CANADIAN WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS: FICTION SERIES, VOLUME SIX Edited by Robert Lecker, Jack David, and Ellen Quigley. Toronto, ON: ECW Press, 1985. 283pp., cloth, $40.00. ISBN 0-920802-86-9. CIP. CANADIAN WRITERS AND THEIR WORKS: FICTION SERIES, VOLUME SEVEN Edited by Robert Lecker, Jack David, and Ellen Quigley. Toronto, ON: ECW Press, 1985. 312pp., cloth, $40.00. ISBN 0-920802-88-5. CIP. Subject Headings: Canadian fiction-History and criticism. Authors, Canadian-Biography. Grades 12 and up / Ages 17 and up Reviewed by Alan Thomas. Volume 14 Number 2 1986 March With these two volumes, ECW Press brings before us critical discussion and bibliographies for ten contemporary Canadian writers of fiction: volume VI covers Robertson Davies, Hugh Garner,Mordecai Richler, Ethel Wilson, Adele Wiseman; volume Vll covers Clark Blaise, Hugh Hood, John Metcalf, Alice Munro, and Sheila Watson. These lists comprise a formidable array of names and diverse talents. George Woodcock acknowledges this diversity as he labels the first group non-experimental (and more-or-less realist) and the second group modernist in its affinities. But the grouping is not of first importance, since each writer is treated separately, and the value of this admirable series lies in the concentration of attention on the individual writer's life, work, and critical reputation, all within about sixty pages. This is short enough compass to start a student with facts, ideas, and a sense of perspective without the danger of the material proving overwhelming. The writing is lively and free from jargon. In addition to Woodcock's lucid and sensible introductions (which are particularly enlightening on Davies and Richler) several contributions on minor writers deserve special praise: in volume six, Paul Stuewe's essay on Garner moves imaginatively and skilfully between life and work, recreating the Toronto literary scene of the 1940s and Michael Greenstein appraises Adele Wiseman's work in the Jewish tradition succinctly and yet profoundly; in volume seven, Stephen Scobie elucidates Sheila Watson's The Double-Hook with a sensitive feel for the language and the symbolic pattern. These essays dignify the study of Canadian fiction. Alan Thomas, Scarborough College, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON.