conveniences have eliminated communal and social projects. This back and forth of younger voices versus older ones and makes an intriguing juxtaposition and fulfills Gould's creative interest in composing  a contrapuntal work.

Towards the end a conclusion seems to emerge from both sides, that the next generation will realize the shortcomings of technology and the idleness of urban living, and find new ways to combine material and spiritual life in a revived but deeper way of living. They all admit that they are victims in one way or another of technology. The last few minutes of "The Latecomers" fades into a greater number of contrapuntal voices, until only the roar of the ocean is heard.

The Solitude Trilogy: Quiet in the Land

The third part of the Solitude Trilogy, "Quiet in the Land," focuses on the Mennonite community of Red River, Manitoba. This project is more complex in weaving ambient sounds, voices, and specific narrative, departing from the clearer voices of the previous parts of the trilogy. Complexity highlights the more strident clash of cultures.

The theme of solitude and isolation emerges as the dilemma of a community facing the challenge of social change around and within it, more interwoven with Canadian life than Newfoundland, and far less individualistic than going north.

The documentary opens with a mix of church bells, speeding vehicles on a highway, and the introduction of organ music and a choir. A preacher's voice emerges to set the mood with reflections on the theme of being in the world but not of the world. In the background, Janis Joplin sings her little ditty about materialism: "Oh, Lord, won't you buy me a Mercedes-Benz ... "

The voices present the stark challenge to Mennonite culture, no longer an historical monolith. The Mennonites are an agricultural community, but also urban doctors, lawyers, and professionals. Their tradition is a tight-knit community, but they are increasingly scattered geographically. A female voice explains that one can no longer distinguish a Mennonite from anyone else when in an urban setting. The preacher intones the parable of the prodigal son.

Male voices reflect on Jesus as an example of how to be in the world and not of it. But the Mennonites are not so rustic and uncultured. One man explains how moved he was to reflect on Samuel Beckett's play Waiting for Godot, seeing that too many Christians wait passively to make meaning of their lives, values, and traditions, but that the world does not wait. The challenge is to consciously choose, like the Anabaptists and Mennonites of history, like the Russian Mennonite émigrés to Germany and Canada, like the conscientious objectors of twentieth-century wars.

Younger voices articulate the temptations faced by younger Mennonites. There are music, parties, alcohol, conviviality, non-Mennonite friends and acquaintances in cities. Because there is no Mennonite hierarchy or authority, there is no clear articulation of behavior norms outside of the community outside of tradition, with which the younger are less familiar.

Both sets of younger and older voices conclude that the older Mennonites will remain wary of art, science, and higher education, but that some new and genuine form of belief will emerge in the next generation. Perhaps there cannot be holiness in the midst of urban life, but the experience will form a new spirit, a calling to a new life, as the preacher puts it towards the end of the documentary. The preacher gives his blessing, we hear voices exiting the church, and church bells again as at the beginning, slowly fading out.

Conclusion

Solitude was a complex proposition for Glenn Gould. He yearned for a solitude that extended the practical solitude of creativity, desperately requiring cooperation from others but not their inspiration or feedback.  His friendships were few but loyal, and some who came to observe him closely, like the writer and critic Margaret Pascu, believed him to be alienated and searching for understanding and empathy.

Because Gould's solitude was propelled by work, and because his musical genius exacerbated his eccentric behavior, his concept of solitude could never transcend what he had made of himself. Though his search for solitude was in part very cerebral, it was genuine.

Gould once said that the ultimate goal of art and creativity was "the gradual life-long construction of a state of wonder and serenity." Gould's experiments in The Solitude Trilogy were modest forays into his own mind and into solitude, a bulwark or artistic counterpart that explored in a different medium what he had achieved with his music: "a state of wonder and serenity." The Solitude Trilogy is a testament to the persuasiveness of solitude in the life of a creative genius.

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BIBLIOGRAPHICAL REFERENCES

The Solitude Trilogy is available as a compact disc set produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. Representative biographers of Gould include David Langer, Peter Ostwald, and Otto Friedrich. Web sites of interest include the CBC Archives on The Solitude Trilogy, which includes audio excerpts:  http://archives.cbc.ca/IDCC-1-68-320-1709/arts_entertainment/glenn_gould/