Canadian literature is often divided into French- and English-language literatures, which are rooted in the literary traditions of France and Britain, respectively.[1] The earliest Canadian narratives were of travel and exploration.[2] This progressed into three major themes of historical Canadian literature: nature, frontier life, and Canada's position within the world, all of which tie into thegarrison mentality.[3] The evolution of Canadian literature is intricately linked to its historical and social contexts, often mirroring the challenges and triumphs of Canadian society.[4] As Canadian literature progressed into the 20th and 21st centuries, it began to address a broader array of subjects and themes, such as feminism and LGBTQ rights, immigrant experiences, environmental issues, the relationship with Indigenous peoples, and Canadian values and identity.[5]
Financial support from governmental bodies, such as theCanada Council for the Arts and various provincial grant programs, facilitates the creation, publication, and promotion of works by Canadian authors.[6] NumerousCanadian authors have accumulated international literary awards including theNobel Prize in Literature, theBooker Prize, and thePulitzer Prize for Fiction.[7] Canadian literary prizes include theGovernor General's Literary Awards, theGiller Prize, theAtwood Gibson Writers' Trust Fiction Prize, theLatner Griffin Writers' Trust Poetry Prize, theBurt Award for First Nations, Inuit and Métis Literature and several accolades for literature aimed at children.[8]
Indigenous peoples of Canada are culturally diverse.[9] Each group has its own literature, language and culture.[10][9] The term "Indigenous literature" therefore can be misleading, as writerJeannette Armstrong states in one interview, "I would stay away from the idea of "Native" literature, there is no such thing. There isMohawk literature, there isOkanagan literature, but there is no generic Native in Canada".[9]
In 1802, the Lower Canada legislative library was founded. All books it contained were subsequently moved to the Canadian parliament in Montreal when the two Canadas, Lower and Upper, were united. On April 25, 1849 the Canadian parliament was burned along with thousands of French Canadian books and a few hundred English books. A consequence of this event was the mistaken impression that from the early settlements until the 1820s, Quebec had virtually no literature.
It was the rise of Quebec patriotism and the 1837Lower 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 byPhilippe-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 likeBalzac.
In 1866, FatherHenri-Raymond Casgrain became one of Quebec's first literary theorists. He argued that literature's goal should be to project an image of properCatholic morality. However, a few authors likeLouis-Honoré Fréchette andArthur Buies broke the conventions to write more interesting works.
This pattern continued until the 1930s with a new group of authors educated at theUniversité Laval and theUniversité de Montréal. Novels with psychological and sociological foundations became the norm.Gabrielle Roy andAnne Hébert even began to earn international acclaim, which had not happened to French-Canadian literature before. 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 theSecond World War, the beginnings of industrialization in the 1950s, and most especially theQuiet Revolution in the 1960s. French-Canadian literature also began to attract a great deal of attention globally, withAcadiannovelistAntonine Maillet winning thePrix Goncourt in 1979.[11] An experimental branch of Québécois literature also developed; for instance the poetNicole Brossard wrote in a formalist style.In 1979,Roch Carrier wrote the storyThe Hockey Sweater, which highlighted the cultural and social tensions betweenEnglish andFrench speaking Canada.
Because Canada only officially became a country following the unification, or 'confederation' of several colonies, including Upper and Lower Canada, into one nation on July 1, 1867, it has been argued that literature written before this time was colonial. The book often considered to be the first work of Canadian literature isThe History of Emily Montague byFrances Brooke, published in 1769. Brooke wrote the novel inSillery, Quebec following theConquest of New France.Susanna Moodie andCatharine Parr Traill, English sisters who adopted the country as their own, moved toUpper Canada in 1832. They recorded their experiences as pioneers in Parr Traill'sThe Backwoods of Canada (1836) andCanadian Crusoes (1852), and Moodie'sRoughing It in the Bush (1852) andLife 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, includingMargaret Atwood'sSurvival. Moodie and Parr Trail'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 isThomas Chandler Haliburton (1796–1865), born and raised in Nova Scotia, who died just two years before Canada's official birth. He is remembered for his comic character, Sam Slick, who appeared inThe Clockmaker and other humorous works throughout Haliburton's life.
A group of poets now known as the "Confederation Poets", includingCharles G. D. Roberts,Archibald Lampman,Bliss Carman,Duncan Campbell Scott, andWilliam Wilfred Campbell, came to prominence in the 1880s and 1890s. Choosing the world of nature as their inspiration, their work was drawn from their own experiences and, at its best, written in their own tones.Isabella Valancy Crawford,Annie Campbell Huestis,Frederick George Scott, andFrancis Sherman are also sometimes associated with this group.
During this period,E. Pauline Johnson andWilliam Henry Drummond were writing popular poetry – Johnson's based on her part-Mohawk heritage, and Drummond, the Poet of the Habitant, writing dialect verse.
