Preface to Writing in Canada
In the Introduction to this volume, Frank Scott – “the onlie begetter” – has given his own narrative and critical summary of the Canadian Writers’ Conference held in Queen’s University at Kingston in July 1955. The first tentative proposals for such a meeting, however, were first advanced some ten years ago when there seemed little likelihood of being able to mount anything on a significant scale. Mr Scott has refrained from mentioning this in his Introduction; but the history of the growth of the idea warrants record.
The idea of a literary conference at which Canadian writers would meet to examine the problems of Writing in Canada was first discussed by the editorial board of Northern Review in 1946. In 1941 an Artists’ Conference had been held at Queen’s University, with the help of the Carnegie Foundation; the outstanding success of that meeting suggested to Mr Scott that impressive benefits would probably accrue if a similar meeting could be held for Canadian writers. No definite plan emerged from the 1946 discussion, nor was any official encouragement forthcoming. But in 1950 Frank Scott, A. J. M. Smith, and A. M. Klein accepted an invitation to attend the Poetry Conference at Harvard, and were able to clarify their views about a Canadian counterpart. In the following year, 1951, a determined effort, led by Mr Scott, was made to arrange a literary conference at McGill. The scheme was enthusiastically received by the University authorities, but requests addressed to benevolent foundations failed to recruit the necessary financial support, and the proposal had to be dropped for the time being. But when the Rockefeller Foundation embarked in 1954 upon a new policy of encouraging the Arts, Frank Scott approached them with a tentative proposal for a Poetry Conference and found that such a scheme, presented in detail, would be sympathetically considered. He discussed the plan in general terms with a few interested people in Toronto; it was decided that for a summer conference Queen’s University would be a particularly desirable meeting-place; and an informal meeting of members of Queen’s University and other interested literary people was held in Kingston in January 1955.
The original proposal had been for a Poets’ Conference. But the meeting in Kingston, discussing at large the scope and composition of the conference, felt that it would be advisable to convene a more inclusive group than the title “Poets’ Conference” suggested, and that the central theme for discussion should be comprehensive enough to attract the critical attention of a wide variety of writers. Certainly any charges of preciosity or special pleading (whether or not justified) would in this way be automatically disarmed. Once the scheme had been enlarged to include all kinds of writers, the theme of the “literary assembly-line in Canada” suggested itself. And this in turn introduced the notion of inviting, not writers only, but publishers, editors, librarians, and booksellers. From the experience of the Poetry Conference at Harvard, it was decided that the conference should follow the general pattern established at Couchiching: formal papers would be read to the delegates and the public in the evenings to delineate areas for discussion; issues raised in the papers would be examined by small discussion groups in the mornings, the chairman of each group reporting to a plenary session of delegates; the afternoons would be left free for informal discussion and relaxation. As things turned out, this procedure worked admirably. And the unscheduled poetry readings arranged by Irving Layton in the afternoons not only preserved the germinal idea from which the Conference had grown, but also yielded results not less memorable and valuable than some of the formal meetings.
Early in February 1955 a second meeting was held in Kingston – a much smaller affair than in January, the group being almost identical with the small committee that was later appointed to organize and administer the Conference. The final wording of the theme – “The Writer, his Media, and the Public” – was decided upon; a list of speakers and a list of delegates (both for successive revision) were drawn up. On the basis of the invitation lists, a budget was estimated, and a detailed application drafted for the Principal of Queen’s University to present to the Rockefeller Foundation. And at the end of April word was received that the Foundation had granted the request for funds. The Conference Committee was then appointed, and detailed preparations immediately taken in hand; for, as embarrassed campaigners ever since Hannibal are prone to complain, the season was already far advanced.
When the delegates first arrived there was, of course, much “knitting of severed friendships up”. But when representatives of allied but conflicting fields of endeavour come together, not knowing each other or each other’s views, it was to be expected that a certain amount of suspicion, unease, and even animosity would arise. As the Conference advanced and people became better acquainted a wholesome degree of mutual respect established itself. Yet at no time was there any danger that some transfiguring flood of sweetness and light would undermine vigorous discussion or destroy those resources of prejudice and conviction which make for fruitful conflict. Nevertheless, the meetings drew to a close in an atmosphere of befuddled good will, with delegates unguardedly expressing the opinion that the Conference had been “a good thing”, and the hope that somehow, one day, a repeat performance would be offered. The Conference Committee therefore felt that to publish the proceedings in a book would help to consolidate whatever of positive value had arisen from the meetings. And the book would also serve as guide and warning for the organizers of any future Canadian Writers’ Conference.
With the generous help of Mrs H. A. Dyde of Edmonton, the Committee has been able to present the proceedings of the Conference in complete form.
All the formal papers read to the Conference in the evenings are here reprinted in full, only one having been reduced somewhat in length because of the specialized nature of the topic. The reports of group discussions, presented by the group chairmen to the plenary session each morning, were taken down in shorthand or recorded on tape; these have been transcribed and revised for inclusion in the volume. (Owing to the paralysing heat in Convocation Hall at the evening meetings there was no open discussion to record.) Unfortunately the ipsissima verba of the group discussions are beyond record – the conflicts of perfervid devotion and chilly good sense; the blunt assertiveness and allusive urbanity; the obtuse bulldozing attacks parried by the weapons of prim but inflexible good manners; the shameless misrepresentation of other people’s motives and the deft counter-attacks on behalf of cool reason and cold fact; the passages of swift verbal duelling and of blind pummelling; the lamentations over the decaying body of Western Civilization and the rallying cries that were meant to reconcile ineradicable differences; the explosive rage and muttering frustration of the defeated, the smug condescension of the victors; and over all this, the mercurial impassivity of the chairmen rendered intolerable by their disarming public confessions of savage partiality. All these delights have vanished on the air, leaving no more trace than “birds’ far navigation” – unless it be a few traumata nursed in secret, a few epigrams patiently polished in afterthought, some unacknowledged readjustments of position just within the capacious bosom of “integrity”. All these, unhappily, elude the editor’s winnowing grasp. Between the lines of what is printed here, the penetrating reader will find acerbity enough, good sense enough, not a little patience in adversity; for the rest, memory or imagination will serve.
In addition to the papers actually read at the Conference, two others have been specially written for this record. Miss Phyllis Webb had for some time been examining the conditions of publication for poetry in Canada. In the Queen’s Quarterly for Spring 1955 she had published a summary of her findings under the title “The Poet and the Publisher”. This paper was widely discussed at the Conference, providing a nucleus of factual evidence in an area where conjecture, partiality, and resentment are more usually encountered. To the plenary session on the second morning of the Conference, Miss Webb gave a brief account of a similar survey she had recently completed in England. So interesting and provocative were these two reports that the Committee invited Miss Webb to prepare a combined report on the publishing of poetry in Canada and England. This report is printed before the discussions of the second morning. Again, during the first and second afternoons of the Conference Irving Layton arranged informal meetings at which poets read some of their own poems, in many cases poems recently written and not yet published. These readings were so well attended and enthusiastically received that no record of the Conference would be complete without some account of them. Miss Jay Macpherson kindly agreed to write a report; and this is printed after the account of the third day’s proceedings.
One other item has been added – an account of the first offspring of the Canadian Writers’ Conference. Three delegates travelling home to Vancouver afterwards – Roy Daniells, Dorothy Livesay, and W. C. McConnell – impressed by the results of the meeting in Kingston, conceived the idea of convening a similar meeting for British Columbia writers as quickly as possible. A Committee was promptly formed, funds were secured, and the Conference on B.C. Writing was held at the University of British Columbia late in January 1956. The Secretary of that Conference, Mr Jan de Bruyn, kindly agreed to provide a brief account of their proceedings: this has been printed as an Appendix to the Proceedings. A second appendix contains a list of the delegates who attended the Conference, and a third, a list of those who were invited but were unable to attend.
On behalf of the Conference Committee and the delegates to the Canadian Writers’ Conference, the editor wishes to express appreciation and thanks to the Principal and Vice-Principal of Queen’s University for their willing and generous cooperation in placing at the disposal of the Conference the facilities of the University; to the Principal and Mrs W. A. Mackintosh who graciously entertained the delegates on the first afternoon of the Conference; to Mr Alex Edmison, Assistant to the Principal, and Mrs Edmison who were our hosts for a memorable evening of uninhibited cameraderie; to Dean Vibert Douglas for arranging accommodation in the residences under her authority and for providing meals in Ban Righ Hall; to Dr Curran and Miss Kathleen Healey of the Department of Extension, Queen’s University, for their meticulous and unruffled attention to secretarial and administrative detail.
For purposes of record the names of the Conference Committee are here set down: J. A. Corry, Henry Alexander, Frank Scott, Malcolm Ross, Miss Kathleen Healey, and George Whalley.