Proving Its Worth

How do you review a reference work? Not by arguing with the information, unless you find a typo or a sheer misstatement. Rather, you review a reference work best by letting readers know who the book is meant for and what it offers in the way of enlightenment. So what does this Cambridge History of Canadian Literature, edited by Carol Ann Howells and Eva-Marie Kröller, offer the lay reader? Rather than poring over every entry and treating you to the he-said-she-said of my opinion of their opinions, I want to focus instead on two primary questions: what does the book’s structure tell you about its subject, and what does its style tell you about its intended audience?

One of the first items any reader encounters is a table of contents. This one underlines how the Cambridge History’s structure resembles that of Carl Klinck’s 1965 Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English. That book too is composed of essays by diverse hands...