The Curriculum of Desire: Four Poems

2016

Časopis za književnost i kulturu "People Say/ Ljudi govore" (39/40), Toronto, Canada, 2022

The paper presents an analysis of the first two volumes in The Collected Essex County, Jeff Lemire's trilogy of graphic novels that was published in 2009, in terms of the role hockey has in Canada, both on a local and on the national level. It presents an inquiry into the Canadian mindset regarding the way in which the game that is deemed to be one of its most iconic national symbols helps build a sense of togetherness and shared affiliation between individuals, as well as between communities and the nation, as a whole. Volumes I and II present an arena of exploration appropriate for analyzing how individuals equate athletes with superheroes, how and why they assume the roles of national heroes, and it lends itself to exploration of the discord and rift that exist between anglophone and francophone sides of Canada. The paper also shows that hockey is seen as a uniting force between the graphic novel's two sets of family members, whose bond is strengthened precisely by their immense love for the game.

The Dalhousie Review, 2010

American Journalism, 2023

Pat LaFontaine is a former National Hockey League all-star who suffered a series of concussions that cut short his dazzling career in the 1980s and 1990s and positioned him as a leading advocate in the press for player safety. Born in St. Louis, LaFontaine holds the record among US-born players with 1.17 points per game across fifteen seasons with the New York Islanders, Buffalo Sabres, and New York Rangers. Hockey writers recognized LaFontaine in 1995 with the Bill Masterton Memorial Trophy, awarded annually to the NHL player who best exemplifies perseverance, sportsmanship, and dedication, and in 2003 he became the first player to be inducted in the same year into both the Hockey Hall of Fame in Toronto and the US Hockey Hall of Fame in Minnesota. Upon the NHL’s centennial in 2017, a blue-ribbon panel ranked LaFontaine among the one hundred greatest players in league history. LaFontaine leveraged his celebrity on the ice into launching the Companions in Courage Foundation, which outfits children’s hospitals with game rooms, and Valor Hockey, which develops safer helmets. In this interview with American Journalism associate editor Nicholas Hirshon, LaFontaine contends that journalists “play one of the most important historical roles in our society.” He conveys respect for the sportswriters who covered his NHL career and expresses interest in documenting his role in hockey history by donating memorabilia and writing his first book in a quarter century.

