IN ANOTHER LIFE by Raymond Fraser. Lion's Head Press. 304 pp. $24.95. ISBN 978-0-9686034-8-2
"A beautifully wrought story, tragic, poignant and full of rich detail. It's just masterful." — ROBERT LECKER
"I really enjoyed it. I haven't read a novel in two sittings in a long time. It's subtle, complex and has a wonderful comic/tragic feeling." — SHELDON CURRIE
"You don't come across a book like this very often. For me it was un-put-down-able. It's one great piece of work." — LOUIS CORMIER
"IN ANOTHER LIFE is heart-warming and heart-wrenching all at once. It's the real deal, a genuine masterpiece of storytelling, sadly beautiful, and perhaps Fraser's finest work to date." — STEPHEN CLARE, The Book Club, Halifax
"I can't find words to describe just how extraordinary I think this novel is... It's been a long time since I've read a book that really gets inside a man's head. It's a triumph in making characters come alive (I fell deeply in love with Corinne!). It's a great Canadian novel." — PHILIP DESJARDINS
THE GRUMPY MAN by Raymond Fraser. Features 23 new stories and the definitive version of the Fraser classic novella, The Quebec Prison. Lion's Head Press. 190 pp. $20.00. ISBN 978-0-9686034-6-8.
"Raymond Fraser is a natural story teller. His talent with narrative is second to none in this country...THE GRUMPY MAN stories are an incredible expose of the human condition." — MICHAEL O. NOWLAN, The Daily Gleaner
"A pleasure to read from beginning to end. I doubt many writers could comment on their time as skilfully as Fraser has in this collection, or comment with so much wit and using such great characters." — JUDY BOWMAN, The Miramichi Leader
"Reading Fraser's writing is like listening to the voice of an epoch. He explores the things that made the sixties and seventies so legendary." — MICAH O'DONNELL, The Aquinian
"One of Canada's top writers at the top of his game. A great read!" — GAIL MACMILLAN
"A compelling collection of quirky characters by one of the country's finest literary craftsmen." — STEPHEN CLARE, The Book Club radio show, Halifax
"Fraser is a superb storyteller whose stories and novels are always universally valid. He is no less than Canada's greatest living fiction writer." — MICHAEL VAUGHAN
Remembering Leonard Cohen, Alden Nowlan, the Flat Earth Society, the King James monarchy hoax, the Montreal Story Tellers and other curious matters
READ ABOUT THE ROYALS IN EXILE
l. to r. The Duke of Northumberland, King James III, the Prince of Fortara and the Archibishop of Canterbury. As revealed in the book, when secretly mingling with commoners they were accustomed to assume the identities of Raymond Fraser, Jim Stewart, Alden Nowlan and Leo Ferrari.(Photo by Frank Prazak)
BLURB In this collection of nineteen memoirs, essays and sketches, Raymond Fraser writes of a variety of fascinating subjects, including Leonard Cohen, Alden Nowlan, Leo Ferrari, Hugh Hood, Queen Elizabeth II, Bob Dylan, John Metcalf, Lord Mountbatten, Al Pittman, Irving Layton, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Santa Claus, the Flat Earth Society, the notorious Stewart Monarchy in Exile, Halloween on the Miramichi, tabloid journalism, New Brunswickers in Hollywood, evangelistic miracle workers and assorted eccentrics met along life's way. Published by Black Moss Press, Windsor, Ont. Sept 2007. 162 pp.
