Ripostes: Reflections on Canadian Literature

Steve Pitt is a Toronto-based freelance writer and an award-winning journalist. He has written many young adult and children's books, including Day of the Flying Fox: The True Story of World War II Pilot Charley Fox.

Margaret Atwood and Robertson Davies relegated to literature’s minor
leagues? Michael Ondaatje’s acclaimed Booker Prize–winner The
English Patient an overwritten bore? Margaret Laurence doomed to certain
obscurity when Canadian readers finally realize how overrated her books
have been?

These are a few of the jarring pronouncements to be found in this
collection of essays by Philip Marchand, chief book columnist for The
Toronto Star. And they are jarring because, as Marchand points out,
“[Canadians] are still, as a rule, gentle with each other in
print—or at least gentle with authors who have high reputations and/or
lots of important friends.” Marchand has decided to stop being gentle.
In addition to debunking the consensus opinions regarding the talents of
most of Canada’s English-language literary giants, he laments the
hijacking of the Writers’ Union of Canada by vocal minorities, bemoans
the shaky state of Canadian poetry, and wonders why so many non-Native
Canadian authors want to write about Indians.

Marchand’s essays are eloquent, witty, and consistently
thought-provoking. His book would have been more interesting, however,
had it included some ripostes (by either the subject authors or their
supporters) to his carefully crafted arguments.