut loggingof her watershed." In such collisions, werecognize that "the purpose of myths... isnot merely to relate experiences, but to lead tosignificant changes in the structure of things."Bringhurst and Reid share this passion in atruly extraordinary, liberating collection ofentertainments.Enthusiasm for the short story in Canada hasresulted in a recent burgeoning of anthologiesand commentary. Among several collectionsare such regional and thematic enterprises asTales from the Canadian Rockies, ed. BrianPatton (Hurtig, $19.95) an d More SaskatchewanGold, ed. Geoffrey Ursell (Coteau,$4.95). What "Gold" indicates is the enormousvitality of short story writing in Saskatchewan— there seem more writers persquare mile, and more sheer enthusiasm forwriting than in any other place in the country.In the 31 stories collected here are mostly"realistic" works, but at the heart is the talltale-tellingimpulse that perhaps explainswhere the enthusiasm (the delight in story)comes from. There is Ken Mitchell's jauntyengagement with exaggeration; and there isAnne Szumigalski's "A Dog Experiences Difficultiesin his Search for Self-Knowledge," aproto-existentialist fable of devotion andunderstanding (with a hint of parody)."Rockies" is a different kind of book, one thatgathers snippets of fiction, poetry, and documentaryrecord, finding "story" in adventureand experience as well as in invention andplot: Birney's "David" is here, along withmemoirs of mountain guides, grizzlies, backpacks,and cold swims. It's a book for thosewho love the outdoors. Fred Cogswell's TheAtlantic Anthology (vol. 1, Prose; Ragweed,$12.95) i s an excellent classroom selection of27 writers from Haliburton and Basil Kingthrough MacPhail, McSween, MacLennan,and MacLeod to D. A. Richards and AnnCopeland. King's "The Ghost's Story" is afascinating rediscovery ; and amidst the moreconventional tales of initiation and loss are thewonderworks of Susan Kerslake and HelenPorter. They need to be known more, andAtlantic writing needs to be more widely recognizedacross the country for the quality andvariety it amply possesses.Less conventional is Shoes & Shit (Aya,$16.00), ed. Geoff Hancock and Rikki Ducornet,an international collection whichassembles stories and fragments all having todo with the two title motifs. "Processes," weare asked to imagine them. Also "symbiotic" :"footsie" and "poopsie" even. There is whimsyhere, some affection, some absurdity, andsome dross. Atwood's "Liking Men" perhapsepitomizes the quality of mind and kind oftension that has led the editors on theirmarch: a story about the desire to like men,it takes the narrator on an associational trekfrom innocent feet to threatening jackboots —it's the connection between love and fear thatAtwood repeatedly finds words for, the balancebetween the sexes so precariously perchedon a fulcrum of power. Atwood also appears(with "Polarities") in Rosemary Sullivan'sexcellent anthology Stories by Canadian Women(Oxford, $10.95), as do 28 other writersfrom Crawford, Wilson, Hebert, and Roy toGloria Sawai, Joy Kogawa, Louise Maheux-Forcier, and Dionne Brand. The anthology isat once a tribute to forms of ethnic impact onCanadian prose in English and French, anaffirmation of the continuous contribution ofwomen to Canadian literature (it usefullyreprints S. F. Harrison and S. J. Duncan),and a declaration of concerns female. It isabout life and words, action and thought,words in action and the mind alive. One mightquarrel with the choice here and there (theWilson is weak, for one) and one might wantother writers represented (Ann Copeland?Helen Porter? Susan Kerslake?). But this isgood value.Some of the finest of recent critical commentson English-Canadian short fiction areto be found in Ranam (no. 16, 1983), a reviewfrom Strasbourg. Papers from a symposiumlargely concerned with narrative strategy,the collection looks at Laurence,Hodgins, Munro, Gallant, W T icbe (Coral AnnHowells' article is of special interest), Lowry,Carr, and MacLeod. The primarily Frenchand German critics together discover a suretyof technique among Canadian writers: Canadiancritics might profitably learn from them.The appearance of this issue — like that ofthe Canadian poetry issue of Trends (5, no.10; Wilfion Books, 30 p.), the Paisley Collegeof Technology Literary Magazine — is furthertangible evidence of the new Canadian culturalpresence abroad.202