"Reading When The Earth Was Flat is next best thing to a voyage of discovery, a ride on a runaway train, the thrill of a roller coaster, and a front row seat in the theatre of the absurd. This wonderfully entertaining book is the work of a gifted and accomplished author." — The Guardian
"It is superb. Remarkable!" — John Moss, FRSC, author and founding editor Journal of Canadian Fiction
"A highly original voice that is occasionally sad, sometimes very comic. A real pleasure to read." — Vancouver Sun
"This insightful, powerful and comedic writer has been hailed by Farley Mowat as the best literary voice to come belling out of the Maritimes in decades." — Telegraph-Journal
"One of the most gifted writers I know, and among his gifts are two that all too rare: a zest for life and a sense of humour." — Alden Nowlan
"When The Earth Was Flat is a collection of autobiographic snapshots—a mosaic of memoirs, histories, essays and short stories of almost poetic intensity which are held together by Fraser's ubiquitous sense of humour and idiosyncratic eye. For those of us who have read all his books it is an added treat to our collection. For those who have never read Fraser, this is the book to begin with, and doubtless, the rest of the author's library will follow in its tracks. Raymond Fraser has many distinctions as a writer. As a novelist, story writer, poet, biographer and journalist, he has been called New Brunswick's greatest living writer and one of Canada's foremost authors. His novel The Struggle Outside easily fits into the top-ten list of Canada's all-time greatest books and The Bannonbridge Musicians was runner-up for the Governor General's Award in 1978. — Bernell MacDonald, author, Birds of Passage, etc.
If you can't find the book in a store near you (and far as I know it won't be in Chapters-Indigo-Coles, just smaller independent stores), there are signed copies NOW AVAILABLE at Fraser Books Inc. Just click here: Fraser Books
Cover of the first edition of my book The Fighting Fisherman (Doubleday, 1981). There has also been a French edition, Le Boxeur Qui Venait de la Mer, and two other English editions, the latest from Formac Publishing in 2005. Yvon Durelle died on January 6, 2007.
This comely portrait is from my days as captain of the famous ship SPANISH JACK. (Photo by Sharon Fraser)
Here we see the redoubtable Spanish Jack riding at anchor in Miramichi Bay, with the skipper ashore searching for buried treasure. (Pencil drawing by Nancy Tremblay)
This is the cover of my novel In A Cloud Of Dust And Smoke (Black Moss Press, 2003; cover photo by Marty Gervais). Due to popular demand (or something of the sort) I've decided to accompany it with some comments from the more astute critics, as follows.
"A beautiful novel, written from the heart."
— Fred Cogswell
"An entertaining novel with serious and even sombre overtones — a kind of anti-romance in which the narrator keeps a comic perspective on his own and others' woes, and remains to the end an innocent, reminiscent of Tom Jones and other picaresque heroes."
— Robert Gibbs A fine, fine book... well-written, provocative, engaging."
— Michael Holmes, ECW Press
"Endearing and engaging... provides a nuanced insight into a time that will never return." — The Gleaner
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Below is the cover of a novella and story collection called Costa Blanca (Black Moss Press, 2001; cover photo by Marty Gervais). "A must read, by one of Canada's truly great writers." — Gail MacMillan, author, Ceilidh's Quest, etc.
Much of Costa Blanca was set in and around the town of Denia, Spain, seen in the photo below.
This is roughly what the author looked like in his Costa Blanca Period, in the 1970s.
Another book our author worked on in Spain (as well as in Chatham and on board Spanish Jack) was the novel, The Struggle Outside, published in 1975 by McGraw-Hill Ryerson. "Represents the best in contemporary satire. Outrageously funny." Best Sellers, New York
The Bannonbridge Musicians, on the other hand, wasn't written in Spain, but in Saint John and Black River Bridge. It was published by Breakwater Books in 1978, and for what such things are worth was runner-up for the Governor General's Award. (Cover painting by Gerald Squires) "A rollicking tale, well told." — William French, Globe & Mail "It's well-written, it's touching, it's full of life, and it's funny." — Andre Vigneault, CBC Radio
The book you see below, Rum River (novel & stories), was written in Black River Bridge, Montreal and Fredericton, and published by Broken Jaw Press in 1997. After you've dallied a moment over the cover you'll find an extra treat at the bottom. (Cover photo by Joe Blades)
What some of the sharper readers and critics had to say about Rum River:
"Comic and horrifying." — Heather Sanderson, Canadian Literature
"Perceptive, magnetic and laced with humour." — Anne Ingram, The Gleaner
"As with all Raymond Fraser books, almost impossible to put down." — Brian Jeffrey Street, author, The Parachute Ward
