The Hollow Men

Published near the end of WW II, Bruce Hutchison's only novel, The Hollow Men (1944), is a rarely-mentioned portrait of a journalist named Leslie Duncan who is torn between his father's beloved Cariboo ranch and his political responsibilities in both Washington, D.C., and Ottawa ("the counterfeit little world on Parliament Hill") during WWII. Leslie Duncan yearns to be something more than another of the "hollow men" described in T.S. Eliot's famous poem. The Hollow Men is an unusually sophisticated portrayal of both the country life of ranchers and the limitations of politics. It evokes the plight of a B.C. intellectual who feels alienated from the centres of power: a timeless subject for anyone west of the Rockies. Nauseated by the intrigue and interminable talk of Ottawa, Duncan is likewise disillusioned by the staged bravado and empty mythology of the United States. Life at his Cariboo ranch is the answer but, like the noble Cincinnatus who felt obliged to leave his family farm and serve in ancient Rome, Duncan repeatedly gets his hands dirty in politics to further the public good. His goal is to secure suitable irrigation for his district and, in order to do so, he compromises his relationship with his wife, losing his soul in a web of betrayals orchestrated by lesser men.280p, Neat tight copy. Ownership marls Flyer of BOMC stapled to ffep Green cover scuffed