BOOKS

Carter’s novel woven around
struggles of Canadian people

E have been witnessing a rapid

development in many branches
of our country’s cultural life.
The forward march of Canadian
ballet, the development of sum-
mer theatres, the considerable
advance in film making and the
renowned Shakespearean Festival
at Stratford all demonstrate an
active determination to evolve
Gur own arts and to depend less
and less on cultural imports.

It is in the field of our litera-
ture that,development is slowest.
Today, most of the books sold
in Canada bear the imprint, pub-

_ lished in USA. We are inundat-
ed by a never-ending stream from
the book-mills of the U.S. which
grind out nostalgic ramblings of
‘the past or Hollywood-inspired
‘tales of “never-never land,” the

: erudest of sex-depravities, vio-
ience and murder. Indeed, rare
is the book imported from the

- U.S. which deserves serious at-

tention.

Canada needs a literature of its
own. We-need books written by
Canadians who love their coun-

‘try and respect its people. Only
such authors will succeed in im-
‘mortalizing *the great drama of

the transformation of the North

’ American wilderness into a bloom-
ing modern industrial and agra-

‘rian land. ;

ee Se
*" Dyson Carter has now set a

“new pace in this work. The ap-

“ péarance of his novel Fatherless
Sons is a major literary event
“and marks a pioneer achieve-
ment in the building of a new
kind ‘of ‘literature about Canada,
‘its men and women and their
Struggles for a better tomorrow.
_ Fatherless Sons (obtainable here
‘at the People’s Cooperative Book-

. store, 337 West Pender Street,
price $2.50) is the story of Dave
‘Nelson, a hard-rock miner ‘who

the war to his
Rock” (easily re-
the nickel centre

returns from
native “Deep
cognizable as
of Sudbury).

Like other war veterans he
‘seeks to pick up the threads of
his life, interrupted by the war.
The girl he loved and broke with
before going overseas is now the
mother of two children and a
war-widow. Irene, the prairie
girl who waited on tables in a
Deep Rock restaurant, had mar-
ried Dave’s brother George, later
killed in action.

Dave returns home a mature
young man instead of the head-
strong youth that he was. He
declares anew his love for. Irene,
who reveals that one of her boys
is really his, a fact her late hus-
band was fully aware of before
their marriage.

The author in dealing with this
relationship indicates the prob-
lem faced by Dave and Irene in
the relationshin to the two boys,
sons of two fathers, and how hard
they found it to honestly tell
the boys of their actual parent-
age. ,

The book tells the story of Dave
and Irene with deep sympathy.
Readers may feel that men and
women who toil and grow up in
the “Deep Rocks” of industry
resolve such problems with less
suffering and doubt and with
greater courage. Yet it must be
said that the: author, although
unevenly, handles the problem
with penetrating artistic skill. .

Fatherless Sons is much more -

than the story of Dave and Irene.
In its very first pages it strikes
a powerful anti-war chord. in
fact, the title itself is a ringing
protest against the wars—three
in succession—which again and
again leave the Nelson sons fath-
erless. Right through the 480

pages Carter deals blow after:

August 15

Featuring the greatest Soviet stars

Starts Monday ©

GALINA ULANOVA
Easily the best of the
world’s ballerinas .. . LIFE

MARK REIZEN

His rendition of

IVAN SUSANIN is
magnificent ... V

A dazzling, titanic variety package with ballet sequences

from “SWAN LAKE,” “ROMEO AND JULIET” and
Borodin’s “POLOVETSIAN DANCES,” excerpts from
_Borodin’s “PRINCE IGOR,” Tchaikovsky’s “EUGENE

ONEGIN’ and Glinka’s “IVAN

marvelous display of folk dancing and singing.

VARSITY THEATRE 3

: 4375 WEST. 10th

and a

SUSANIN”

blow against war, its effects on,
. the people, and against war mon-

gers, domestic as well as foreign.

The author presents a broad
canvas upon which in a. long
parade there pass men and wo-
men of many national origins,
who form the very backbone of
those who built Canada.

Anna Nelson’s boarding house
will soon be recognized by all
who have worked in Canada’s
industrial centres. The boarding-
house becomes a warm commun-
ity itself where Ukrainians and
Finns, French-Canadians and Eng-
lish, Serbs and Hungarians live
together and contribute to each
other’s rich ‘heritages to make
up the texture that is the Cana-
dian character.

Fatherless Sons is a book per-
meated with great love and res-
pect for men and® women who
toil and for their. union — the
centre of their lives. The author
demonstrates his deep conviction
that there is no greater dignity
than that of constructive labor.

While. showing ruthless con-
tempt for the leeches of our
society exemplified by Clyde
sMercer—the man who uses the
CCF for his own, rather than for
the people’s interests. — Carter
raises high the prestige of the
workers’ organizations and their
real leaders. He writes:

“Bob Stavers was a big man.

Fourteen years in the Brayle
-stopes, and three years at hard

labor in prison had not bowed

his back or hardened his grin.

He had been raised by the work-
ers of Deep Rock as naturally

as an oak raises its topmost twig.

