Canadian literature

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Canadian literature may be divided into two parts, based on their separate roots: one stems from the culture and literature from France; the other from Britain. Each is written in the language of its originating culture. However, collectively this literature has become distinctly Canadian.

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Canada’s literature, whether written in English or French, often reflects the Canadian perspective on: (1) nature, (2) frontier life, and (3) Canada’s position in the world, all three of which tie in to the garrison mentality. Canada's ethnic and cultural diversity are reflected in its literature, with many of its most prominent writers focusing on ethnic life.

  • First, Canadian authors often emphasize the effect of climate and geography on people's lives.[citation needed]
  • Second, frontier life as cultural myth is frequently observed, as many authors evoke the westward march across Canada. Others document the drama in the lives of fishermen. The ever-present northern frontier is also widely used, with the constant expansion in the Arctic.[citation needed]
  • Third, many Canadian writers reflect upon Canada's position in the world. French Canadians often feel surrounded by their English-speaking neighbours; they determinedly preserve their own institutions and culture. Similarly, English Canadians frequently feel surrounded by the people and culture of the United States. Many novels and poems show how Canadian writers regard such problems.[citation needed]

Canadian identity is closely tied to its literature. Leon Surette writes, "a disproportionate amount of commentary on Canadian writing has been cultural history (or prophecy) rather than truly literary commentary."[citation needed]

Because of its size and breadth, Canadian literature is often divided into sub-categories. Traditionally, there are at least three ways that critics and scholars have chosen to categorise Canadian literature:[citation needed]

  • The most common is to categorize it by region or province.
  • Another way is to categorize it by author. For instance, the literature of Canadian women, Acadians, Aboriginal peoples in Canada, and Irish Canadians have been anthologize as bodies of work.
  • A third is to divide it by literary period, such as "Canadian postmoderns" or "Canadian Poets Between the Wars."

Traits common to works of Canadian literature include:[citation needed]

  • Failure as a theme: Failure and futility feature heavily as themes in many notable works; for instance, Not Wanted on the Voyage by Timothy Findley or Kamouraska by Anne Hebert.
  • Humour: Serious subject matter is often laced with humour. See also: Canadian humour.
  • Mild anti-Americanism: There is marked sentiment of anti-American often in the form of gentle satire. While it is sometimes perceived as malicious, it often presents a friendly rivalry between the two nations
  • Multiculturalism: Since World War Two, multiculturalism has been an important theme. Writers using this theme include Mordecai Richler (known for novels such as The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz), Margaret Laurence, Rohinton Mistry, Michael Ondaatje -- The English Patient-- and prolific Chinese Canadian writer Wayson Choy.
  • Nature (and a "human vs. nature" tension): Reference to nature is common in Canada's literature. Nature is sometimes portrayed like an enemy, and sometimes like a divine force.
  • Satire and irony: Satire is probably one of the main elements of Canadian literature.
  • Self-deprecation: This is common in Canadian literature, and reflects Canadian culture.
  • Self-evaluation by the reader
Canadian writer Robertson Davies, author of The Deptford Trilogy which included the famous book, Fifth Business.
Canadian writer Robertson Davies, author of The Deptford Trilogy which included the famous book, Fifth Business.

French-Canadian literature evolved separately from English literature on a different path. It was not appended to its parent culture, unlike its English counterpart; rather, the struggle of French Canada sought its own style and identity.[citation needed] From the early settlements until the 1820s, Quebec had virtually no literature. Though a few historians, journalists, and learned priests published, overall the total output was small.

It was the rise of Quebec patriotism and the 1837 Lower Canada Rebellion, in addition to a modern system of primary school education, which led to the rise of French-Canadian fiction. L'influence d'un livre by Philippe-Ignace-Francois Aubert de Gaspé is widely regarded as the first French-Canadian novel. The genres which first became popular were the rural novel and the historical novel. French authors were influential, especially authors like Balzac.

In 1866, Father Henri-Raymond Casgrain became one of Quebec's first literary theorists. He argued that literature's goal should be to project an image of proper Catholic morality. Québécois authors adopted this view and wrote works which were considered bland.[citation needed] However, a few authors like Louis-Honoré Fréchette and Arthur Buies broke the conventions to write more interesting works.

This pattern continued until the 1930s with a new group of authors educated at the Université Laval and the Université de Montréal. Novels with psychological and sociological foundations became the norm. Authors such as Gabrielle Roy and Anne Hébert, for the first time, began to earn international acclaim. During this period, Quebec theatre, which had previously been melodramas and comedies, became far more involved.

