A Celebration of Canada's Arts, 1930-1970

David Kimmel teaches history and Canadian studies at Brock University in
St. Catharines.

How literally should one take the title of this book? On the one hand,
the book is the result of a symposium, held nearly 10 years ago, to
honor musicians Murray and Frances James Adaskin. It samples many of the
different fields of cultural endeavor, from music to art, drama, film,
and broadcasting. Its contributors, including Louis Applebaum, Pierre
Juneau, Helmut Kallmann, Mavor Moore, and W.H. New, form a Who’s Who
of Canadian culturati. As well, the scope of the book is geographically
comprehensive; both national and regional issues are dealt with.

On the other hand, the book is spotty, and in places unoriginal and
unscholarly; none of these traits make for a very good celebration. Some
of the best sections deal with Quebec, but they too betray the various
shortcomings that blemish the whole collection. Fred Cogswell’s
consideration of Quebec poetry is provocative but reminds one of his
work of 25 years ago. In Montreal modernist architecture, Ricardo L.
Castro hits on a fascinating subject, but his chapter reads like an
elaborated list. Ann Saddlemyer’s essay on women in Canadian theatre
and Gordana Lazarevich’s study of the Canadian Pacific Railway’s
role in sponsoring music, drama, and art are similar in approach. Pierre
Véronneau’s glance back at the development of the National Film
Board’s French section is less a scholarly article and more the
opinionated reminiscences of one who took part in the making of culture.
While such an approach is not in itself a negative thing, one wonders
why essays like this one, along with Moore’s “position paper” on
policy and Juneau’s jeremiad on public broadcasting, have been
collected alongside academic studies.

In the book’s preface, editors Carruthers and Lazarevich accurately
identify the lack of published material on Canadian culture, despite
what they see as steadily growing interest in the subject. A Celebration
of Canada’s Arts, 1930–1970 is a step in the right direction, but
does little to close the gap. Clearly, not enough work was done to
transform this project from rough conference proceedings into a useful
collection of essays.