Dramatic Discourse at Talonbooks: Narratives on the Publisher-Author Relationship

Abstract

The emergent interest in Canadian literary studies in the role of publishing can be seen as a reflection of confidence in the value of Canadian literature. It can also be seen as a continuation of an ongoing attention to the complex dynamics involved in creation, production and readership of text. Both the Spring 1997 issue of Open Letter, devoted to an examination of Coach House Press, and Sam Solecki’s 1998 Imagining Canadian Literature: The Selected Letters of Jack McClelland, for example, by the very act of chronicling the histories of their respective presses, assume the validity of the fiction, non-fiction and poetry whose publication they record, pay tribute to those responsible for making that work public and provide insight into publishing processes. A more recent study, the Spring 1999 issue of Canadian Theatre Review, themed “Publishing Canadian Theatre,” acknowledges and examines the contributions of such drama publishers as Playwrights Canada Press and Talonbooks, but functions primarily – and significantly – to generate interrogation into the distinct nature of drama publication. As editor Ann Wilson writes, “this issue is only the beginning – raising questions and offering insights with no definitive analyses” (3).