"A wonderful enthralling read — intensely personal yet universally relevant. Necessary pain and the heart of a poet is required to write prose like this. It's the first time I read a book straight through in a long time. I'm no critic, but Rum River belongs on the same shelf as such masterpieces as The Catcher In The Rye." — Bernell MacDonald, author, Birds Of Passage
Message on answering machine from Dave Butler, calling from Chatham, NB (April 8/98) "God knows what roads you're running these days. In any friggin' case I'll call you by and by. Just one point... I don't know how long your message machine runs... I was talking to Billy Daley, the outstanding former baseball player with Chatham Ironmen, and I loaned him a copy of Rum River a few days ago, and he read the whole damn thing — he's quite a literate guy — he read the whole thing in a sitting or two, and called me and told me it was tremendous! And so he's doing some good oral reviews around the local saloons and that. Daley is very quick-witted; he's looked upon by some as a dumb jock, but he's not that, which is why I loaned him the book. Anyway, he recounted (and he's got a pretty good memory) excerpts from the book, and quoting a few lines which he thought particularly delicious, shall we say, and all the boys in the local saloons think it's great stuff, and they're all... "[machine cuts him off]
This photo is here for two reasons. It shows the author as he looked while writer-in-residence at Fredericton High School in the mid-nineties, during the time he was working on Rum River. And it shows how he looked when disguised as a man without a beard. (Photo by Stanya)
As can be seen from this snapshot, it apparently wasn't the only time he wore such a disguise. (Photographer unknown)
And speaking of Black River Bridge, here we see (or almost see) the author in his one-time residence there. With him are two renowned Newfoundland artists who were guests for the night. From l. to r., Stewart Montgomerie, Raymond Fraser and Gerald Squires.
Caught in another beardless moment, the author relaxes aboard Spanish Jack in the summer of 1972. This photo was used on the back cover of his first book of fiction, The Black Horse Tavern. (Photo by Roman Gordy)
The Black Horse Tavern was published in Montreal by Ingluvin Publications in 1973. The book comprises a novella (The Quebec Prison) and nine stories, and received such great reviews in newspapers all across Canada that it sold out in a few months and was never reprinted. (Cover photo by Raymond Fraser)
That's it for book covers for now, except for the next one. It's called Before You're A Stranger, and as sole representative of the poetry faction it might (I fear) attempt to sneak in some shameless comments on the author as poet.
"I read the book from cover to cover — I found the verses so delightful I couldn't put it down until I finished. The everyday subjects and events the poems deal with ring so true." — T.C. "Tommy" Douglas
"Fraser notices so much and responds with feeling and humor, and it's all so accessible to the reader. There isn't a poem in the book that isn't worth reading." — Alan Pearson
"Unfailingly interesting and impossible to put down once I started. Wonderful stuff!" — Louis Dudek
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Another rare poetry book you might want to pick up next time you're shopping is Macbride Poems. It's not a long read, only twelve pages, and is available at Amazon.ca. When last checked it was listed as follows:
Macbride Poems (Paperback) by Raymond Fraser (Author) Publisher: Wild East Press
Available from these sellers:
1 used & new available: CDN$ 794.92 Frobisher Books, USA
In case you're unable to deduce from the Moulin Rouge in the background, this photo shows The Author In His Paris Period. It was here he wrote among other things a rough draft of In A Cloud Of Dust And Smoke. The picture is sure to bring to mind other illustrious writers who had Paris Periods, such as Ernest Hemingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, James Joyce and Henry Miller. (Photo by Cynthia Losier)
BELOW IS THE COVER of issue #14 of Intercourse Magazine, which I co-founded with LeRoy Johnson back in the sixties. The cover on this number was drawn by Alden Nowlan under the pseudonym "Hodge" (his cat's name). Alden guest-edited issue #14 along with Louis Cormier and Bernell MacDonald. For a good close-up of this and all photos just click on them with your mousie.
And here's a look at the covers of the first five issues. One of them is completely black, with no print on it. This was supposed to attract the attention of the curious and inspire them to buy it.
The magazine ran from 1966 to 1971, and besides LeRoy and myself, the staff included Sharon Fraser, Al Pittman, Ken Pittman (alias Kenneth Mann), Dave Ryan, Louis Cormier, Marc Plourde, Keith Colin Scott, Loren Chudy, Marilyn Beker, Phil Desjardins, Alden Nowlan, Claudine Nowlan, Bernell MacDonald, Eddie Clinton, Ken Foley, Dave Butler, Jim Beckta, Marilyn Johnston, Jacintha Ferarri and no doubt some I'll think of later.
