Mavis Gallant's What Is To Be Done? by Linda Leith
LLP is publishing a new edition of Mavis Gallant's play What Is To Be Done? in September 2017. What follows is an excerpt from Linda Leith's introduction.
LLP is publishing a new edition of Mavis Gallant's play What Is To Be Done? in September 2017. What follows is an excerpt from Linda Leith's introduction.
Ah, a book for me, I thought. Every time I have taken the Myers-Briggs test (or a variation of it), I have been on the 100% Introvert end of the scale from Introvert to Extrovert.
There have been too many shows of impatience and anger, with each side blaming the other. With few exceptions, this has all been a question of words -- sharp words, throw-away words, unthinking words -- but they have succeeded in hardening attitudes and deepening divisions. Fine words are not all it takes to improve matters, but they can help a great deal in such a language-obsessed city as Montreal.
Mark Abley's Conversations with a Dead Man is an unorthodox mash-up of sources, but it is this generic variety which allows the text to both entertain and succeed.
