CLASSIFICATION
Swallow ID:
4038
Partner Institution:
University of British Columbia, Okanagan
Source Collection Label:
Frank Davey fonds
Sub Series:
Frank Davey fonds
ITEM DESCRIPTION
Title:
DAVEY - Robin MATHEWS Debate
Title Source:
Title written on cassette.
Language:
English
Production Context:
Documentary recording
Genre:
Reading: Poetry
Identifiers:
[]
Rights
Rights:
Copyright Not Evaluated (CNE)
CREATORS
Name:
Mathews, Robin
Dates:
1931-
Role:
"Reader",
"Speaker"
Name:
Davey, Frank
Dates:
1940-
Role:
"Reader",
"Speaker"
Name:
Canadian Book Publishing Council
Notes:
Sponsor.
Name:
Council for the Arts in Ottawa
Role:
"Series organizer"
Name:
Young, George
Role:
"Recordist",
"Speaker",
"Series organizer"
Notes:
Moderator of the panel. Young was also one of the co-organizers of the event, and the recordist of this particular tape.
Name:
McMullen, Deborah
Role:
"Series organizer"
Notes:
Co-organizer of the event.
CONTRIBUTORS
MATERIAL DESCRIPTION
Image:
Recording Type:
Analogue
AV Type:
Audio
Material Designation:
Cassette
Physical Composition:
Magnetic Tape
Extent:
1/8 inch
Side:
A & B
Tape Brand:
BASF AV Cassette C90
Sound Quality:
Good
Physical Condition:
Good
DIGITAL FILE DESCRIPTION
Sample Rate:
96,000
Duration:
T00:41:59
Size:
1.46 GB
Bitrate:
24
Notes:
Side A
Sample Rate:
96,000
Duration:
T00:46:49
Size:
813.3 MB
Bitrate:
24
Notes:
Side B
Dates
Date:
1985-10-19
Type:
Performance Date
Source:
Recording
Notes:
Date spoken by moderator George Young at beginning of recording.
LOCATION
Address:
1019 St-Laurent Boulevard, Ottawa, ON, Canada
Venue:
Ottawa Public Library
Latitude:
45.3999751
Longitude:
-75.6250127491024
CONTENT
Contents:
Debate and reading held on October 19th, 1985 at the Ottawa Public Library between Robin Mathews (Professor at Carleton University) and Frank Davey (Head of English Dept at York University in Toronto). The debate was moderated and recorded by George Young, sponsored by the Canadian Book Publishing Council, and organized by the Council for the Arts in Ottawa. The event consists of a reading by Robin Mathews, then a reading by Frank Davey, and then a debate.
Notes:
Contents entry temporary.
NOTES
Type:
General
Note:
Item #: 2014.002.013
Type:
General
Note:
Digitization complete. Transcription complete.
Type:
General
Note:
For more information, see the article "Computers to change book form?" from Citizen Book editor, Burt Heward's column, "Cover to Cover" in The Ottawa Citizen, October 19, 1985. https://www.newspapers.com/newspage/464365037/
Transcription of "Computers to change book form?":
"Ottawa's fourth annual Festival of the Arts is getting its biggest boost ever from the book community, specially the debate today between literary critics Frank Davey of York University and Robin Mathews of Carleton University.
The first of the five lively events under the WordWorks title, the debate between computer-advocate Davey and nationalist Mathews, promises fireworks. It was to begin at 1 p.m. today in the Ottawa Public Library auditorium, Metcalfe and Laurier.
Author Mathews operates a traditional small publishing operation, Steel Rail Press, while poet Davey is founder of Swift Current, a computer network for writers. Most appropriately for them, the topic is 'Whither the Book?'
'I have opposed the Mathews style of nationalism, Davey said earlier, 'because it assumes a single definition of Canadian culture. It seems to stem from a United Empire Loyalist tradition that may be valid in Ontario, but is not in the West.'
Davey said he prefers a Diefenbaker-style 'community of communities ... an accumulation of regional artistic cultures.'
Mathews's traditional views reflect a central stream of Canadian literature and valid concerns--shared by Davey--about the nation's cultural survival. Steel Rail next month launches Ottawa poet Patrick White's long poem in honor of a Chilean leftist martyr, Homage to Victor Jara (paperback, $7.95). It includes translation into Spanish by Ottawa Cuban-Canadian Juan O'Neil.
Do books, as we know them, have a future?
Davey offers a radical view that publishers will lose their power to decide the number of copies, the type of paper and the cost of books as readers assume authority.
'With the computer,' said Davey, 'you can actually send the text of the book to a bookstore and have the printing done there and the reader could determine there all the things decided by the publisher.'
Davey said the bookstore printings to suit individuals could vary from cheap formats to some approaching medieval manuscripts in appeal and quality.
Canada Council partly funds Swift Current, 'an electronic literary magazine' in which each of 40 Canadian writers edits his or her own contribution to the large data bank (Vax-750 operated by York University).
'We offer every reader an option of deleting not only an individual work but an individual author from his or her own view of the data base,' said Davey. Writers participate free in return for their writing and editing work. The 40 subscribers, so far, pay $25 (individuals) or $100 (libraries and other institutions). For classroom study, subscribers can pay for printouts at three cents for 50 lines (about 60 cents for 20 pages)--'a nominal fee.'
Swift Current gives regions and individuals an escape from 'centralizing forces,' and Canadian writers a seawall against the flood of U.S. culture."
RELATED WORKS