The Bull Calf

The Bull Calf 4.2

Editors' Note

Like the first weeks of September for those of us entrenched in university life, this issue is packed with things about which to be excited. It includes thoughtful and provocative reviews on new novels, poetry, and non-fiction, and a retrospective on the late Farley Mowat’s Whale for the Killing. Zane Koss’s attention to Julie Jossten’s “calm and clear voice” in her debut poetry collection, Light Light, finds in Joosten a kindred of Phyllis Webb. Matthew Redmond’s review of Tamas Dobozy’s Siege 13, a short-story collection about the siege of Budapest in 1944, is interestingly paired with Bart Vartour’s review of Bearing Witness, a collection of critical essays about witnessing war in art. Redmond commends Dobozy’s collection for its “a powerful awareness of the burden involved in speaking about the past,” praise that seems even more important beside Vautour’s reminder that the “work of bearing witness is an extremely complicated and ethical activity.” This issue also features reviews of works that remind us of two figures who helped to shape Canadian literature in the twentieth century. Our retrospective this issue is a review of late Farley Mowat’s Whale for the Killing, a reissued “Mowat classic.” As Alana Fletcher points out, this reissue “has become sadly timely since the author’s death this past May.” In our non-fiction section, we feature Colin Hill’s review of Sandra Campbell’s “ambitious and sometimes surprising” biography of Lorne Pierce.

We hope you’ll find in these reviews all the energy and promise synonymous with the early days of September.

Welcome to The Bull Calf 4.2.

Jeff and Kait