Volleys: Critical Directions

Bruce Whiteman is Head of Rare Books at the McGill University Libraries
and author of The Invisible World Is in Decline, Books II to IV.

This slim book comprises three essays: Sam Solecki’s “Some Kicks
Against the Prick,” John Metcalf’s “Dear Sam,” and W.J.
Keith’s “A Dream of Laцcoon.” Solecki’s piece is essentially a
response to Metcalf’s book Kicking Against the Pricks and an essay by
the same author entitled “The Curate’s Egg.” Solecki attempts to
read behind Metcalf’s contentious polite essays (well, impolite
actually); there he claims to find a rather self-serving interpretation
of Canadian literary history and an apparently puzzling emphasis on the
short story. Metcalf in turn looks with more gravity than usual at some
of Solecki’s arguments—primarily his remarks on the short story and
on form in general (with particular attention to D.H. Lawrence and Rudy
Wiebe, on the value of whose work Metcalf and Solecki hold widely
divergent views). Keith enters the fray with some remarks of his own on
the short story, and with a rousing defence of Wiebe, about whom he once
wrote a book. Laцcoon, of course, represents the three writers locked
in mortal combat with the “two extremities of art,” as Keith puts
it.

None of the three writers wins the serve hands down, perhaps, but all
three have interesting things to say, and all say them (mirabile dictu)
in charming, nonacademic prose. Volleys deserves the attention of anyone
interested in the short story in Canada.