In addition to the above-mentioned (most of them), the magazine published Irving Layton, Al Purdy, Elizabeth Brewster, Leonard Cohen, Fred Cogswell, Hugh Hood, C.H. Gervais, Eugene McNamara, John Glassco, Robert Gibbs, John Drew, Len Gasparini, Dorothy Farmiloe, Patrick Lane, Robert Hawkes, Robert Currie, Seymour Mayne, Silver Donald Cameron, Ted Plantos, Tom Ezzy, Jim Stewart, George Bowering, Jamie Brown, Barry McKinnon, Richard Partington and numerous others.
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THE MONTREAL STORY TELLERS This is the fiction performance troupe I toured with in the early seventies. It seems we were responsible for starting the plague of public fiction readings in the country. To find out more read When The Earth Was Flat.
l. to r. Ray Smith, John Metcalf, Clark Blaise, Raymond Fraser, Hugh Hood. (Photo by Sam Tata)
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Notes on last fall's launch
WHEN THE EARTH WAS FLAT was officially and with great success launched Sept 20, 2007, at Westminster Bookstore in Fredericton. When the evening was over only a few copies of the original boxcar load remained in the store. Among those in attendance were such illustrious figures as Sheldon Currie, Phil Foreman, Leo Ferrari, Lorna Drew, Tony Tremblay, Robert Hawkes, Michael Nowlan, Pat Belier, Joe Blades, Bill & Janet Mullin, Jim Petrie, Allison Calvern, Diane Reid, Robert Power, Paul Lavoie, and — most distinguished of all — those I've inexcusably failed to mention. I was pleased as well to meet a number of young writers who showed up, and will definitely keep an eye out for their future works.
There was also a Miramichi launch at Books Inn Oct 12, 2007, and despite torrential rains and the store unexpectedly closing an hour prematurely there was an enthusiastic turnout. I was gratified to see and chat with so many friends of my youth, and sorry to hear next day that others who attempted to attend were met by a locked door.
If you're in Montreal, a good place to pick up the book is at THE WORD bookstore, owned and operated by my old friend Adrian King-Edwards. It's on Milton Street near McGill University, and is listed by Yahoo Travel as number 22 among must-see places to visit when in Montreal.
In Chatham (Miramichi East) you'll find the book in Bill's Kwik-Way. In Sackville check out Tidewater Books, and in Kingston, Ont., A Novel Idea Bookstore. You can also find it at the UNB Bookstore in Fredericton. I daresay it's in thousands of other locations, but these are some that come to mind.
The above-mentioned Sheldon Currie, by the way, was the English Department (that's not a misprint) at STU for a few years in the early sixties, when I was there as a student. It was under his expert tutelage that the late John Brebner and I founded and edited the literary magazine Tom-Tom in 1962. Sheldon later moved on to St FX and in time became the distinguished author he is today.
Unlike the four earlier mentioned writers (Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Miller, Joyce) who didn't go in much for team sports (just a little sparring and bull-calf fighting), I was on a lot of teams in my early youth. As evidence I offer the following photo of the Chatham All-Stars, provincial midget baseball champions in the nineteen-fifties. Literary sleuths will no doubt wonder whether any of these lads have served as models for characters in my writings.
Back Row, l. to r. Cuffy McLaughlin Sr (manager), Paul Duplessie, Louis McMahon, Ray Fraser (ahem!), Hughie Moar, Bill Lordon, Ronnie Hachey, Bobby Hill, Joe Cook (coach). Front row, l. to r. Neil O'Brien, Vince Thibideau, Greg Morris, Freddie Thorburn, Jackie Smith, Joe Breen, Neddie Whelan.
IN THE PREVIOUS winter of that year, 1957, the Chatham Midget All-Stars hockey team also reached the provincial finals, but narrowly lost out to the Moncton Beavers.
