Literary Celebrity in Canada.

Joseph Jones is a reference librarian in the Koerner Library at the
University of British Columbia.

McMaster University English professor Lorraine York bases this academic study on “writers whose media coverage” manifests “the discourse of stardom.” An opening chapter takes two dozen pages to review the work of about two dozen critics judged relevant to a treatment of celebrity. Of these critics, three stand out in subsequent reference: Pierre Bourdieu, Richard Dyer, and P. David Marshall. The closing chapter concludes “There is no distinctive mode of Canadian literary celebrity.” An extended discussion then centres on Canada’s Walk of Fame in Toronto, even though it features only three writers.

The intermediate four chapters divide between past writers (one chapter each for Pauline Johnson, Stephen Leacock, Mazo de la Roche, and Lucy Maud Montgomery) and present writers (one chapter each for Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje, and Carol Shields). These seven studies of individuals make up the core of the book.

Two paragraphs declare the choice of these seven “not as difficult as it might seem,” although “other choices would have been equally possible.” Such a brief consideration of issues and possibilities does not get far beyond an impressionism indebted to geographic landmarks, prizes, and film adaptations. Writers not even suggested as contenders include Frederick Philip Grove, Malcolm Lowry, Mordecai Richler, Robertson Davies, William Gibson, and Douglas Coupland.

The ambiguous first word of the book’s title leads into a question of cultural value. “Literary” can mean being written; it can also contrast with popular. Since York directs attention toward the distinction between high and popular culture, it seems all the more curious that she takes no account of the gulf separating her two groups of writers. The four serving as “historical backdrop” represent the popular forms of stage recitation, humour, romantic saga, and juvenile fiction; the contemporaries all stand much taller in academic literary-critical esteem. Perhaps at least one of the contemporaries should have been a writer like Arthur Hailey, Pauline Gedge, or Spider Robinson.

The study’s approach makes it difficult to conclude anything about literary celebrity in Canada. It is striking that the selected figures all happened to make quite a splash outside of Canada as well.