Stories About Storytellers Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and others Douglas Gibson INTRODUCTION BY ALICE MUNRO “I’ll Kill Him!” — Mavis Gallant STORIES ABOUT STORYTELLERS Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and Others by Douglas Gibson with illustrations by Anthony Jenkins ECW Press copyright © Douglas Gibson, 2011 Published by ECW Press 2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200, Toronto, Ontario, Canada m4e 1e2 416-694-3348 / [email protected] All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process — electronic, mechani- cal, photocopying, recording, or otherwise — without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press. The scanning, uploading, and distribu- tion of this book via the Internet or via any other means without the permission of the publisher is illegal and punishable by law. Please purchase only authorized electronic editions, and do not participate in or encourage electronic piracy of copyrighted materials. Your support of the author’s rights is appreciated. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Gibson, Douglas Stories about storytellers : publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and others / Douglas Gibson. isbn 978-1-77041-068-8 Also issued in electronic formats 978-1-77090-049-3 (epub); 978-1-77090-050-9 (pdf) 1. Gibson, Douglas. 2. McClelland and Stewart Limited — History. 3. Publishers and publishing — Canada — Biography. I. Title. z483.g53a3 2011 070.92 c2011-902828-x Editor for the press: Jennifer Knoch Cover design: David Gee Text design: Tania Craan Typesetting: Mary Bowness Printing: Friesens 1 2 3 4 5 The publication of Stories About Storytellers has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, and by the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario. We also acknowledge the financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canada Book Fund for our publishing activities, and the contribution of the Government of Ontario through the Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit. The marketing of this book was made possible with the support of the Ontario Media Development Corporation. Printed and bound in Canada To four Gibson Girls — Jane, Jenny, Meg, and Katie TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION by Alice Munro vii 1 STEPHEN LEACOCK 1869–1944 Professor, Humorist, and Immigration Agent 1 2 HUGH MacLENNAN 1907–1990 Teacher, Novelist, Essayist, and Cottager 20 3 R.D. SYMONS 1898–1973 Cowboy, Writer, Artist, and Conservationist 43 4 HAROLD HORWOOD 1923–2006 Newfoundlander, Novelist, Naturalist, and Neglected Genius 51 5 BARRY BROADFOOT 1926–2003 Newspaper Guy, and Oral Historian 69 6 MORLEY CALLAGHAN 1903–1990 Novelist, Short Story Writer, and Torontonian 90 7 W.O. MITCHELL 1914–1998 Character, and Creator of Characters 107 8 ROBERTSON DAVIES 1913–1995 Man of Letters, Oracle, and Ugly Duckling 120 9 JACK HODGINS 1938– Islander, Teacher, and Inventor of Worlds 142 10 JAMES HOUSTON 1921–2005 Artist, Author, Hunter, and Igloo Dweller 163 11 CHARLES RITCHIE 1906–1995 Diplomat, Diarist, and Charming Dissembler 184 12 PIERRE TRUDEAU 1919–2000 Prime Minister, Author, and Haunting Icon 196 13 MAVIS GALLANT 1922– Short Story Writer, Canadian, and Parisienne 206 14 PETER C. NEWMAN 1929– Refugee, Journalist, and Power-Seeking Missile 226 15 BRIAN MULRONEY 1939– Boy from Baie Comeau, Prime Minister, and Author 245 16 ROBERT HUNTER 1941–2005 Greenpeace Founder, Writer, and Very Merry Man 265 17 ALISTAIR MacLEOD 1936– Teacher, Fiction Writer, Stone Carver, and Dancer 280 18 PAUL MARTIN 1938– Successful Businessman, Very Successful Finance Minister, and Prime Minister 299 19 PETER GZOWSKI 1934–2002 Writer, and Voice 319 20 VAL ROSS 1950–2008 Journalist, Author, and Maker of Rules 338 21 ALICE MUNRO 1931– Not Bad Short Story Writer 343 EPILOGUE “What Happens After My Book Is Published?” 363 AFTERWORD AND ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 371 introduction by Alice Munro One of my favourite things to read is a tightly packed and punchy piece of biography, or, as you might call it, biographical observa- tion. Finding out about people who seem to have become somewhat special — it’s addictive. Maybe we think it will become instructive. I don’t know. I do enjoy it. Some are famous, it seems, because they always knew they would be. Others won’t admit they are famous at all. (These are mostly Canadians, and over 50.) And there are rare people who just don’t notice, because they are busy all the time doing something more worthy and exciting. Doug Gibson has met a number of these people, and tells about it in this book. He is their editor and their publisher. He tells us something about what they’re like, catching them in dire, or proud, or funny moments, when they are preparing for, enduring, enjoying, or living down whatever limelight falls on them. He’s the man who helped them to get there. He sees them in less fateful moments, too, if they have any. He deals with them, on these pages, with lots of good humour and observes them in ways that are acute, but mostly understanding. He is not easily dismayed. People in this book have latched onto their fame in various ways, but it’s the writers — fiction writers — that I go after. I don’t care (much) who they might be having an affair with, or who they’re not speaking to, and that’s a good thing, because in this book I’m not going to find out. What I want to know is how they manage the sepa- ration — or the lack of it — between writing and life. What about their behaviour when they’re recognized in public? The dismay when they’re not? Do public readings throw them? Or buoy them up? Or both? Do they ever feel like a fraud? Is writing competing with real viii STORIES ABOUT STORYTELLERS life or could they not tell the two things apart? Did all of them have wonderful wives? (Yes. Yes.) And here is a digression. I am noting that nearly all of them are of the gender that has wives, and the very stroke of my pen could get grumpy, but I have to tell you this was never Mr. Gibson’s fault. He was as determined to spot, harass, encourage, and publish a female writer as anybody could possibly be. There just weren’t many of us around. Do I discover what I’m looking for about writers, do I get some idea of the everyday, unique person? Oh, yes. Some are bare-boned organizers, while some are ready to dance on tables, often showing that strange mix of humiliation and self-exposure that makes for a bumpy life and fine fiction. There are the writers, of course, who go around marvellously disguised as perfectly normal human beings and are not much fun. There’s another type of storyteller, too. They don’t invent much. They pick up yarns and tales and pass them along as they go. Doug has some of them in his pocket as well. He has paid attention to the stories, the ways of life, belonging to those whose lives have meant a lot more to them than literature of any sort, who just like to tell you about something, then let it fall by the way. A remarkable mix, this book. And because of that, I have to break off from fiction, even though I believe it’s in every breath we draw. Even in the story sworn as true, and provided with names, about the Mean-Daughter-In-Law that I heard in Tim Hortons the other day. We have to bow to all the non-fiction writers here as well, prime ministers and others, and to all the accounts of events that really happened and maybe even changed the world forever. And make another bow to the once-living (or still-living) amazing characters, often beyond anything you’d get away within a mere story, faithfully produced in this book. As a former bookseller I know that here’s what your father, your grandfather, or any other fiction-snooting fellow wants as a gift on important occasions. I have to say that the stories are interesting, sometimes compelling. Doug feels a powerful interest, and so will you. So do I. ix INTRODUCTION Here I am, giving this book its due, and reading it with appe- tite and pleasure. How else would I ever know what the suave and delightful Charles Ritchie said to the thoroughly unpleasant Edward Heath? So here is my prize read for people who are interested in books, writers, Canada, life, and all that kind of thing. Thanks, Doug.