It may seem counter-intuitive, in some ways, what I’m about to say/write. My few words today begin with the most recent Massey Lecture, What I Mean to Say: Remaking Conversation in Our Times, by Ian Williams. I picked it up yesterday, after finishing the previous year’s Massey Lecture, The Age of Insecurity: Coming Together as Things Fall Apart, by Astra Taylor (which I thought was excellent). In light of the state of the world (at home in Canada and beyond), both of these are particularly à propos (as the Massey Lectures are intended to be).
The counter-intuitive bit, perhaps, is how much I recommend reading these book-length lectures. Even though they are delivered on tour across Canada, recorded and shared online. Even though a lecture tends to be understood as something spoken, rather than written. Even though, in some contexts, a “lecture” isn’t welcome.
I haven’t read all of the Massey Lectures (first published in 1961), not by a long shot. But I’ve read a handful or so of them (with more on my reading list). The partnership between Massey College, House of Anansi Press and CBC Radio to produce them is a winning formula, I think. The writing and ideas are engaging and provocative. Sure, the style and voice of some of the authors, I like more than others. And yes, some of the ideas that are laid out, I find stronger than others.
No matter what, though, they invite me to see things in ways that I hadn’t considered and they are informed by the life’s work, the inquiry, the scholarship of the authors. Yet, the Massey Lectures aren’t impenetrable academic texts. That said, they aren’t light reading, either. I always learn things from them. They always expand my perspective and deepen my insight. So, of course, each year, I am curious about the Massey Lecture. If you’re curious, too, the backlist can be found on the House of Anansi Press website and the recorded lectures can be found on the CBC Radio website. I am partial to the books because, hmmm, how to put this delicately — not every writer or scholar is a good orator (to be fair, though, to deliver a book-length lecture, every moment of it done well, is no small feat).
So … with the most recent Massey Lecture in hand, I look forward to learning from what Ian Williams has to say about conversation.
Fun fact, for those, like me, who nerd out on this kind of thing: The Massey Lectures were established in honour of the late Vincent Massey, who led the 1951 Massey Commission (aka the Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts, Letters and Sciences), which is widely regarded as leading to the establishment of the Library and Archives Canada, the Canada Council for the Arts, and the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council.
a few words ... from Montréal 