Much to my dismay, this year's Globe 100 was published late last month. I thought I'd made it clear last year that November is too early. This annual round-up of the year's best books should never appear before December. How is it that a conservative newspaper is so willing to flout tradition?
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| Four books from the Globe's 1925 and 2025 lists. |
"It is a good year for books," writes Hammond, and yet at 110 titles the 1925 Globe list is far shorter than any previous year. For goodness sake, the 1920 list numbered 264!
I suspect the Globe advertising department was somewhat to blame. The list runs just three pages, and in terms of column inches the feature attracted less than a third of the last year's advertising. Of the companies that did place ads, Eaton's wins for including this:
How I'd love to see a photo the Book Advisor's "special nook."
(Apologies, I didn't mean that to sound filthy.)
The 1925 Globe 110, consists of nine categories:
TravelJuvenileEconomics & SociologyPoetry & DramaFiction by Canadian WritersBritish & Foreign Fiction [sic]History & BiographyReligion & TheologyEssays
Canadians are represented in every one save 'British & Foreign Fiction' (naturally) and 'Economics & Sociology' (make of that what you will). More than ever, Canadians dominate 'Poetry & Drama' taking nine of the ten titles:
Far Horizons - Bliss CarmanCanadian Singers and their Songs - Edward S. CarswellPillar of Smoke - John Crichton [Norman Gregor Guthrie]Songs of a Bluenose - H.A. CodyLow Life: A Comedy in Three Acts - Mazo de la RocheBritish Drama - Allardyce NicollLittle Songs - Majorie L.C. PickthallWayside Gleams - Laura G. SalversonThe Sea Wall - Lyon SharmonLocker Room Ballads - W. Hastings Webling
To my surprise, three of the ten feature in my collection:
The introduction to the two fiction categories comes courtesy of C.C. Jenkins. He begins: "Glancing over the past year's lists of fiction, one is moved to the comment that, though there are a few outstanding works, [there are] none that give promise of greatness."
The introduction to the two fiction categories comes courtesy of C.C. Jenkins. He begins: "Glancing over the past year's lists of fiction, one is moved to the comment that, though there are a few outstanding works, [there are] none that give promise of greatness."
Here are eight 1925 novels that did not make the Globe's 1925 list:
Dark Laughter - Sherwood AndersonManhattan Transfer - John Dos PassosAn American Tragedy - Theodore DreiserThe Great Gatsby - F. Scott FitzgeraldNo More Parades - Ford Maddox FordArrowsmith - Sinclair LewisGentlemen Prefer Blondes - Anita LoosCarry On, Jeeves - P.G. WodehouseMrs Dalloway - Virginia Woolf
Where Hammond was concerned of strain, stress, and restlessness in post-war society, Jenkins writes of nervousness and hysterical predilections of its fiction, all the while gently assuring the reader that these conditions are abating:
Fiction is slipping back into its old groove – that of merely telling a story and telling it as well as possible – which groove, after all, may be followed with permanent success. That is what the reader has demanded in the past and what he will continue to demand in the future. 'Jazzed ' literature is but a passing phase, which has just about seen its day.
He's partial to old standbys like James Oliver Curwood, Jeffery Farnol. Ellen Glasgow, A.S.M. Hutchinson, William J. Locke, George Barr McCutcheon, and Stewart Edward White, all of whom are included in this list.
For the second year running, Canadian fiction writers score eighteen titles:
Glorious Apollo - E. BarringtonTreading the Wine Press - Ralph ConnorThe Scarlet Sash - John M. ElsonThe Golden Galleon of Caribee - Gordon Hill GrahameThe Living Forest - Arthur HemingDay Before Yesterday -Fred JacobThe High Forfeit - Basil KingBrains, Limited - Archie P. McKishniePainted Fires - Nellie McClungEmily Climbs - L.M. MontgomeryBroken Waters - Frank L. PackardThe Power and the Glory - Gilbert ParkerThe Crimson West - Alex PhilipWhen Sparrows Fall - Laura Goodman SalversonThe Laughing Birds - Archibald SullivanThe Chopping Bell and Other Laurentian Stories - M. VitorinCaptain Salvation - Frederick William Wallace
I own four, yet have read only Wild Geese... and that just this October!
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| The well-loved olive green book is a first edition of Emily Climbs. |
Though Wild Geese leads the 'Fiction by Canadian Writers' list, it's clear Jenkins does not share my enthusiasm:
Jenkins is much more complimentary of The High Forfeit by long-time Dusty Bookcase favourite Basil King:
This is one of the first books I ever bought by Rev King. How is it I still haven't read it?
Nineteen-twenty-five is the pinnacle of twentieth-century English-language literature, yet as far as the Canadian is concerned, it's little more than a dead zone. The most notable novel that did not make the Globe's list is R.T.M. Scott's The Black Magician.
It is right that it didn't make the cut.
The Canadian non-fiction titles, typically travel books, collections of sermons, and dry political biographies penned by allies, surprises with the inclusion of Marjorie Pickthall: A Book of Remembrance. A favourite volume in my library, it's a beautifully produced, loving tribute to a once-celebrated, now forgotten writer, put together by those who clearly shared great affection for their departed friend.
Marjorie Pickthall's posthumous Little Songs is listed amongst the years's best poetry collections. Like the others, it is long out of print. The good news is that two of the forty Canadian titles on the 1925 Globe 110 are in print today: Martha Ostenso's Wild Geese, Emily Climbs by L.M. Montgomery, and Painted Fires by Nellie McClung.*
Three is thrice the average for these century-old lists!
I like to think the Canadian books on the 2025 Globe list will fare even better. I also like to think that in one hundred years book publishing will still exist.
* When first posted, I'd written that only two titles, Wild Geese and Emily Climbs, were in print today. A reader's comment reminded me that Painted Fires was revived in 2014 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press. Thank you, Melwyk!
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