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 | Confessions, computers and conversations: The Inside Story, Shoreline Press, 1996, $18.95, by Neil McKenty.
The author opens his autobiography with a suicide note. After an exhilarating day of skiing in the Laurentians, the well-known Montreal radio and TV talk show host writes to his wife: "Dearest Catherine, I think you will be better off without me. Love Neil." What follows is a moving account of McKenty's journey from "toxic religion, sex and celibacy, drinking and depression" to spiritual consolation and self-acceptance. The Inside Story provides the reader with a raw and honest glimpse into the engulfing state of clinical depression‹referred to as a "cancerous sickness of the spirit with no language to adequately describe it." For McKenty, hope comes from a concerned medical community, an unconditionally loving and patient wife, and from the existential realization that he had to lose his old life with its false masks and desire to control, in order to find a new one. At times, McKenty seems prone to exaggeration, and his claims of victimization are unconvincing. While McKenty's childhood was far from ideal, it also seemed quite normal or representative for its time, and inspires empathy for each member of his family. The same could be said for his years as a Jesuit, an experience described as "whips and chains." This begs the question of why he chose to remain for 25 years. In the end, McKenty's most powerful point is that he had to reach out beyond himself and rediscover the God he had never truly known as a child or as a Jesuit. by Chris Fitzgerald, BA'86, BSW'89 | ||
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 | Whose Brave New World?: The Information Highway and the New Economy, Between the Lines, 1996, $19.95, by Heather Menzies, BA'70. Is a "silicon curtain" descending, creating new social divisions to accompany the information economy? Heather Menzies' answer is an emphatic yes. Menzies contends that computers and other communication technologies are changing the way we - and perhaps more important, institutions such as governments and multinationals - think about work. As the new economy becomes concerned with transmitting information, traditional notions of labour are dying. Menzies provides numerous (overwhelmingly Canadian) case studies anchoring her position. One example: she interviews nurses at a computerized work-station whose duties now emphasize quantifiable tasks (in Total Quality Management, "if you can't measure it, you can't manage it"). According to one nurse, "the computer takes priority over the patient." Computers allot time for each task, discounting non-quantifiable acts of compassion. Job control moves from the nurses to managers who decide how nursing performance will be evaluated. Menzies argues that computers could enrich work by alleviating tedious chores, thereby freeing time for more stimulating tasks, and by giving employees more communication power and hence more authority. However, the promised world of leisure has become 50- and 60-hour weeks for the fully employed, and unemployment or stultifying McJobs for the rest. But alternatives exist. The final section, "Restructuring for People," urges readers to direct energy in their communities and workplaces to ensure a say for everyone in the new economy. The conclusion seems broad after the specific examples in the book, and one would welcome more anecdotes illustrating this resistance strategy. Menzies' critique is intelligent and well documented; she leaves readers to create their own solutions. Patrick McDonagh | ||
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 | More Writers and Company: New Conversations with CBC Radio's Eleanor Wachtel, Knopf Canada, 1996, $28.95, by Eleanor Wachtel, BA'69. If imaginative, insightful conversation is one of life's great gifts, it can also be among its rarest. Perhaps as a consequence, we often settle for listening to the conversations of others. If we're looking for surrogate dialogue, though, who better to overhear than some of the brightest and most creative writers from around the globe? Eleanor Wachtel, host of the CBC radio program "Writers and Co.," is well acquainted with the world of contemporary literature. Wachtel, who began her career in 1966 by interviewing fledgling novelist Margaret Atwood for the McGill Daily, has found a niche broadcasting intimate interviews with some of the world's most talented authors. More Writers and Company is her second collection. The interviews are fascinating, for two reasons. First, the twenty-two writers included encompass a wide range of perspectives and backgrounds from places as far flung as Ireland, Israel, South Africa, and of course Canada. While some are well established and acclaimed - including Martin Amis, Isabel Allende, and Carol Shields - there are also a number of lesser known but impressive talents. Themes of being an outsider recur: as physician-writer Oliver Sacks puts it, "peering into the human condition, wistfully but sympathetically." The second reason for the book's success is Wachtel herself. She maintains a strong connection between the writer and listener (or reader) through an engaging and direct style; her questions are clear and simple, shunning esoteric language and literary allusions. Wachtel knows what makes an effective "literary" interview for a broad audience. Well positioned next to writer and interviewer, we sense that we are indeed in good company. Geoff Allen, BA'94 Booklist Canadians of Old by Philippe-Joseph Aubert de Gaspé, translated by Jane Brierley, MA'82, Véhicule Press, Montreal. Copyright Jane Brierley 1996.
How Architecture Speaks and fashions our lives, Harry Mayerovitch, BA'30, BArch'33, Robert Davis Publishing, Montreal-Toronto-Paris. Copyright © 1996 Harry Mayerovitch. $17.95
Introduction à la Théorie Littéraire, Robert F. Barsky, MA'87, PhD'92, Presses de l'Université du Quebec. Copyright © 1997 Presses de l'Université du Quebec.
Le Guide du travailleur autonome, Jean Benoît Nadeau, BA'92, Editions Québec/Amérique. Copyright © 1997 Editions Québec/Amérique, $18.95
Noam Chomsky, A Life of Dissent, Robert F. Barsky, MA'87, PhD'92. ECW Press, Toronto, Ontario. Copyright © ECW Press, 1997, $32.95
Northern Deco: Art Deco Architecture in Montreal, Sandra Cohen-Rose. Corona Publishers, Montreal, Quebec. Copyright 1996 Sandra Cohen-Rose. $64.95
Various positions-A Life of Leonard Cohen, Ira B. Nadel, Random House of Canada Limited, Toronto-New York. Copyright © 1996 Ira B. Nadel. $29.95
Walt Whitman and Sir William Osler: A Poet and his Physician, Phillip W. Leon, ECW Toronto, 1995.
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