ESC: English Studies in Canada

REVIEWS Rosalie L. Colie and F.T. Flahiff, editors, Some Facets of "King Lear": Essays in Prismatic Criticism (Toronto: University of Toronto Press 1974). xi, 237. $15.00 And what is "Prismatic Criticism"? A long, rather indigestible sentence in the preface supplies the answer: The term "prismatic criticism" is a deliberate metaphor: the editors wish to suggest by it their conviction that a work of art is whole, even though it presents more than one face or facet; that, depending upon the particular cut of the glass and the angle of the light playing upon it, the work of art may produce different effects; that because awork of art has many faces, one person cannot see it "all" from one perspective - but also, fhat he may move around the work of art, or may move it in relation to the source of light. So there we have it: different scholars will see an integrated but complex work of art differently. This prism theme, an ingratiating specimen of academic chichi, is lovingly elaborated in the preface, but it plays no part in the book itself. Since the editors have invoked a "deliberate metaphor" of King Lear as a prism, let it be permissible to introduce this review with another deliberate metaphor: that King Lear is a Mount Everest rising out of a tremendous mountain range which is English Renaissance drama. Only one man, back in the seventeenth century, has ever stood on the summit of this tremendous peak. Other men, by a number of routes, have climbed to various altitudes along its slopes. Some have been vouchsafed inspiring vistas from hard-won vantage points, and others have made interesting discoveries around the mountain's base. Employing our Everest metaphor, we may think of this book as the report of a joint American-Canadian expedition which spent some time and considerable effort on the mountain. The team consisted of six climbers from a Canadian university, and five from three American institutions. Since, however, one of E n g l is h S t u d ie s in C a n a d a , i i , 2, Summer 1976 2 )6 E n g l i s h S t u d i e s i n C a n a d a the Americans contributed two reports, to bring the total up to a tidy dozen, and since that same American, Rosalie Colie, is credited in the "Afterword" with writing the preface (though the latter carries the initials f.t.f.), and since we are told that "this is - quintessentially - her book," Some Facets of "King Lear" should probably be regarded as an American-Canadian rather than as a Cana­ dian-American venture, even though it was subsidized by the Humanities Research Council of Canada and published by a Canadian university press. One speculates what we might have had if the six University of Toronto contributors had chosen to secure for their partners Shakespeareans at other Canadian universities. Had the contributors all been Canadians, a reviewer might possibly have been able to make some appraisal of Canadian Shake­ spearean criticism. However the way still lies open for some energetic editor to recruit a number of our country's best Shakespeare scholars and show the international community of scholars just what Canada can offer in thorough­ ness of research, mastery of scholarship, and literary insight and sensitivity. Such a book might yield some interesting conclusions about the strengths and weaknesses of Shakespearean criticism in Canada. Lacking such a book, let us turn to that produced by Rosalie Colie and her team, and divert ourselves by seeing how the Canadians come out in compari­ son with their American counterparts. For the American contingent we have Colie, herself, from Brown University; Martha Andresen of Pomona College; and Maurice Charney, Bridget Lyons, and Thomas Van Laan, all of Rutgers University. Heading the Canadians is Colie's lieutenant and co-editor, F.T. Flahiff. With him are William Blissett, F.D. Hoeniger, Nancy Lindheim, John Reibetanz, and Sheldon Zitner, all of the University of Toronto. With a single exception all the contributors wrote their essays especially for this collection. Let us review the essays from south...