Back Row, l. to r. Frankie Daley (coach), Joe Keoughan, Dougie Myles, Elmer Cain, Duncan Jardine, Blair Carroll, Joe Richard, Jimmy Petrie, Louis Nowlan. Front row, l. to r. Art Leggatt, Ronnie Hachey, Dave Butler, David "Major" Fraser, Maurice "Bliss" Comeau, Bernie Keating, John Lordon, Ray Fraser (himself).
And here we have the Chatham Juvenile All-Stars, NB-PEI champions 1957-58
Back row, l. to r. David "Major" Fraser, Dick Morrisey, Ray Fraser, Ronnie Hachey, Bernie Keating, John Lordon, Bob Reid (coach), Don Ross, John Kerr, Herbie Dickson, Charlie Ryan, Fr. Winfield Poole (manager) Front Row, l. to r. Joe Richard, Elmer Cain, Freddie Irving, Albert Hachey, Doody McCarthy, Gerry Niles, Dave Butler, Matthew McFadden.
This is something I circulated a while back. It was picked up and published in full by the Miramichi Leader (Nov 30/07) and the online magazine, Mysterious East (Dec 2/07). Anyone who would like to reprint it is free to do so.
INVASION OF THE KILLER BEEPERS By Raymond Fraser
You can hear their nerve-shattering battle cry everywhere. It's fierce, piercing, merciless. It's become so imprinted on the human psyche that people have begun hearing it in their sleep. Eventually it will drive everyone stark raving mad.
For a time the main carriers of these pernicious intruders were vans and trucks and tractors and bulldozers, but recently they've spread to the motorized hydraulic lifts used by roofers and painters in place of ladders and stagings.
The other day I was walking around Beeper City (formerly Fredericton) when I happened upon such a lift sending out a beep you could hear all the way to Napadogan. I asked the man at the controls what the racket was about.
"Well," he said, "it's supposed to be some kind of safety thing, I think. To protect blind people, in case one comes along with a ladder and climbs up and gets in the way."
"Has that ever happened?" I asked him.
"Not yet," he admitted. "But you never know. Anything's possible."
"Well," I said, "if it did happen, couldn't the painter see him and warn him?"
"You'd think so. Unless the painter was dumb and couldn't speak. That's possible too."
"What about deaf people? How do you warn deaf people who might get in your way?"
"Deaf people are okay. They can see what we're doing."
"So can I," I said, "and everyone else who's not blind." And with hands covering my ears resumed my walk.
When I got home I decided to do a little investigating on the Internet. One thing I found was that every vehicle of every description at every worksite of every kind across the entire country is busy beeping with every backing move (not too mention all the trucks, buses, plows and so forth on town and city streets). And yet most fatalities from backing vehicles occur in driveways, and always have.
And a statistic I came across is that children under four years old represent 30 percent of these off-road fatalities in the US, even though they make up only six percent of the population. And related research shows that children up to the age of five "have no concept of personal safety and do not understand the warning of backup beepers".
Also, workmen on worksites have been getting injured and killed because, (a) the drivers of vehicles are less likely to check behind them when they have a beeper beeping, and (b) like the fable of the little boy who cried wolf, when you sound too many alarms people stop heeding them.
The thinking behind beepers seems to be that people today are a lot slower (denser, dumber) than they used to be. They didn't use to need a screaming beeper to tell them to get out of the way of a moving vehicle, they would rely on common sense and their faculties of sight and hearing.
It could be the fault of the education system, not teaching them simple things like stop, look and listen. Or it could be the fault lies elsewhere. As best I can make out, these backup (and sideways and up-and-down) devices serve only one real purpose, which is to fill the pockets of those who sell them. That may be considered a good purpose in some circles, but it's the kind of good that's outweighed by considerations which are not so good.
Here's a quote from a 2001 CBC Marketplace broadcast on the dangers of noise:
Noise, the invisible pollutant, has been blamed for everything from hypertension and learning difficulties to suicide. More than a decade ago, Health Canada labeled noise as a "real and present danger."
Many studies link noise to health problems, including: headaches, stress fatigue, insomnia, high blood pressure, heart and digestive problems, immune system problems, aggressive behaviour, and learning problems in children...
In Britain, health officials estimate 12 million people suffer from noise-related health problems. In Toronto, noise was blamed after a man was charged with shooting to death two of his neighbours.