French-Canadian literature began to greatly expand with the turmoil of the Second World War, the beginnings of industrialization in the 1950s, and most especially the Quiet Revolution in the 1960s. French-Canadian literature also began to attract a great deal of attention globally, with Acadian novelist Antonine Maillet winning the Prix Goncourt. An experimental branch of Quebecois literature also developed; for instance the poet Nicole Brossard wrote in a formalist style. In 1979, Roch Carrier wrote the story The Hockey Sweater, which highlighted the cultural and social tensions between English and French speaking Canada.

See also: List of Quebec writers, Literature of Quebec, List of French Canadian writers from outside Quebec

In the late 1970s, science fiction fan and scholar of Canadian literature Susan Wood helped pioneer the study of feminist science fiction, and (along with immigrant editor Judith Merril) brought new respectability to the study of Canadian science fiction, paving the way for the rise of such phenomena as the French-Canadian science fiction magazine Solaris. In the 1980s, Canadian literature began to be noticed around the world.[citation needed] By the 1990s, Canadian literature was viewed as some of the world's best, and Canadian authors began to accumulate international awards. [1] In 1992, Michael Ondaatje became the first Canadian to win the Booker Prize for The English Patient. Atwood won the Booker in 2000 for The Blind Assassin and Yann Martel won it in 2002 for The Life of Pi. Alistair MacLeod won the 2001 IMPAC Award for No Great Mischief. Carol Shields's The Stone Diaries won the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and in 1998 her novel Larry's Party won the Orange Prize. Douglas Coupland has also achieved significant success for his work, particularly Generation X: Tales for an Accelerated Culture. Canadian poet Leonard Cohen is perhaps best known as a folk singer and songwriter, with an international following.

Today Canadians still read much work by foreign authors, but many Canadian books have been runaway best sellers.

Main article: List of Canadian writers

Because Canada only officially became a country on July 1, 1867, it has been argued that literature written before this time was colonial. For example, Susanna Moodie and Catherine Parr Traill, English sisters who adopted the country as their own, moved to Canada in 1832. They recorded their experiences as pioneers in Parr Traill's The Backwoods of Canada (1836) and Canadian Crusoes (1852), and Moodie's Roughing It in the Bush (1852) and Life in the Clearings (1853). However, both women wrote until their deaths, placing them in the country for more than 50 years and certainly well past Confederation. Moreover, their books often dealt with survival and the rugged Canadian environment; these themes re-appear in other Canadian works, including Margaret Atwood's Survival. Moodie and Parr Traill's sister, Agnes Strickland, remained in England and wrote elegant royal biographies, creating a stark contrast between Canadian and English literatures.

However, one of the earliest "Canadian" writers virtually always included in Canadian literary anthologies is Thomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865), who died just two years before Canada's official birth. He is remembered for his comic character, Sam Slick, who appeared in The Clockmaker and other humorous works throughout Haliburton's life.

Arguably, the best-internationally-known living Canadian writer (especially after the recent passing of Canadian greats, Robertson Davies, Mordecai Richler and Timothy Findley) is Margaret Atwood, a prolific novelist, poet, and literary critic. This group, along with Alice Munro, who has been called the best living writer of short stories in English,[2] were the first to elevate Canadian Literature to the world stage. During the post-war decades only a handful of books of any literary merit were published each year in Canada, and Canadian literature was viewed as an appendage to British and American writing. Much of what was produced dealt with extremely typical Canadiana such as the outdoors and animals, or events in Canadian history. A reaction against this tradition, poet Leonard Cohen's novel Beautiful Losers (1966), was labelled by one reviewer "the most revolting book ever written in Canada".[3] Most of what Canadians read was written in the United States or Great Britain. Most of what was studied in Canadian schools and universities was also foreign.

The 1996 film adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's book The English Patient.
The 1996 film adaptation of Michael Ondaatje's book The English Patient.

There are a number of notable Canadian awards for literature:

Awards For Children and Young Adult Literature:

  1. ^ | Robert Fulford's column about the international success of Canadian literature
  2. ^ "For a long time Alice Munro has been compared with Chekhov; John Updike would add Tolstoy, and AS Byatt would say Guy de Maupassant and Flaubert. Munro is often called the best living writer of short stories in English; the words "short story" are frequently dropped." Riches of a Double Life, Ada Edemariam, Guardian Online, retrieved 11 October 2006.
  3. ^ Who held a gun to Leonard Cohen's head? Tim de Lisle, Guardian Online, retrieved 11October 2006.
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