Ten Best

[Ric Knowles]

Gaetan,

One of the problems academic have circulates around the canonization of
particular works (and therefore values), and the ideological implications
of "best" (which tends to conflate moral and aesthetic senses of the
term). What can read like lack of interest is sometimes a deep-seated
unease about the whole enterprise. The most significant value of your
encyclopedia, as far as I'm concerned, is its (democratic) inclusiveness:
if you send it, we will post. And no "experts" decide the value of
whose contriutions (as was made clear in the stage management debate a
while back). I'd be happiest not to see the Canon of Canadian Drama
established--and this feeling may account for the lack of input from some
quarters. (This is not to attack those who do respond, or who don't
feel as I do, only to suggest that a lack of response may not indicate a
lack of interest, or lack of commitment to the field.)

Cheers,

Ric