ALL THE POLARITIES: COMPARATIVE STUDIES IN CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN NOVELS IN FRENCH AND ENGLISH. Stratford, Philip. Toronto, ECW Press, c1986. 109pp, paper, ISBN 0-920763-04-9 (cloth) $25.00, 0-920763-05-7 (paper) $15.00. CIP Grades 11 and up Reviewed by Vivienne Denton Volume 15 Number 1 1987 January This comparative study of several Canadian novels in French and English by Philip Stratford, professor of literature at L'Université de Montréal, is, as its title suggests, not an attempt to break new ground but rather an attempt to present a synthesis of current methods in the comparative treatment of Canadian literature. The author intends it to be a manual illustrative of the types of investigations appropriate to comparative studies in Canadian literature, and, as a handbook for teachers and students it is sound, scholarly, and instructive. The book consists of six essays, plus an introduction and concluding chapter, which are useful and interesting for their discussion of methodology. In each of the six essays, Stratford compares two contemporary Canadian novels, one written in French and one in English, which seem by subject, style, or in other ways such as the backgrounds of the authors, to invite comparison. The six essays examine the following pairs of writers: Hugh Mac-Lennan and Gabrielle Roy, Sinclair Ross and André Langevin, Margaret Laurence and Anne Hébert, Alice Munro and Marie-Claire Blais, Robert Kroetsch and Roch Carrier, and Margaret Atwood and Hubert Aquin. In each essay, Stratford looks at the authors and the cultural milieu from which their creations spring, and compares the novels both thematically and stylistically, with the emphasis in each essay differing, depending upon the material under discussion. The novelists chosen are key writers in each language, and the essays could well serve as models for the student of comparative literature. Vivienne Denton, Toronto, Ont.