[NON BLOG] The ABC Books Haul

[rfmcdonald]

I did promise to tell of my haul, didn't I?

• Sandra Djwa's study of Newfoundland poet E.J. Pratt, E.H. Pratt: The Evolutionary Vision (Toronto: Copp-Clark, 1974). Part of the Studies in Canadian Literature series, so far as I can tell Djwa's concentrating on providing a general survey of Pratt's life and his work. It works.
  
• Martiniquais writer Aimé Césaire's A Tempest, an anti-colonialist reworking of Shakespeare's The Tempest translated into English in 1986 by Richard Miller for the Ubu Repertory Theater. I'm rather fond of reworkings of originals with unfortunate yet convenient lacunas.


• Carlos E. Cortés' Gaúcho Politics in Brazil: The Politics of Rio Grande do Sul, 1930-1964 (Albuquerque: University of New Mexico, 1974) is a study of the changing role of the state of Rio Grande do Sul in Brazilian politics in the mid-20th century. Would you believe that Rio Grande do Sul is yet another relatively wealthy state in a Western Hemisphere federal state notable for its cowboy tradition, a heavy presence in the military, and a strong interest in dominating federal affairs to protect its own interests? Texas, Alberta, Rio Grande do Sul: The list goes on.


• O.J. Firestone's Problems of Economic Growth (Ottawa: University of Ottawa, 1965) is the second in a series of Social Science Studies, Firestone choosing to focus on Canada's likely economic problems. It's interesting to note how anachronistic Firestone's text reads to us 21st century types, between his overestimation of fertility and underestimation of immigration, his overestimation of growth and savings and his underestimation of foreign trade, above all the importance that he places on economic planning.