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Imagining Canadian Literature: The Selected Letters of Jack McClelland

by Sam Solecki, ed.

Jack McClelland’s legendary status among Canadian publishers is confirmed by this fine volume of letters, edited by University of Toronto English professor Sam Solecki. The collection includes letters written and received by McClelland over four decades, spanning the late 1940s to the 1980s. Together, the letters provide a compelling history of McClelland & Stewart and of book publishing in this country during the second half of this century, as well as vivid portraits of some of our most significant cultural figures.

For this volume, Solecki chose from among countless letters in almost 200 archival boxes, housed at McMaster University in Hamilton. Although he seeks to maintain an ongoing dialogue between the publisher and his various authors, it is fitting that McClelland’s quirky, idiosyncratic voice dominates the volume. In the preface, written by McClelland himself, the publisher admits to feeling humbled by his striking presence throughout the work.

McClelland’s list of correspondents reads like a Who’s Who of Canadian literature and includes such writers as Margaret Atwood, Pierre Berton, Earle Birney, Leonard Cohen, Margaret Laurence, Irving Layton, Norman Levine, Farley Mowat, Michael Ondaatje, Al Purdy, Mordecai Richler, and Phyllis Webb. Many of the letters – those that make especially good reading – record heated exchanges between publisher and author over some aspect of preparing a book for publication. McClelland’s uncanny ability to defuse such difficulties no doubt accounts for his many successes, both professional and personal.

In fact, what emerges most strongly from these letters is the admiration and affection so many authors have felt for McClelland. In his perspicacity and willingness to placate his writers, McClelland proves himself the consummate businessperson. Indeed, in letter after letter, his inimitable frankness – always the hallmark of his charismatic style – is never compromised and appeals to authors who obviously respect McClelland’s integrity.

Despite the financial difficulties that plagued his later years as publisher, the narrative that emerges from this selection of letters celebrates the achievement and vision of a remarkable man. Having edited this volume for the general reader, Solecki includes a minimum of scholarly apparatus. Introductions, endnotes, and footnotes include only essential information and the reader must look to the letters for substance. It is to Solecki’s credit as editor that he chose to let the letters speak for themselves; the result is an important and highly readable text.

 

Reviewer: Ruth Panofsky

Publisher: Key Porter

DETAILS

Price: $26.95

Page Count: 324 pp

Format: Paper

ISBN: 1-55013-953-3

Released: Mar.

Issue Date: 1998-3

Categories: Memoir & Biography