Lisa Moore still “unreadably Canadian,” Barbara Kay says

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By Stuart Woods
September 10, 2009
1:39 PM

Filed under: Quillblog, Anansi, Barbara Kay, book, CanLit, Giller, Giller Prize, House of Anansi, Lisa Moore, Lisa Moore, National Post, OAC, ob, Opinion, Publishing, Reading, reviewing, women, writers, Writing

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National Post columnist Barbara Kay really has it in for novelist Lisa Moore. The one-sided feud began last July, when Kay responded to Post reporter Katherine Laidlaw’s “gushy” profile of the two-time Giller Prize nominee, calling Moore’s most recent novel, February, “unreadably Canadian,” a prime example of the “navel-gazing narrative stasis” that defines Canadian literature. “Welcome to the unrelenting self-regard of CanLit,” Kay wrote, “where it’s all about nobly suffering women or feminized men.”

The only catch was that Kay had yet to read the book in question. However, the opinionated journalist rectified the situation on her summer vacation, reading February and a handful of other literary titles sent to her by Moore’s publisher, House of Anansi Press. Not surprisingly, Kay’s summer reading only confirmed her assumptions about the novel’s unmanly approach to character and plot. “February is 99% writerly foreplay, 1% readerly orgasm,” she writes:

Moore is an enormously talented writer, but like so many others of her sensitive, creative workshopped-to-death ilk, a writer’s writer privileging an artistic, leisured rendering of memory and feeling over prole-friendly dialogue, action and, above all, plot.

According to Kay, the woeful state of CanLit can be blamed on the impact that feminism has had on the industry (Canadian publishing is “highly feminized by comparison to 40 years ago,” she observes) and indulgent public-sector grants, which encourage writers to “start writing for bureaucrats, academics, theorists and literary elites, not for flesh and blood readers,” Kay argues.

Of course, it’s impossible to take seriously a critic whose pre-judgments are so ingrained and politically charged. Unfortunately for Moore, any number of authors could have stood in as the target of Kay’s screed.

Brian

Barbara Kay needs to keep her pathetic self-loathing to herself.
Barryfitz McMorleyoconnellcuddy

I guess the next thing is for J-Kay to pen a Post editorial saying that mommy’s right ‘n’ stuff, suckle suckle.
Jimmy

Brian, what has a journalist’s critique of the CanLit industry — and it is an industry — and the products it creates got to with a critic’s “pathetic self-loathing”? What in God’s name does that even mean??? It’s sad to see you and Stuart resorting to the oldest trick in the book: when someone says something critical of the status quo, blame that criticism on the critic’s personal biases or emotional problems. The other 90% of the media who write gushy, jacket-copy-worthy praise of every CanLit title (see the Globe books section) are, naturally, writing from the heart and bring no biases or thoughts of personal gain to their opinions. You and Stuart may be surprised that a sizable minority of readers — that would be the lowly minions who keep the publishing houses in business — agree with Kay’s assessment. They don’t find Kay’s opinions “impossible” to take seriously.
david worsley

I’ve read all of Lisa Moore’s books and although I’ve got some issues with “the CanLit industry” such as it is; Lisa Moore is a very talented writer.
Bon mots like “99% writerly foreplay, 1% readerly orgasm,” only reveal Kay’s writerly deficiencies, and a critic who slams a book without reading is pretty much asking not to be taken seriously.
charlesdemers

Jimmy — I would imagine that the reference to “self-loathing” refers either to the fact that a female critic has denounced the “feminization” of an industry, or else the fact that a Canadian critic has used the word “Canadian” as a rough synonym for “execrable.” Whether you agree or not, “self-loathing” isn’t exactly a wild leap.
Andrew M in Calgary

For what its worth I can’t get enough of Lisa Moore’s writng.
Lesley Steeve

Shorter Barbara Kay: “Why didn’t Moore write about [specific topic I am interested in]? What about the MENNNNNN?”

Hi, IT IS NOT ABOUT YOU. When YOU write a book, YOU can write about manly men doing dangerous jobs. Because NO ONE in the history of writing has ever explored that territory. Oh, and feminists “are the only types considered for the Giller Prize”? Great! When my novel comes out, I’ll be sure to make that argument in the jacket copy.
akd

“unreadably Canadian.” That’s an hilarious phrase. How terribly cute. How ultimately boring.
Let’s see.
New entree on menu. I hate it. It’s sickly sweet; or maybe it’s sour as a pickle. Never mind. It’s definitely lacking in culinary depth.
So. let me taste it. yup. just as i thought. nope. you didn’t see me slurping.
R. Collins

Kay refers to “feminized paeans to a sepulchral past, mired in poetically lyrical, but navel-gazing narrative stasis”.

wow, talk about gibberished purple prose.
C. Crawley

Lisa Moore’s February is my favourite book of the past several years. But what do I know? I’m partial to CanLit, which according to Kay is unreadable.

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