Now that I think of it, I saw on the news just a short while ago that a fireman shot and killed four of his neighbours because of noise.
There are alternatives to backup beepers, solutions that are not only more effective but which don't contribute to the ever growing problem of noise pollution and beeper rage.
There are for example rear crossview mirrors which cost about $50, which give a clear view of what's directly behind a vehicle. In the U.S., Washington State law requires all delivery trucks with cargo boxes up to 18-feet long to be equipped with these. Federal Express tested them on its delivery trucks in four major cities for a year and discovered a 33 percent reduction in backing crashes. They have since installed them on 36,000 vehicles.
There is also the alternative of rear-view cameras which can be purchased individually for about $150, and much cheaper in quantity.
And there are Backup Warning Devices, radar alarm systems that sense objects behind a vehicle and alert the operator to their presence.
Or even this simple invention, which I offer free of charge to the world, or to anyone who's quick enough to patent it: a one-second melodious sound (not too loud) emitted by the vehicle to universally indicate "I'm going to back up!" While it's not actually necessary, it's much better than the blood-curdling shrieks that go on continuously even when a vehicle is reversing an entire city block.
The root cause of these wretched devices is of course a mental affliction that's been going round in recent times, known as Absolute Safety Psychosis (ASP). Those who suffer from it are compelled to make endless rules and laws and introduce unnecessary inventions designed to guarantee that no one will ever get injured or contract any disease or indeed, die.
Their ultimate goal is a decree obliging citizens to stay locked in their homes permanently so they won't have any kind of accident out of doors. And while in their homes, for safety sake, they will presumably have to live in suits of armour, or strait-jackets. ___________________________________________________
_____________________________________________________ Fight noise pullution! Boycott companies that have backup beeper toys on their vehicles. For example, boycott NISSAN (worldwide) and CHECKER CAB (Fredericton). ***************************************************
AND SINCE YOU BROUGHT THE SUBJECT UP...
As can be gathered from WHEN THE EARTH WAS FLAT's subtitle, it's only partly (one might even say slightly) about planoterrestrialism. To get the complete story on this most fascinating of subjects, you'll want to pick up a copy of Flat Earth by Christine Garwood (Pan MacMillan). There's a great chapter on the notorious Flat Earth Society that sprang up in Fredericton some years back, founded by Leo Ferrari, Alden Nowlan and your modest servant, my humble self. The author of Flat Earth is a charming young lady from England who had the pleasure of interviewing me during the Fredericton phase of her researches. While I naturally make an appearance in the chapter mentioned, the stars of it are Professor Emeritus Dr Leo Ferrari, the Society's President, and the late Alden Nowlan, the world-renowned poet who served as the Society's Symposiarch (I was merely Executive Chairman or some such thing). Truly, there's stuff about Leo and Alden in the book that you won't want to miss. And while there you can find out everything there is to know about why the earth really is flat (or at least why Leo said, "Of course it's flat — any fool can see that!").
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AUTHOR'S MOTHER AND FATHER: Robert "Bob" Fraser & Ursula (Graham) Fraser
Available at select independant bookstores, and from Lion's Head Press http://lionsheadpress.blogspot.com/ If you'll settle for nothing less than a signed copy send an email to: rayfras@gmail.com and request one (same price, $20).
WHAT'S HERE
Book news, photos, capsule reviews, links, Flat Earth Society stuff, "Back-Up Beeper Menace" essay, ball & hockey teams, advice to the lovelorn... no telling what you'll find. The most recent material is not necessarily at the beginning. After you've looked around you might want to slip over to Lion's Head Magazine to see the latest issue featuring
The Raymond Fraser / Bernell MacDonald Letters Relating Principally to Ernest Buckler (There are also interesting references to Alden Nowlan, Fred Cogswell, Margaret Atwood and the US Invasion of Iraq) And while you're at it check out the preceding Winter/Spring issue featuring Robert Hawkes backed by a line-up of poetry super-stars. Lion's Head Magazine
BESTSELLING AUTHOR PRAISES BOOK
"If you’ve been around Fredericton for awhile, or are familiar with some of the Canadian literary lights that passed this way, especially in the late 60s and into the 70s; or if you've ever been amused by Alden Nowlan's work, or the Flat Earth Society; or if you've ever wondered what Leonard Cohen was like before he became an international sensation; or if you've ever had dreams of grandeur, or tried your hand at writing yourself — or if you've ever wrestled with the lure of alcohol as a soother of nerves and restorative elixir.... If you fall into any of these categories, you won't be sorry you picked up Raymond Fraser's book WHEN THE EARTH WAS FLAT... It's a terrific read, highly amusing and very informative, and a valuable record of a time and place that's familiar to many of us... If you're feeling a little frugal, buy it and read it carefully, and then give it to some friend or relative as a gift!" — Glenn Murray, author, Walter The Farting Dog, et al.
