Book Description
First time in the New Canadian Library

“Northwest of Montreal, through a valley always in sight of the low mountains of the Laurentian Shield, the Ottawa River flows out of Protestant Ontario into Catholic Quebec. It comes down broad and ale-coloured and joins the Saint Lawrence, the two streams embrace the pan of Montreal Island, the Ottawa merges and loses itself, and the main-stream moves northeastward a thousand miles to sea.”

With these words Hugh MacLennan begins his powerful saga of Athanase Tallard, the son of an aristo-cratic French-Canadian tradition, of Kathleen, his beautiful Irish wife, and of their son Paul, who struggles to establish a balance in himself and in the country he calls home.

First published in 1945, and set mostly in the time of the First World War, Two Solitudes is a classic novel of individuals working out the latest stage in their embroiled history. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (6)

The Great Quebecois Novel
I enjoyed this book mostly for its presentation of the recent history of Quebec.The novel presents a kind of snapshot of the English and French cultures at a turning point in their odd collective history.I found it helpful in understanding the roots of the ethnic and historical conflicts that remain largely unresolved in much of the province.

The writing is solid if unspectacular -- overall I found that the plot held my interest, although it moved a bit slowly.All in all it's a good read, and I recommend it to anyone who wants to understand the weird sociological experiment that is Quebec.

A great canadian novel
Two solitudes by Hugh MacLennan is a graet Canadian novel. it discusses all canadian themes, such as landscape, bilingulism, conflicts on identity etc.
I will ask every canadian to read this book. It's worth your time.

Stuck with each other, for better or worse
Although it has been several years since I have read "Two Solitudes," the book remains quite vivid for me -- perhaps, in no small part, because I live only a few miles from the Quebec border, andlisten quite attentively to Canadian news on the radio.Everything, andyet nothing has changed regarding Anglo-French relations over the sixtyyears that have passed since the conclusion of the action in the book.Ofcourse, English shop clerks in Montreal no longer tell Francophone patronsto "speak white;" the Roman Catholic Church has lost virtuallyall of its influence over French Canadians; the notion of the French being"maitres chez nous" -- masters in our own house -- has triumphedto such an extent that the province came within a hair's breadth of votingfor independence several years ago.Yet despite the all but de factopolitical autonomy of Quebec -- and in no small part because of it -- allof the old misunderstanding and mistrust so skillfully depicted inMacLennan's book persist.Two profoundly different cultures, heirs toprofoundly different colonial pasts, still vie for the soul of the secondlargest nation on earth.For this reason alone, Americans (famously andshamefully ignorant of Canadian history) ought to read "TwoSolitudes;" for Canadians, or course, it should be required reading. But "Two Solitudes" is not merely a sociopolitical tract.Ifound the love story quite engaging, with neither of the characterspresented as a mere representation of ethnicity and class, and theresolution ennobling in a way one doesn't expect from a novel any more. The term "old-fashioned" comes to mind, but I'm afraid that willbe terribly off-putting for many modern readers.Let's call the booksolid, sure, and rewarding, then -- and evocative and informative as well. That's a lot to put into a package this tidily crafted, but MacLennan hasdone it well.Exclusive of the work of Robertson Davies, in a class byitself, "Two Solitudes" bids fair to be called the Great CanadianNovel.

Too much history
Two Solitudes, written by Hugh MacLennan, is a historical tragedy remembering the differences between the French and English Canadians.Beginning in 1917, passing through World War II, and finishing in 1939, thestory is at the same time historical and sentimental.The reader can sensethe dark side of the Church nourishing the rancour of the French Canadiansagainst the English Canadians because of their importance.The book startsin the parish of Saint-Marc, with its priest, Father Beaubien, which almostrules the village except for a powerful man, Athanase Tallard that istrying to industrialise it for good.A failure in everything heenterprised, Athanase have even changed religion, almost a crime at thattime, to be able to get away from the priest and make his son Paul go to agood English school.Even if I found the story die with this character, Ifound it very realistic and historical and it helped me to understand somevery good facts about that time.

The first pages help the reader toknow the characters of the story but there is no conflict.Its likereading Peter Pan without Captain Hooks: "Athanase Tallard was the onlylimit, under God and the law, to the priest's authority in Saint-Marc. Since the days of the early French colonization, the Tallard had beenseigneurs."

When McQueen started to be present in the plot, themajor conflict was established.That was almost the story, after that,they were only small and they weren't permanent:-"The details make nodifference.Your trying to build a factory here." -"Is that against thelaw?" -Lawyer's arguments are useless with me.Are you, or are you not,planning to buy the Tremblay land for a factory?" -"And if I am?" -"I willtell Tremblay not to sell.I will tell every farmer you have alreadytalked not to sell." After Athanase's death, the story turned fromtragedical to romentical.It changed into roses when Heather and Paul metagain and that will probably make the reader lose attention in the book: -"Have you ever been in love?" -"I'm not sure.I've thought I was severaltimes."

The setting was very good.The places and the time werevery typical as the characters were to.The author was well informed aboutthe time and history, you could imagine it through his writing.

HughMacLennan talked a lot about French Canadians rancour against the EnglishCanadians.But he made the English neutral as if they had nothing againstthem.

In conclusion, with a lack of conflict, too much romantism and anda very good setting, this book, may be a very good one for readers whominterests are in history, but I wouldn't read it for the fun of it.Willyou?

Fight On Two Races
Two Solitudes by Hugh MacLennan, is a novel whose title has become significant of Canada's most troubling legacy: the relations between English and French Canadians. Using historical settings within amythological framework, MacLennan explores the tensions in these relationsfrom World War One to 1939. The French Canadian realities are set in theparish of Saint-Marc, which is dominated by its priest, Father Beaubien,and by Athanase Tallard, a powerful but tragic figure blamed by his churchfor trying to industrialize the village. Even if I didn't like the book, itdoes in fact describe how the French and English continued to dislike eachother, and how the church was involved in the past.

Two Solitudes,in my opinion is a factual descriptive book, which holds a subject, whichis very interesting. But, I find that the author, Hugh MacLennan doesn'tmake a very good job in setting a climax in the story. It takes a very longtime to get some conflict and have some affection towards the characters.

The book started very slowly since there was nothing going on. Noactions were taking place. It was only description was being said in thefirst few chapters so I lost interest in the story very quickly.Description remained constant throughout the entire book, which was a majorreason why I got bored and didn't like this book.

I showed someinterest in the book, about a quarter way down. At last, I saw some actionsand a bit of conflict arising, which held my attention for a little while.But unfortunately, it didn't last for a very long time. Description tookover the action and I got lost and bored. This, I found, was a major flawof the book- not enough action and too much description.

A readerfrom Ontario Canada wrote a review on this book, and he says the exact samething as I said. This is a quote from his review:"Slow at first, andnot a lot of action, but the powerful descriptions of the land and thein-depth characters make up for it in a way. This book spans a time periodof 1917 to 1939 and takes place primarily in Quebec, Canada. It tells thestory of several French-Canadians and English-Canadians, and their struggleto get by and to find themselves amidst the bitterness between the Frenchand the English in war time Canada. It's not the most enlightening bookI've read, but I gave the Canadian author credit- it wasn't a waste of timeto read."

I also had a great difficulty of understanding the bookfor many reasons. The main reason is because at certain points, the authorsuddenly switched scenes without telling us. For example: once the priestand Mr. Tallard were talking about Paul going to an English school, and injust a couple of seconds, two different people were talking about somethingwhich didn't even relate to Paul going to an English school. It got veryconfusing.

Another reason of confusion is inadequate informationabout the characters. Since there is a whole lot of people in the book, itis necessary to identify who each of them is related to. But the authordidn't do this in the book. I didn't know which person was married to whomin the story, and which person was related to whom. Only till the end ofthe book that I was able to establish all of the characters and who theyrelated to.

Though tough to understand, it shows that the authorhad very appropriate knowledge on how the people lived back in the earlytwentieth century. He appropriately covered all aspects on how peopleacted, lived and behaved during this period of time.

Hugh MacLennanknew exactly how and why the church was involved in everyone's daily life.He uses the church as a major conflict in Two Solitudes. For example: Mr.Tallard and the priest were arguing about Paul, Tallard's son, going to anEnglish school. The priest insisted that he didn't because he thought thatby going to an English school, it would ruin his religion since the Englishwere Protestant and the French, including Paul, were Catholic. MacLennanknew how the church was involved in their lives, and he makes it a majorconflict and a deal of discussion in Two Solitudes.

The main topicof the story is the conflict between the English and the French. I findthat MacLennan does a great job of identifying their action towards eachother. He describes a great deal of hate between them. He identifies thisby name calling and making the characters feel hatred if someone practicesa different religion from them or speaks a different language than them. AsI did some research of how people acted in this period of time, I learnedthat there was a lot of disgrace between these two people.

The mainconflict in the first part is the French rebelling against officers becausethey didn't want to go to war. MacLennan perfectly described how peoplereacted when they were forced to go to war. This was a big part of therebellions, which happened, in the early twentieth century. I found thispart, basically the most interesting since MacLennan describes the Frenchattacking officers, and how the French felt to be forced to go to war.

Even if I got lost during reading the book, I still learned a lot about howthe people felt and reacted during this period of time. If you like books,which happen during this period of this time, than this is probably yourbook. The only thing is that you must have patience, because the conflictdoesn't happen right away. But if you need some conflict and some action, Idon't suggest this book to you. ... Read more

Book Description
Galactopoesis is the medical term for the continued secretion and production of milk. It derives from the Greek radicals for 'milk' (galacto) and 'making' (poesis), which is also 'poetry.' In Wet Apples, White Blood, nursing, as a constant creative act dependent on the babys demand, is a trope for the creative process and for questions of biology, psychology, and spirituality. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

A Fine First Book of Poetry
Thomas O'Grady's first collection of poems will not disappoint those whohave followed his appearances in periodicals.The poems deal in a profoundway with real questions, of which the most dominant is the theme of exilefrom the poet's native Prince Edward Island.There will no doubt beconsiderable resentment on the part of programmatic readers who hate eitherthe subject matter of family life or the skilled use of fixed forms. Others will find little to object to.The workmanship is fine and thelearning vast.O'Grady captures the speech patterns of the Irish diasporafar more accurately and artfully than the bogus and infinitely popularFrank McCourt.The book satisfies the reader in itself and promises otherwonderful collections in the future. ... Read more

Book Description
Hugh MacLennan is one of Canada's great writers. Five-time winner of the Governor General's Award, his work includes some of the best loved and most read Canadian novels of all time: Two Solitudes, The Watch That Ends the Night, Barometer Rising.

In this widely praised biography, written with the full cooperation of MacLennan, Elspeth Cameron describes his early life in Nova Scotia, his complex relationships with his father and mother, and the many reverses until his first great success in 1941 with Barometer Rising. Cameron's critical assessment of his work, up to and including the dense, experimental Voices in Time, places MacLennan firmly among the first rank of 20th century Canadian nationalist intellectuals, along with Harold Innes, Donald Creighton and George Grant.

Hugh MacLennan: A Writer's Life is a sympathetic and perceptive account that explores the many fascinating links between MacLennan's life and his writings. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (1)

Solid, accessible, positional play
Chess and poetry have a long history together.A game based upon a battle metaphor and individual confrontation has a great deal of symbolic material and ideas as a source of poetry.Solway's poems, using the chess imagery as a springboard for a number of observations and images, work quite well.Nothing in this work is the daring gambit that a 19th Century poet might bring to the chess motif, but in poetry, as in chess, the thrill of the unrestrained tactician has largely given way to the quiet, restrained accumulation of minor advantages and arcane theoretical novelties.If Mr. Solway's poems strike one more as the work of a positional Petrosian than a madness-tinged Morphy, the reader does not suffer.The work does not make any bold sacrifices in search of a quick checkmate, but the use of the metaphor to describe family interactions is quietly winning, and ultimately succeeds.This is accessible material, capably written, and I recommend it. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (2)

the credo, great stuff
The credo, which was written by my cousin carmine is good stuff... if yur the kind of person who likes to read good stuff.

Have a good time,

Unimaginative Formalism
This second book by up-and-coming Canadian poet, Carmine Starnino suffers from terminal pretentiousness, limp conservatism and an unforgivable bout of bad ear. I saw Starnino read from his first book in Ottawa a few years ago, and was pleasantly struck by the sincerity and youthful energy in his albeit turgid poetry. At that point, I was hoping this young poet would be able to emerge from the overbearing weight of his obvious influences: David Solway and Eric Ormsby (two writers also based in Montreal), and find his own voice. Unfortunately, what we get here, is more simplistic, untruthful, poems about the writer's Italian origins, and heavy-handed formal poems that, while showing a keen interest in word-play, utimately come off as derivative, preachy, and well... boring. In "Credo" what we end up with is a young writer who is striving to write like a "master", sounding old and tired beyond his years. Let's hope that Starnino can rediscover some the vigour that I witnessed at his reading in Ottawa, and come up with something more imaginative and fresh than what is presented in this quite disposable collection. ... Read more