Harper Stephen - 101 letters to a prime minister : the complete letters to Stephen Harper

Beatrice & Virgil

Life of Pi

Self

The Facts Behind the Helsinki Roccamatios

VINTAGE CANADA EDITION, 2012

Copyright 2012 Yann Martel

Translation of letter for by Josette Blanger.
Translation of letter for by mile Martel.

All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright
Conventions. N O part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any
electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval
systems, without permission in writing from the publisher, except by a
reviewer, who may quote brief passages in a review.

Published in Canada by Vintage Canada, a division of Random House of
Canada Limited, Toronto, in 2012. Portions of this book originally appeared
in What Is Stephen Harper Reading?, published by Vintage Canada in 2009.
Distributed by Random House of Canada Limited.

Vintage Canada with colophon is a registered trademark.

www.randomhouse.ca

constitutes a continuation of the copyright page.

LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION

Martel, Yann

101 letters to a prime minister : the complete letters
to Stephen Harper / Yann Martel.

eISBN: 978-0-307-40208-0

1. Best books. 2. Martel, YannBooks and reading.
3. Martel, YannCorrespondence. 4. Harper, Stephen, 1959. I. Title.
II. Title: One hundred one letters to a prime minister.

Z 1035.9. M 36 2012 011.73 C2012-900998-9

Cover image by Emre Ogan

v3.1

T O A LICE, MY FAVOURITE READER

T his is a book about books. It takes the form of a series of letters. The letters were written by a Canadian writermeand sent to a Canadian politician, Prime Minister Stephen Harper. In each letter I discuss a literary work. A novel, a play, a poetry collection, a religious text, a graphic novel, a childrens bookthe range is wide. I mailed a copy of each work, dated, numbered and inscribed, with the accompanying letter neatly folded inside its front cover, to the Prime Ministers office in Ottawa.

Politely and unfailingly, I did this every two weeks from April 16, 2007 to February 28, 2011; a total of 101 letters accompanying the gift of slightly more than 101 books. Many books, many letters, one essential question hovering throughout: what sort of mind, nourished by what, do we want our leaders to have? My argument is that literatureas opposed to factual non-fictionis an essential element to a deeply thinking, fully feeling mind in our complex twenty-first-century world. A mind not informed by the thoughtful product that is the novel, the play, the poem, will be capable perhaps of administering the affairs of a people, maintaining the status quo, but not of truly leading that people. To lead effectively requires the capacity both to understand how things are and to dream how things might be, and nothing so displays that kind of understanding and dreaming as literature does. That is my argument, and it is for Canadians, whether regular readers of literature or not, to decide where they stand on the issue.

Does literature make for character, or is it mere entertainment? That is the question.

I received seven replies in total. The first came promptly:

May 8, 2007

Dear Mr. Martel:

On behalf of the Prime Minister, I would like to thank you for your recent letter and the copy of Tolstoys The Death of Ivan Ilych. We appreciated reading your comments and suggestions regarding the novel.

Once again, thank you for taking the time to write.

Sincerely,

Susan I. Ross

Assistant to the Prime Minister

A long, official silence of nearly two years followed. Then, unexpectedly and in a jumbled order, I received a quick series of four responses, as follows:

For Books 53 and 54, The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea, by Yukio Mishima, and Louis Riel, A Comic-Strip Biography, by Chester Brown:

April 29, 2009

Dear Mr. Martel,

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence, with which you enclosed a copy of The Sailor Who Fell from Grace with the Sea by Yukio Mishima and a copy of Louis Riel, A Comic-Strip Biography by Chester Brown. The Prime Minister wishes me to convey his thanks for sending him these books. You may be assured that your thoughtful gesture is most appreciated.

Yours truly,

S. Russell

Executive Correspondence Officer

For Book 51, Julius Caesar, by William Shakespeare:

May 1, 2009

Dear Mr. Martel,

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence regarding the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) and the Canadian Periodical Fund. I would also like to thank you for the enclosure of Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare.

Please be assured that your comments have been given careful consideration. I have taken the liberty of forwarding copies of your correspondence to the Honourable Tony Clement, Minister of Industry, and the Honourable James Moore, Minister of Canadian Heritage and Official Languages, so that they may be made aware of your concerns.

Once again, thank you for writing the Prime Minister.

Yours sincerely,

S. Russell

Executive Correspondence Officer

For Book 55, The Gift, by Lewis Hyde:

May 22, 2009

Dear Mr. Martel,

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your recent correspondence.

Thank you for writing to share your views with the Prime Minister. You may be assured that your comments have been carefully noted. For more information on the Governments initiatives, you may wish to visit the Prime Ministers website, at www.pm.gc.ca.

Yours sincerely,

L. A. Lavell

Executive Correspondence Officer

For Book 52, Burning Ice: Art & Climate Change, a collaboration organized by David Buckland and the Cape Farewell Foundation:

June 24, 2009

Dear Mr. Martel:

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your correspondence of March 30, which provided a copy of the book Burning Ice: Art & Climate Change.

Thank you for providing this material to the Prime Minister.

Your courtesy in bringing this information to his attention is appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

P. Monteith

Executive Correspondence Officer

In addition, two of the writers who stepped in to supply the Prime Minister with books when I was not able to do so myself, namely Charles Foran and Alice Kuipers, each received a reply:

For Book 81, Diary of a Madman, by Lu Xun:

May 20, 2010

Dear Mr. Foran,

On behalf of the Right Honourable Stephen Harper, I would like to acknowledge receipt of your recent letters, with which you enclosed a copy of Century by Ray Smith, and one of Diary of a Madman by Lu Xun.

The Prime Minister wishes me to convey his thanks for sending him these publications. You may be assured that your thoughtful gesture is most appreciated.

Yours sincerely,

S. Russell

Executive Correspondence Officer

For Book 85, How I Live Now, by Meg Rosoff: