Celebrating 100 Great Canadian Novels–CBC’s Choices + Several of My Own, Including Antonine Maillet’s “Pelagie”

For CanLit fans, a very good books conversation was started over the weekend on CBC Radio’s Cross Country Checkup, which is continuing on the CBC Books website. With tomorrow’s Canada Day in mind, they were discussing a new selection CBC Books has done of 100 Novels that Make You Proud to Be Canadian. These are novels published in English, or translated into it. They’re welcoming new titles for the list, with the first 100 named via this link. I’ve submitted some faves of my own, including one by the amazing New Brunswick author Antonine Maillet, born in 1929. Her novel, Pélagie-la-Charrette (1980, roughly translated as Pelagie: Return to the Homeland), is an historical epic set in the mid-1700s, when the Acadian people, refusing fealty to the British Crown, were evicted from Nova Scotia, sent in to an exile that shunted them down the Atlantic seaboard, or all the way down to Louisiana, where they became known as ‘Cajuns.’ Her epic tells the story of their exile and eventual return to the Maritimes, but only for some. With the novel Maillet became the first woman, and first non-French person of either gender, to win France’s Prix Goncourt. From the flap copy on the current Goose Lane Press edition:

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“At thirty-five, Pélagie is a survivor of the Great Disruption of 1755, when British soldiers deported Acadians who had farmed along the Bay of Fundy for generations. Splitting up families, the soldiers tossed men, women, and children pell-mell into ships and dispatched them to ports all along the eastern seaboard of the US and to Louisiana. When it was heard years later that the British would tolerate their return to Acadie, thousands loaded possessions and children onto handcarts and set out on foot. After fifteen years of working as a slave in the cotton fields of Georgia, Pélagie, too, has had enough. Drawn home as if by a magnet, inspired by her love of her family and of Beausoleil, a heroic sea captain, and determined to outrace the “Wagon of Death,” Pélagie sets off to take her people on a 3,000-mile trek back to their homeland. Her single cart, pulled by six oxen, soon attracts scattered Cormiers and LeBlancs, Landrys and Poiriers, Maillets and Légers. Together, this caravan of colourful Acadians undertakes a ten-year journey up the Atlantic coast to their childhood homes.”

In 1987, I had the privilege of publishing the US edition of Maillet’s The Devil is Loose, a sea adventure about a female pirate–a kind of maritime Robin Hood; she plunders British merchant ships and gives the booty, especially wine and rum, to the islanders of St. Pierre and Miquelon, the isles (still French-speaking today) in the north Atlantic near Newfoundland. Under a grant from Canada’s Department of Cultural Affairs, Maillet traveled to New York and read from her work at the Americas Society on Park Avenue. I recall she was of quite small stature, and without any airs she stood on a box of printer paper to reach the mic on the lectern. She also created the indelible character of modern Acadian theater, a wise woman/elder figure, “La Saguoine.” Over the years, the CBC has run many pieces about Maillet and her work, including readings by her, that you’ll find here in the CBC Archive.

From CBC Books’ excellent list, I loved reading Marian Engel’s The Bear; Margaret Laurence’s Stone Angel; Robertson Davies’ Fifth Business (and his entire Deptford trilogy, of which this is Book I); Timothy Findley’s The Wars (I was also gripped by his novel Famous Last Words); George Elliott Clarke’s George & Rue, (the US edition of which I published in 2006) and many books by Margaret Atwood, Mordecai Richler, Emma Donoghue, Guy Vanderhaeghe, and Paul Quarrington, though not the particular titles by them that are on the list. As a bookstore owner in Cleveland, Ohio from 1978-85, when a new generation of Canadian writers was bursting in to print, I was very lucky to stock and sell early books by the Atwood/Richler/Findley generation. I sold a ton of copies in the ’80s of everything by Robertson Davies, and as a bookseller, was enlisted by his publisher to urge other booksellers to order and sell more of Davies’ titles. This led to a lengthy correspondence with him that I’ve published in a post on Honourary Canadian, “Why I Write this Blog.” In my publishing career, I’ve also brought out US editions of books by Paul Quarrington, George Elliott Clarke, Steven Galloway, Atwood, and Richler, all of whom have books on the new CBC list.

I’ve suggested a few more novels for CBC’s extended list: The Abramsky Variations by Morley Torgov; all the Benny Cooperman detective novels by Howard Engel, whose superb Memory Book I published in the US in the 2006; Kathryn Kuitenbrouwer’s engrossing circus novel All the Broken Things, in part perhaps an homage to Marian Engel’s The Bear; and the great suspense novel Alter Ego, by the now-retired CBC broadcaster and exec Patrick Watson, who did a signing for it in my bookstore in 1979. Here are covers from many of the books:

NXNE Day I: Marc Maron’s Rousing and Funny Keynote

Great kickoff for NXNE on Day 1, with such highlights as a keynote by comedian and podcaster extraordinare Marc Maron, and a party for musicians and press last night at the Edward Day Gallery.

At Maron’s talk I unexpectedly found myself seated on a couch between Christopher Roberts, director of NXNE, and Michael Hollett, who founded the festival twenty years ago. Maron, passing by the couch, jibed it must be the couch of royalty. I demurred, replying it was actually a sign of democracy, since I had just walked in and sat down at the spot. Maron, with a reputation aas an intense guy, paced the front of the low stage, waiting to get started.

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I first heard Maron’s voice when he was a radio host on Air America in the early 2000s, so even before his podcasting began, I knew him to be an edgy, self-deprecating commentator, which seemed to afford him the right to deprecate others. Stepping on to the stage yesterday, he began by sharing a video of what he called a really embarrassing moment, one he couldn’t watch again, though he asked everyone in the room to do so. In the early days of the Internet during in standup routine he unabashedly derided the new technology, comparing it to CB radios in profane and broad-brush words. Wincing as the video ended, he addressed the several hundred people in the hotel conference room: “I couldn’t have been more wrong about the future. . . .I know nothing, and had no fucking idea how to use my computer. But podcasting has changed my life. . . . I’ve been a comic 25 years. I was depressed. seeking the spiritual reprieve of the faithless. I didn’t really fit in anywhere.” Perching on the edge of his stool, he explained that when Air America collapsed in the mid-2000s, he caught on with another lefty media start-up, but they ran low on funds and let him go pretty quickly. His personal difficulties only grew when he and his wife split up. Though fired from the job, he was told he could continue using his office and the studio for a while. It was during this period that he created the first 12 podcasts of what has since become known as WTF. They were so under the radar in his former employer’s building they had to ask guests to take the freight elevator, lest his former bosses discover what they were doing. “We had no idea what we were doing, and had no expectations,” Maron admitted. He said they’ve now done more than 500 podcasts of WTF.

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After the inevitable exit from the more professional studio, they moved the operation to the cluttered gararage of his two-bedroom house in Los Angeles. He said, after working several years in political commentary, he no longer wanted to work in punditry, as he’d realized his interests and priorities were more existenital. There was pick-up on the early podcasts, with 1200-1500 downloads of each epsiode. He offered simple technical advice for anyone taking up podcasting: “Get good mics.” He said the first 100 interviews were mostly him asking famous people to help him out. They had no business model in place, and no way to monetize what they were doing. But he took refuge in consistency—they put out two episodes per week, releasing them each Monday and Thursday. Robin Williams came on for a very candid conversation, in what became one of their first big deal episodes, producing a breakthrough for WTF.

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He later did a two-part interview with Louis C.K. Then, the manager of the comedian known as Gallagher called and said the comic wanted to come on the show. Maron pressed Gallagher about racist and homophobic bits in his comedy. Gallagher, who’s been known to smash a watermelon with a hammer while on stage, walked out with the mics still on, shouting “That’s not a hammer, that’s a cross.” Maron confessed, “I did sandbag him a bit. He’s an asshole.” In an interview with Carlos Mencia, the guest, often known as a pathological joke thief, saw a chance to reinvent himself. At first, Maron let him get away with it, but then thought better of it, and called him on his prolific thievery. Fireworks ensued.

Maron said, The medium grew with me. I hope I’m giving you the details you want. . . . The podcast saved my life. . . . My partner keeps the numbers: 120 million downloads overall, 3.4 million per month, 20 episodes have more than 300,000 downloads. . . . I lucked out w/this medium, I Just wanted to keep busy. It’s not an empire, it’s a garage. Keep it as intimate as the medium allows, no cameras, no video. Most people listen with headphones, gives me a direct line to their brains. You want to be relevant, not just get a laugh. On making money, he said, I don’t want to gamble, just hold on to what I’ve got.

They now use an app and iTunes to monetize the podcast. The most recent 50 episodes are always free, then the 51st and so on are available via a fee for one-time purchases or via a full subscription. About making money, he said, I don’t want to gamble, I just want to hold on to what I’ve got. He didn’t give any figures, but by his own measure, he seems to be succeeding. They also have ads in the podcast, through an ad network called MidRoll.

During the Q&A I asked Maron about one of my favorites among his podcasts, his conversation with John Fogerty. He said it was challenging because of a bad contract the musician signed when Creedence Clearwater Revival was just starting out back in the ’60s, leaving him without copyright him unable of his own songs for decades. Knowing it could cast a shadow on the conversation if he asked about it, Maron declined to bring it up directly. Finally, Fogerty brought it up near the end, creating a memorably poignant moment in the podcast.

Maron’s closing line was among his very best expressions: “I don’t have a demographic, I have a disposition.” After robust applause, Maron stuck around and shook hands with everyone who wanted to say hello. The fellow ahead of me in line, a comedy booker from a club in London, Ontario asked me to take a picture of him with Maron, which I did, and then the booker did the same for me with my digital camera, which I’ll download and share later.

 

 

 

Brain Cloud, On the Bill at Ottawa Jazz Festival, June 28th & 29th

On June 4th Kyle and I went to hear one of my favorite NY bands, Brain Cloud, a six-piece outfit that plays Western swing and '40s standards, and some originals, making it all sound new and fresh. I wrote about the show at The Great Gray Bridge, and then heard this today from frontman Dennis Lichtman:

“We're playing Ottawa Jazz Festival on Saturday, 6/28 and Sunday, 6/29 on the Laurier Ave. stage, 4:00pm each day. Thanks for letting folks know!”

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Three Great Books Chronicling Canadian Rock n’ Roll

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The late Scott Young, Neil’s dad, was a distinguished Canadian journalist and prolific author, a member of the Hockey Hall of Fame, for his years of columns on the sport. He died in 2005 at age 87, having published more than 35 books—novels and nonfiction, some for young readers. His NEIL AND ME (1984) is illuminating on the family’s break-up, when he left his wife Rassy, and Neil, and brother Bob. The chapters about Neil’s music and performing are very enlightening. The elder Young was a very good writer, no less writing about his famous son. An essential book for understanding Neil, it bespeaks all that is heartfelt and sincere about Neil’s songs and career. Especially valuable when read alongside Jimmy McDonough’s Shaky (2002). For other coverage of mine about Neil Young, you may read a post I wrote when Patti Smith interviewed Neil at BEA in 2012.

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Like a big pot of soup you can feed on for days and days, HAVE NOT BEEN THE SAME: The CanRock Renaissance, 1985-1995 (2001) is a rich broth of a book, with great stories and characters spanning four decades of Canadian rock n’ roll. The 10th Anniversary Edition, published in 2011, was released simultaneously with a CD release that had younger artists covering songs by their musical forbears, bands that had been in the first edition of the book, it was a cool project that I bought and enjoy from the Canadian indie music seller zunior.com. So good you can open it at the start of any new chapter, and just begin reading and enjoying. Kudos to Michael Barclay and his co-authors Ian A.D. Jack and Jason Schneider.

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Like the memorable book about the 1960s art scene that swirled around Andy Warhol, EDIE: American Girl by Jean Stein, with a Foreword by George Plimpton, Dave Bidini’s ON A COLD ROAD: Tales of Adventure in Canadian Rock n’ Roll (1998), is a multi-voiced oral history of verbatim recollections by dozens of Canadian musicians, shaped by Bidini who toured for years as part of the Rheostatics. There are many colons (e.g., : ) in this book followed by paragraphs of rich memories. Bidini’s arranged it kinetically, so you feel like you’re bouncing around on the bus, too, as you read funny, outrageous evocations of epic touring traversing the continent-wide country. Full of humor and pathos, it made me laugh, and nearly cry, for the sincere efforts of so many hard-working, hard-partying, hard-striving artists. Bidini is also prodigiously prolific, with twelve books published, including 2011’s WRITING GORDON LIGHTFOOT: The Man, the Music, the World, in 1972. And then there’s his musical career, which now has him fronting Bidiniband. I also enjoy reading him on Twitter @hockeyesque.