Invocations: The Poetry and Prose of Gwendolyn Macewen

by Jan Bartley

Invocations offers a new critical reading of Gwendolyn MacEwen's poetry and prose. It begins with a review of critical assessments of her work which reveals that, while fascinated with MacEwen's mythic sensibility, critics are concerned with the elusive, complex nature of her language and vision as rooted in sources often obscure to the reader. In this book, poet-critic Jan Bartley places MacEwen within the tradition of Canadian literature and examines her major sources -- notably the study of alchemy and Jungian philosophy -- to reveal the inner logic of her poetic explorations.

120 pages, Kindle Edition

First published July 1, 1983

Reviews

[Vicki Nemeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

DNF. I selected this book by mistake amongst a pile of poetry books. I only read the first chapter (to Page 14). As it is a collection of critical readings of MacEwen's work, I must put it down at least until I give MacEwen's poems a read-through myself. Otherwise, it influences my own reading.

Which matters, since I don't yet agree with everything the essayist says. For instance, I don't agree with some critics' readings of MacEwen's symbols. There are some mystical ideas that MacEwen expresses herself, but there are others that the broader community pushed on her work.

[Feb 2025 edit: A little further into "Breakfast for Barbarians" and it's looking VERY political. I'm unamused at how the broader CanLit community's mysticist readings depoliticized MacEwen's work. I have to think hard about whether I want to go back through all the poems and research the events they're commenting on.]

If 20C Canada allowed healthy avenues for introspection, perhaps MacEwen would have made better relationships and lived longer. It's perfectly alright for a poet to be healthy and realistic. As MacEwen seemed to guess by her relationship attempts, it's more normalized in other cultures.

At least I appreciated the first essay telling me what the Canadian Gothic genre of CanLit is about. I'm feeling a bit concerned that my high school teachers didn't do a better job of that.