The Poetic Front, 2009

Perhaps the agenda of "our literature" is best explained by the above quote if we substitute the phrase "a neo-liberalism of appeal", or "an appeal within a globalized, neo liberal market, because it does not contradict the program of neo-liberalism". It should be stated that Bruce is relaying "a message she has received from dozens of foreign publishers". Of course a closer examination of the context of Bruce"s comment is necessary. She was speaking at Simon Fraser University"s annual Symposium on the Novel, this year titled: "Elsewhere Literature: Canadian Fiction Goes International." Katherine Hamer, the author of the newspaper article entitled "Canadian Writing is blissfully Agenda-Free," describes Bruce as the "legendary Canadian publisher". Although it is not mentioned anywhere in the article, Bruce is publisher of Phyllis Bruce Books, an imprint of Harper Collins Canada where "Her authors have been published around the world in many languages." The "foreign publisher" comment is all the more interesting considering the position of Harper Collins Canada as a so-called "branch plant publisher". In summarizing the discussion about "what makes a novel Canadian" at the symposium Hamer states: "they covered themes of rootlessness, otherness and even whether we have a collective national identity. Some wondered whether we have arrived at a ""post-national"" literature, one made up more of our multi-ethnic backgrounds than the Canadian fiction of old, which spoke of hardship, extreme weather and shaggy wildlife." Apparently several authors mentioned Pico Ayer"s description of Canadians, represented in the article as, "a shape-shifter country, lacking the usual borders, at least on a mental level". In summary various others characterized their views ranging from Anar Ali"s excitement, "there"s room for all of the different stories", to Eden Robinson"s wish not "to be seen as an ambassador for a whole country"s worth of native peoples", but rather "first and foremost as a writer," Lewis DeSoto"s plea that "We should be careful about pushing novels forward as a nationalist enterprise or a community enterprise,." and J.B. McKinnon"s claim "that his identity as a Canadian writer falls far behind his self-image as a British Columbian". DeSoto is also quoted as saying "we"re interested in each other because we"re not quite sure who we are. So we read about each other in novels." In the article the last word is left to Bruce quoting the unnamed foreign publishers: "That, her colleagues agreed, is a truly Canadian characteristic". I have used a lot of space to summarize a recent article about what I would call the "New Canadian Novel" in order to make a simple point. That article could as easily have been written about something called "New Canadian Poetry,"; only the names would have to be changed to protect the innocent. Given that the goings-on at the symposium could easily have been misreported, I have followed the letters to the editor section since the article first appeared and have seen no demands for retraction, so I am going to assume that the reportage is at least accurate within the scruples of The Vancouver Sun (owned by CanWest Global Communications Corporation of Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada). What initially caught my eye and makes the above move from novel to poetry more plausible is the name Phyllis Bruce, who also happened to co-edit with poet Garry Geddes a formative anthology of "Canadian Poetry". (I am using quotation marks in this context to emphasize the contested nature of the construction). A survey of Canadian poetry anthologies, which I will undertake here, will demonstrate the complexities-and complicities-involved in proposing the problematic category "New Canadian Poetry." 15 Canadian Poets was published by Oxford University Press (Canadian Branch), their characterization, not mine, in 1970. The anthology has been expanded many times since then, Geddes and Bruce"s 15 Canadian Poets Plus Five (a 1978 revision of their 1970 collection) 15 Canadian Poets x 2 (the 1988 update), and finally minus Bruce, 15 Canadian Poets x 3 in 2001. With a very brief preface-1 full page-that begs off an introduction, ostensibly because the individual notes on the poets covers the same ground, Bruce and Geddes lay out the enduring tropes of many Canadian poetry anthologies, particularly those aimed at an academic audience: "Ultimately there are no prescriptive criteria to offer for choices that are highly subjective; it can only be hoped that the book reflects what is happening in the art itself". Elsewhere in the preface we are told that the editors hope to "suggest the unusual scope and variety of poetry written in English Canada since the Second World War. At the same time we wanted to provide a selection in depth from the work of each poet." They go on to explain that they have chosen 6 new writers, 5 mid career and 4 established writers. A quick review of the notes on the poets makes it clear from their mix of biographical and impressionistic critiques, that the anthology is aimed at an academic market, although this is not stated. Of course publication by a University Press such as Oxford is an inescapable identifier of both the market and potential readership. Oxford takes a somewhat proprietary interest in things Canadian with their publication of The Oxford Book of Canadian Verse edited by poet A.J. M. Smith in 1960, Margaret Atwood"s The New Oxford Book of Canadian Verse in English in 1982. It should also be noted that in 1973 Oxford also published Garry Geddes" 20th Century Poetry and Poetics. Smith identifies two strains in both French and English Canadian poetry: "One group has made an effort to express whatever is unique or local in Canadian life while the other has concentrated on what it has in common with life everywhere". Either way, in both official languages, what makes Canadian poetry distinct according to Smith is "its eclectic detachment". Perhaps, in Bruce"s terms, its being "agenda free". Atwood drops the French in her later edition because of the "yeast like growth of poetry in French as well as in English" since 1960, she recognizes "regionalism", does not represent "the cutting edge", eschews feminism ("no poet is excluded because he is male"), suggests that something happened in the sixties (which of course in Canada lasted until 1975), that something was that poetry became the predominate literary form in Canada, "then there was "cultural nationalism"" and finally, Canadian poetry survives all this and "Finally, it is its own", neither French, English nor American. Perhaps it has taken on in Bruce"s terms "an internationalism of appeal." Of course these are not the only Canadian poetry anthologies attempting to represent something of "Canada" and "Poetry". It is interesting to note that with the exception of Bruce all of the editors so far are poets. In the early fifties both Bliss Carman and Earle Birney turned their hands to anthologizing: Carman with Lorne Pierce, and V.B. Rhodenizer, edited Canadian Poetry in English in 1954, published by The Ryerson Press. Curiously Ryerson had published Birney"s Twentieth Century Canadian Poetry only one year earlier. This collection is aimed at both "the general reader and the teacher and student of Canadian Literature, particularly at the matriculation and university level." Birney is careful to call attention to his avoidance of what he calls "faded "Victorian" versifying that historical collections feel bound to include." This early anthology makes a distinction between "poetry" and "verse" while neither Atwood nor Smith even comment on the distinction, if they make one. Must be Birney"s Trotskyite background. (See Louis Cabris on Birney"s Trotskyite Poetics). He also neglects "the fashionably obscure or highly experimental work," as if the two are one in the same. Personally I"d like to see some highly experimental Canadian poetry from between 1900 and 1950, but Birney sees it being only of interest to the "very sophisticated palate." He does however make a very tentative step toward a kind of postmodern statement when he proposes, "No book, however carefully made, can succeed without the cooperation of its readers." He goes on to undercut this statement by asserting that poetry is "created to be enjoyed," as if this is the only reason to write poetry. Strangely Atwood also includes a long panegyric to her own reading habits: she reads for entertainment. Of course neither tells us what they mean by enjoyment or entertainment. But Birney does say that authentic poetry is: "the communication of the imaginations of Canadians to their fellowmen in this twentieth century". While Birney"s general reader/canonical text is an historical survey, it is also restricted to a certain limited time period. There are temporal as well as spatial restrictions that are both stated and implied, as there are in the other anthologies above.

Journal of American Folklore, 2002

Sport in Canada during the late 19th century was intended to promote physical excellence, emotional restraint, fair play, and discipline; yet these ideological principles were consistently undermined by the manner in which Canadians played the game of hockey. This article explores the genesis of violence in hockey by focusing on its vernacular origins and discusses the relevance of violence as an expression of Canadian national identity in terms of First Nations and French Canadian expressions of sport.

International Review for the Sociology of Sport, 2010

In this article, I will explore how Canadian national identity is constructed with regard to ice hockey. National Hockey League (NHL) star, Sidney Crosby has been positioned as an important symbol of Canadian national identity. Given Crosby’s perceived importance, particularly within the Canadian media, I will examine how he is constructed as an appropriate model of Canadian masculinity and Canadian national identity. Crosby’s expressions of masculinity are not to be left to chance and for that reason there has been constant surveillance and critique of his expressions of masculinity. Interestingly, although the media tends to construct Crosby as a model of Canadian masculine identity, fans of the game (as well as some players and others in the media) frequently challenge this construction.

Canadian Historical Review, 2016

Studia Anglica Posnaniensia, 2020

In the twenty-first century, Canadian writers have been doing something they did infrequently in the past: acknowledging and referencing the work of past Canadian writers. Although declining pedagogical and academic interest in Canadian literature has made this development hard to see, writers themselves have been quietly building upon and contributing to something that looks very much like a literary tradition. Canadian writers of course continue to read and be influenced by writers outside Canada, just as they always have: but in their own words, they are now telling us that they are reading, learning from, and responding to other Canadian writers – that there is a Canadian literary tradition that crosses generational and regional borders, and that Canadian writers (and publishers, and readers) are aware of parts of that tradition, the parts that matter to them.