Recent pic (May 2008)
Raymond Fraser (photo by Keith Minchin)
D.H. Lawrence and Thomas Hardy (June 11, 2008)
Here's a portion of an old letter I ran across that I wrote to Alden Nowlan in 1963 and didn't send. I'm guessing the reason I didn't send it is because Thomas Hardy was one of his literary heroes and I didn't wish to offend him. If so it was one of the few times in my life I employed such discretion.
Dear Al,
What set me off is a quote from Louis McNiece, very condescending, concerning D.H. Lawrence. It was in an anthology of poems edited by Kenneth Allott, another sterile type, who writes, "There is a large, probably too large, Lawrence literature, so that it is only necessary to note a few salient facts of his life, such as his qualifying as a school teacher..." Allott goes on to say Lawrence derived his verse form "directly from Whitman", stating that this way of writing poetry strikes him not as "a highway of poetic development [Herbert Read] but as a cul-de-sac".
In this book McNiece says of Lawrence: "As D.H. Lawrence was well slapped down in the twenties by Wyndham Lewis there is no need to take another slap at one who..." and so on. Just a pile of horseshit.
The reason I'm big on Lawrence these days is I took up The Rainbow from where I'd bogged down in it previously, and I must have quit at the magic point, because the last 250 pages contained some of the best writing I've ever encountered. The chapters "First Love" and "Shame" I doubt have been surpassed anywhere.
I also read an essay on Poe he wrote which is very good. It's in a book of his stories, essays, letters and poems.
But you said you like Thomas Hardy, as many others also say, including Salinger in CATCHER IN THE RYE. But I don't myself. I found TESS OF THE D'URBERVILLES pretentious and tiresome. It's like a barnyard soap opera penned by someone who has great difficulty in expressing himself. Hardy has a very clumsy roundabout style, and never uses a small word when he can substitute a big one. Because of his status I kept coming back at the book, and by great persistence reached page 230, but that was the limit. I skimmed the remainder to see what happened, and it approximated what I figured, although "Angel Clare" walking hand-in-hand with "Liza Lu" went even beyond what I anticipated. No self-respecting soap opera would have gone that far.
For my money Hardy isn't a natural writer. His dialogue is deplorable -- I doubt I've ever read worse -- and his vaunted descriptions are false, bookish and convey no picture whatever. I believe he was about forty when he wrote this, and already established, so the novel is not the work of a beginner. He just has no ear for words, no eye for pictures, and no feel for what people are really like...
With best regards, Ray
In the years following I attempted several other Hardy books, and I have to say my opinion of 1963 still stands. That is not to say it's a crime for someone else to like him. People like all kinds of strange things, or claim to. I think Alden's attraction to Hardy was due to their common background. They were poor country lads who had to make their way against long odds. I can remember Alden saying he disliked Somerset Maugham's writings , and when I asked why he said because Maugham parodied Hardy in CAKES AND ALE, treating him like a country bumpkin. That Maugham was by far the better writer didn't seem to matter.
Raymond Fraser is a Canadian writer who was born in Chatham NB and now lives in Fredericton. He is the author of such books as "In a Cloud of Dust and Smoke", "Costa Blanca", "Rum River", "The Bannonbridge Musicians", "The Fighting Fisherman", "Before You're A Stranger", "The Black Horse Tavern", "The Struggle Outside", "When The Earth Was Flat", "The Grumpy Man" and "In Another Life"... To e-mail Raymond Fraser: rayfras@gmail.com
