Scribes and Scoundrels

Ronald Charles Epstein is a Toronto-based freelance writer and published poet.

Toronto author George Galt’s latest book dissects the Canadian media
of the early 1990s, combining a Saturday Night ex-associate editor’s
insight with the bite of a Movieline gossip item. The novel humorously
recounts the efforts of Berger’s magazine editor Max Vellen to
preserve his job and ego. The former is threatened by Editor-in-Chief
Chaser Makepeace’s deviousness, while ex-lover Sarah McDermott’s
intimate revelations in Canadian Woman singe the latter. Max’s
problems are overshadowed by reactionary publisher Edward Clubb’s
efforts to kill maverick freelancer Leonard Freeman’s searing profile
of his personal friend, Prime Minister Barton McGarvie.

For Canadian readers of this novel, prurience may overshadow plot: some
of its characters and institutions have real-life counterparts. Any
sentient citizen who reads the description of Barton McGarvie’s
“mellifluous voice, ... [his] collection of expensive Italian
footwear, and his free trade/open for business policies” will be
reminded of Brian Mulroney. Some readers will figure out that Toronto
satirical magazine Poop is really Frank, even without such
characteristic phrases as “noted heterosexualist.” However, the
publisher still runs the standard “any resemblance to actual
persons” disclaimer.

Galt comments and observes perceptively. Max’s friend Nick Mannella,
a hip editor/House and Garden model, encourages him to track dirt into
Berger’s offices in order to provide “a shot of unsanitized
reality.” His Gen–X lover, Betsy Cerniak, responds to Boomer
Vellen’s old dreams of owning his own home by noting that “[n]o-one
my age dreams of buying a house anymore.”

The author’s choices are risky. His slow pacing is a sign of either
sluggish or leisurely writing. The use of different fonts and icons can
be viewed as technique or gimmick. It all depends—barbecued sacred
cow, anyone?