Beyond Tish

R.G. Moyles is a professor of English at the University of Alberta.

Tish, the West Coast poetry/critical newsletter magazine, had a good run
as far as such ventures go. From 1961 to 1969 its members, some good
poets and critics among them, boozed and bombasted their way to a kind
of Canadian literary fame. The magazine, many issues full of
“llub-tish,” made some of the literary community sit up and think;
others simply laughed. But that is not untypical of the reception of
most such ventures. What is significant in this case is that nearly all
its founders/contributors—among them Lionel Kearns, Warren Tallman,
George Bowering, Daphne Marlatt, Gladys Hindmarch, Fred Wah, Frank
Davey—have established themselves as respected (if not respectable)
members of Canada’s literary community.

It can, of course, be argued that most of these poets and critics (for
the magazine was a kind of avant-garde critical journal as well) would
have broken the bonds of mediocrity even without their Tish experience.
Barbour’s view, however, is that it was essential to those writers’
later careers. Thus, the poems, reflections, and essays gathered here
are meant to show just how large and influential the Tish family has
become. That intention is supported in some of the critical essays—Ken
Norris’s “How the Tish Poets Came to Influence the Montreal Scene”
and Jeff Derksen’s “Torquing Time [on Fred Wah].” And, all in all,
though some of the writing is still unreadable, Barbour’s view is
vindicated by the wealth of material here. All the book lacks is a good,
critical (unbiased) introduction that would objectively assess the Tish
contribution to Canadian literature.