The Case Of The. Fox: Being His Prophecies Under Hypnotism of the Period Ending A.D. 1950: A Political Utopia

In this 1903 Utopian novel, Dr. Aerius Pott puts a poet under hypnosis to gain visions from the future. The work is a worthwhile read, if only for entertainment purposes. The legal system described is highly improbable as is the idea that crime would all but disappear by the year 1950. The relationship and labour structures described as well as the gaudy-sounding architecture are some high points in the text. 

The work is slightly obscure. Amazon.ca offers only high priced, scanned reproductions, which include a disclaimer that the pages and text may be flawed or incomplete in some places. The edition I read was an original 1903 printing. 

The Soul of Man Under Socialism (Oscar Wilde)

Previously, I was familiar with Oscar Wilde only through his fictional works, such as A Picture of Dorian Gray, so I was surprised to find his name on a library shelf containing books about socialism and politics. The Soul of Man is a small book. It's more of an essay really. 

Wilde makes some unusual arguments for socialism, stating that socialism breeds individualism more effectively than capitalism. He attributes this to the way people are blinded by capitalism into finding their identity through objects and property rather than through their mind and their abilities. Wilde is less concerned with the economic practicalities of his version of socialism, than he is with the system's ability to allow the creation of art. Although some of Wilde's ideas left me shaking my head, I feel reading the work was worthwhile. 

Tell the Wolves I'm Home (Carol Rifka Brunt)

Set in the 1980's, Tell the Wolves I'm Home deals with thirteen year old June and her family as they cope with the death of June's uncle Finn after he succumbs to AIDS. June realizes early on in the book that her uncle, who she had known was gay, had also had a boyfriend whom she never met. 

I read this book in an afternoon. I don't think I set it down for more than a few moments at any point. It's difficult to watch a young girl deal with the death of someone she was close to, but it's even more difficult to watch the people around her skirt around the cause of his death and speak of AIDS as if it was something they could catch by breathing the same air as someone with it. What made the story even more heartbreaking was Junes affection for her Uncle Finn, an affection that even her own mother realized, was slightly inappropriate. 

It's the kind of book that leaves you sitting and thinking afterwards. You close the final page and you sit in your chair, sipping your tea--which has gone cold--until you finally stand up and move on. It's a book that make you feel. 

I first heard about this book through the book-tuber TheReading Rhodes: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Yx8kl9eXr3I

Thirty Years: 1922-1952: The Story of the Communist Movement in Canada (Tim Buck)

This was a light read I pulled off the shelf at my university library the other week. I read most of it sitting down near a pond at my favourite park. It's an odd feeling to be sitting peacefully while at the same time reading about violence and political arrests carried out against Canadians who less than a hundred years before had been, in this same country, organizing labour unions. Not so long ago, in the 1930's, being a communist was considered a crime. 

The book, at about 240 pages is a short, but fascinating read. It's a good start for anyone looking to piece together the history of communist and socialist movements in Canada. 

A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (James DeMille)

This book is mandatory reading for the Early Canadian Lit. course I'm taking this spring. I wasn't sure what to think about it when I first began reading. My immediate reaction a few chapters in was to say, "this is so Jules Verne." It also reminded me a bit of Gulliver's Travels and perhaps a little bit of the The Swiss Family Robinson.

The plot is two-layered. A small group of men of leisure, while sailing through the South Pacific pull a copper cylinder from water and find within it a manuscript written on papyrus. They proceed to spend the remainder of the book reading the manuscript aloud and commenting on it (not an unusual formula for 19th century novels). It is through this method that we the reader hear the story of Adam More, who became lost in a snow storm in a years earlier and was sucked into an opening of some sort within the south pole that carried him into another world with strange landscapes, strange people, and strange, dangerous customs.

The plot is nothing extraordinary and at times I found myself suspending my disbelief, not in the creates presented, but in the actions of Adam More. Not once does he discuss his life prior to the story and not once does he long for family or friends he left behind.

What took the novel to another level, away from sensational popular fiction, is the intense amount of philosophy as well as social and political commentary that the author, James DeMillie, has manged to weave into it. At times there seems to be a satirical battle between the validity of the capitalist and communist life-style. This pleased me. I'm automatically more interested in any book which I can relate political ideologies to.

I had no idea Canadian writing of the 19th century could be like this. A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder is a refreshing change from the settler focused and rural settings of much of the Canadian literature written around the same time period.

Mortar: Revolutionary Journal of Common Cause Anarchist Organization: Volume 2

This is Volume 2 of a publication put out by Common Cause, an anarchist-communist organization in southern Ontario. I was given this copy for free and I believe a simple Google search will produce a PDF copy. 

Reading it was interesting and not quite what I expected.  Although I do not identify with anarchist-communist politics, many of the ideas discussed are reconcilable with my own politics. I did not expect to relate to the arguments presented as much as I did. 

The publication stresses direct action and participation in struggles (the class struggle) through formal organizations which operate as alternatives to state structures, but also warns against being too radical or trying projects which lack common sense, such as alternative medical-care structures which put people's health at risk.

Activists need to look beyond their universities, unions and workplaces to take a neighbourhood or community-style approach, the authors say. Community building seems to be a focus of the Common Cause. I came into this work knowing little to nothing about the organization. Perhaps this quote summarizes partly what their goals are:

“As anarchist communists, we imagine a post-revolutionary society as being composed of a decentralized network of autonomous, self-governing assemblies and councils, where decisions are made collectively by those most directly affected by their outcomes. These localized structures can be federalized when necessary, into larger decision-making bodies that could address issues of broader regional significance—such as water and waste management”(27).

Part of the publication is devoted to a discussion of sexual violence and how Common Cause deals with it within their group on the rare occasion when they are forced to. Significantly, the writers said that they use their politics to shape their policy. I liked these lines: "People who sexually assault others should be thought of less as “community members” and more as class traitors. They take advantage of the divisions in society...for their personal gain” (74).

The publication closes with a brief discussion of the risks of activism, and of opposing the structure and taking part in the class struggle. 

I would certainly recommend Mortar for any reader looking to expand their perspective beyond the mainstream view.  

Fractured Man (Jacob R. Blacquiere)

This was given to me as a free e-book by the author in exchange for an unbiased review.

Cliché. The first thing I wondered is why one of the main characters had been named Winston. There’s nothing original about that name. It’s extremely Anglo-Saxon. It’s the sort of name you would expect to find in a science-fiction novel. Then there’s Yara, the first woman described in the novel. She has long blonde hair and blue eyes. In my whole life I have encountered only a handful of women with long blonde hair and blue eyes, yet this archetype continues to pop up in novels.

The plot is nothing spectacular, but it is fine. It is exactly what one would expect to find in a dime-store sci-fi novel. It seems that generations before a mass human exodus occurred and those who were left behind learned to survive with the aid of a substance referred to as synthetica (incidentally also the name of an album by Canadian Indie rock band Metric?). The novel opens as Winston and companions go out at night to collect the substance..

The novel reaches a higher note with the introduction of Aleha Sanderson, a scientist on the ship Pioneer-1, in the second chapter. She returns to have a look at the planet her ancestors abandoned 1000 years before. I was less impressed by Marian, who makes her entrance into the novel by playing the part of the weak woman and sobbing in Winston’s arms.

I do give author Jacob R. Blacquiere credit for his portrayal of the culture and the legends in which Winston lives. Like all civilizations, Winston’s people have stories surrounding their methods of existence which they both believe in and doubt at the same time. An interesting parallel can be drawn between real world religions, and institutions.

The novel is available as an e-book on Amazon.