L. M. Montgomery's novelAnne of Green Gables was first published in 1908. It has sold an estimated 50 million copies and is one of thebest selling books worldwide.[12] Atlantic Canadian folklore and song became the subject of a Maritime literary revival in the 1920s, centered on Nova Scotia. Folklore collection expressed an interest in the region's pre-industrial lifestyle and a romantic vision of the "hardiness, simplicity, and virtues of the seafaring life". Poets and novelists participating in the literary revival included theSong Fishermen.[13]
Between 1915 and 1925,Stephen Leacock (1869–1944) was the best selling humour writer in the world. His best known book of fiction,Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town was published in 1912.
Three of Canada's most important post-World War I novelists wereHugh MacLennan (1907–1990),W.O. Mitchell (1914–1998), andMorley Callaghan (1903–1990). MacLennan's best-known works areBarometer Rising (1941),The Watch That Ends the Night (1957), andTwo Solitudes (1945), while Callaghan is best known forSuch Is My Beloved (1934),The Loved and the Lost (1951), andMore Joy in Heaven (1937). Mitchell's most-loved novel isWho Has Seen the Wind.
Perhaps reacting against a tradition that largely emphasized the wilderness and the small town and country experience,Leonard Cohen wrote the novelBeautiful Losers (1966). It was labelled by one reviewer "the most revolting book ever written in Canada".[14] In time, however, this novel was considered a Canadian classic. Despite beginning his career as a poet of major importance, Cohen is perhaps best known as a folk singer and songwriter, with an international following.
Canadian authorFarley Mowat is best known for his workNever Cry Wolf (1963) and his Governor General's Award-winning children's book,Lost in the Barrens (1956).
Following World War II, writers such as Mavis Gallant, Mordecai Richler, Norman Levine, Sheila Watson, Margaret Laurence and Irving Layton added to the Modernist influence in Canadian literature previously introduced byF. R. Scott,A. J. M. Smith and others associated with theMcGill Fortnightly. This influence, at first, was not broadly appreciated.Norman Levine'sCanada Made Me,[15] a travelogue that presented a sour interpretation of the country in 1958, for example, was widely rejected.
After 1967, the country's centennial year, the national government increased funding to publishers and numerous small presses began operating throughout the country.[16]The best-known Canadian children's writers include L. M. Montgomery and Monica Hughes.
Arguably, the best-known living Canadian writer internationally (especially since the deaths ofRobertson Davies andMordecai Richler) isMargaret Atwood, a prolific novelist, poet, and literary critic. Other great 20th-century Canadian authors includeMargaret Laurence,Mavis Gallant,Michael Ondaatje,Carol Shields,Alistair MacLeod,Mazo de la Roche, andGabrielle Roy.
.jpg)
This group, along with Nobel LaureateAlice Munro, who has been called the best living writer of short stories in English,[17] were part of a 'new wave' of Canadian writers, some starting their careers in the 1950s. The first to elevate Canadian Literature to the world stage were Lucy Maud Montgomery, Stephen Leacock, Mazo de la Roche, and Morley Callaghan. During the post-war decades Canadian literature, as were Australian and New Zealand literature, viewed as an appendage to British Literature. When academicClara Thomas decided in the 1940s to concentrate on Canadian literature for her master's thesis, the idea was so novel and so radical that word of her decision reachedThe Globe and Mail books editorWilliam Arthur Deacon, who then personally reached out to Thomas to pledge his and the newspaper's resources in support of her work.[18]
.jpg)
Other major Canadian novelists includeCarol Shields,Lawrence Hill, andAlice Munro.Carol Shields novelThe Stone Diaries won the 1995Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and another novel,Larry's Party, won theOrange Prize in 1998.Lawrence Hill'sBook of Negroes won the 2008Commonwealth Writers' Prize Overall Best Book Award, whileAlice Munro became the first Canadian to win theNobel Prize in Literature in 2013.[20] Munro also received theMan Booker International Prize in 2009.
In the 1960s, a renewedsense of nation helped foster new voices in Canadian poetry, including:Margaret Atwood,Michael Ondaatje,Leonard Cohen,Eli Mandel andMargaret Avison. Others such asAl Purdy,Milton Acorn, andEarle Birney, already published, produced some of their best work during this period.
TheTISH Poetry movement in Vancouver brought about poetic innovation fromJamie Reid,George Bowering,Fred Wah,Frank Davey,Daphne Marlatt, David Cull, andLionel Kearns.Canadian poets have been expanding the boundaries of originality:Christian Bök,Ken Babstock,Karen Solie,Lynn Crosbie,Patrick Lane,George Elliott Clarke andBarry Dempster have all imprinted their unique consciousnesses onto the map of Canadian imagery. A notable anthology of Canadian poetry isThe New Oxford book of Canadian Verse, edited by Margaret Atwood (ISBN 0-19-540450-5).
Anne Carson is probably the best known Canadian poet living today. Carson in 1996 won theLannan Literary Award for poetry. The foundation's awards in 2006 for poetry, fiction and nonfiction each came with $US 150,000.
National Book Critics Circle Award
International Dublin Literary Award
Peace Prize of the German Book Trade
There are a number of notable Canadian awards for literature:
Awards For Children's and Young Adult Literature:
| Types | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Genres | |||||||
| Writers |
| ||||||
| Publishers | |||||||
| Awards | |||||||
| Related | |||||||
Links to related articles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| Other | |
.svg)