He stood, before the miners as

their. man, arisen from their

hard roots, sustained by the sap
of their sweat—the President of

901.” Z

There is a fierce and passion-
ate pride shown in the book for
the union they won against un-
relenting opposition of the nickel
‘bosses. ‘

The author make a valuable in-
novation by presenting his read-
ers with a colorful, informative,
and artistically-executed portrait
of a-major Canadian industry.
The reader is led into every

‘branch of nickel production. We

see the mining of the ore, the
smelting and the refining, above
all we see the great power of
human ingenuity in transforming
the products. of nature. Carter
shows his great skill when he
writes;

“The muddy water
cells,
bubbled up: in one immense
scientifically controlled Niagara
of filth. And within this rumb-
ling, whispering mess there pro-

‘ ceeded, a miracle which hum-

in the

bled anything in nature. A drop ©

of chemical, a spurt of com-
pressed air, a careful patient
stirring... and nature’s ‘eternal’
union of metal and rock was
silently, instantly broken.”
Although himself an engineer,
Carter sees further than the in-
triguing beauty of modern in-

dustry. He shows us the hard-:

ships involved in the production
of nickel, he portrays the filth
and grime in his description of
the drying-house and the deadly
perils which lurk underground
and which in the end take the
life of Dave Nelson.

Fatherléss Sons demonstrates

how inseparable ‘are the daily life ©

and the struggles of the people.
The book is not only a powerful
plea for peace but it tells us of
the struggle to unionize the un-
organized, how a militant union
conducts its affairs, the battles
of the women for lower cost of

air-blown. and_ stirred |

living and the ‘first steps made by
the workers in the direction of

,independent political action.

‘The book strikes a blow against
race prejudice in the story of
John Hawk, the Indian who is
discriminated against on his re-
turn from: overseas even while
in the uniform of Canada and
although his chest is heavy with
medals.

uy 5e3 ot

Dyson Carter takes the reader
cn a great tour of our country’s
ratural beauty. Few of us have
had the opportunity to travel
from coast to coast and see for
ourselves the beauty of our lakes
and forests and the majesty of
our mountains. Repeatedly Carter
is at his best as the descriptive
artist when ‘he writes lovingly of
Canada’s great outdoors. Here is
but one sample:

“The Aurora Borealis was, in
-an eccentric, mystifying, spell-
binding mood. Far to the West,
as though from some point in

Manitoulin Island, there appear-

ed startling bright flashes of

white light, followed by slowly
fading orange-red glows. The
central, northern portion of the
sky was lit only by deep-violet
colored bands of light that shift-
ed nervously and incessantly.

But somewhat to the east, al-

ternating with the startling dis-

plays in the west, as though in
reply to each burst of white
light, there shot high up from
the black invisible earth wide
inclined streamers of piercing,
dazzling; purest green.”

bed

Fatherless Sons is not a book
without weaknesses. Of these
this reviewer wishes to point out
only two he considers important.

FILMS

DYSON CARTER .., . His novel sets a new pace-

the magnitude of the

pook
A careful reading of heat

leaves one dissatisfied WIT at
lack of one major and consiste? 4
character who could have §
bolized that small but - ists
section of Canadian Com

who confidently look to t a

cialist tomorrow of Can a eds

though a Communist is deP oth

one who is closely boune ve

every battle of the mint”

lacks strength. ema
ns ?

The constant | vacillation®
Dave Nelson are understan able—
the working class of our oe
is as yet full of uncertainhe role:
vacillations , about its own get
Yet the novel would be § pave
if the author had allowed by

and Irene to be accomet grou?

a man or a woman of th ipa

in Deep Rock, who, partit 5 sight : a

in all struggles, never 1°
of the great tomorrow. ent
While sharing Carter’s oon
for the Clyde Mercers of | ten
we must point out that ie
ed to make Mercer SyM0? tion
with the CCF, an pic a rc
under whose banner still ian
thousands of honest cn
misled by the seemingly
position of the leadership.

All in all, Fatherless 5°M4y5

-

a major contribution 10 vor kine

young literature. It is 2" ¢ ne
class and people’s novel 0

adian interested in knowin in
country better and unde phe
its problems and struge° pe

author lives among ue me
an active and prominen monit—
of the progressive com fhe

pe FS N80.
yet, let not this proximily nate

ieve
acl at

author permit us to under

e
ment which his book repres

unity

da

Bakes, 3
kind. It is a must for eV, pis

bet

New Japanese picture Zi

merited Cannes award ic

SIDE from the rather unfortun-

ate title, Gate of Hell is a
masterpiece of screen art. Made
in the Daiei Studios, producers
of, Ugetsu and Rashomon, it won
another top place for Japan in
the Cannes International Film
Festival, in 1954. . y

Gate of Hell was adopted from
the Japanese stage play, Kesa’s
Husband, by director T. Kinuy-
ase. It has an enormous emo-
tional breadth, passionately pro-
jected by many fine performers.
Imaginative camera technique and
the Eastman color process, be
sides enhancing the action, sup-
ply and interesting panorama of
12th Century Japan.

The musical score deserves
special mention. It isa sensitive
blending of traditional Japanese
‘music and instruments with mod-
ern symphonic composition —
and the dramatic use of silence.

Gate of Hell opens with the
Heija Revolt against the Taira
Dynasty. Then the wide canvas

PACIFIC TRIBUNE — AUGUST 12, 1955

g a Slee
of violence narrows ve tian ex :

significant act in 4 b

Rae 3
position of the futility Fag

lence. | : pe
. This theme, rooted 12 He ott
valence of violence 1M” splicitt:
is drawn with bo! e
compared to the comP™ + of
cacy of Ugetsu and 1!
tirely dissimilar theme
heart of the tragedy Proent
from the failure of * a
character to perceive «i

terms what he learne pi
from the abortive TeV"
too late. ;

illusions of passivenes f
veals the awful fruits
passive resistance to 7© ye
or. time! Bie

Gate of Hell has 4 fan ¢
sage, the fascination 0
historical setting,
tistry. You owe !
see it. ae gr0F
; — PAGE

_—

nd SUP” 16 10
£ to yours

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