Canadian literature

What is Canadian?

What is literature? What is culture?

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Literature:

A vague term which usually denotes works which belong to the major genres: epic, drama, lyric, novel if we describe something as literature, as opposed to anything else, the term carries with it qualitative connotations which imply that the work in question has superior qualities (Dictionary of Literary Terms & Literary Theory 472)

Canadian???

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Culture ... is that complex whole which includes knowledge, belief, art, morals, law, custom, and any other capabilities and habits acquired by man as a member of society. Tyler (British anthropologist) 1870: 1; cited by Avruch 1998: 6

Culture consists of patterns, explicit and implicit, of and for behavior acquired and transmitted by symbols, constituting the distinctive achievements of human groups, including their embodiment in artifacts; the essential core of culture consists of traditional (i.e. historically derived and selected) ideas and especially their attached values; culture systems may, on the one hand, be considered as products of action, on the other, as conditional elements of future action. Kroeber & Kluckhohn 1952: 181; cited by Adler 1997: 14

Culture consists of the derivatives of experience, more or less organized, learned or created by the individuals of a population, including those images or encodements and their interpretations (meanings) transmitted from past generations, from contemporaries, or formed by individuals themselves. T.Schwartz 1992; cited by Avruch 1998: 17

[Culture] is the collective programming of the mind which distinguishes the members of one group or category of people from another. Hofstede 1994: 5

... the set of attitudes, values, beliefs, and behaviors shared by a group of people, but different for each individual, communicated from one generation to the next. Matsumoto 1996: 16

Culture is a fuzzy set of basic assumptions and values, orientations to life, beliefs, policies, procedures and behavioral conventions that are shared by a group of people, and that influence (but do not determine) each members behavior and his/her interpretations of the meaning of other peoples behavior. Spencer-Oatey 2008: 3

Spencer-Oatey, H. (2012) What is culture? A compilation of quotations. GlobalPAD Core Concepts. Available at GlobalPAD Open House http://go.warwick.ac.uk/globalpadintercultural

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Canadian? Yann Martel : Life of Pi

How to determine Canadianess?

their presence in the country

Choose Canada and you are Canadian

Colonized and colonizer common concerns with other nations

Exceptional multiculturalism 1978 Immigration Act

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French and English

French colonizers:

Jacques Cartier: hope of finding rich sources (Donnaconna Iroquois little interest until Samuel de Champlain - 1608)

Louis XIV success: agriculture

The Treaty of Utrecht (1713)

- French territory was given to British

http://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/treaty-of-utrecht/

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Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War (175663) was the first global warIn North America, imperial rivals Britain and France struggled for supremacy.

Early in the war, the French (aided by Canadian militia and Aboriginal allies) defeated several British attacks and captured a number of British forts.

In 1758, the tide turned when the British capturedLouisbourg, followed by Qubec Cityin 1759 andMontralin 1760. With theTreaty of Paris of 1763, France formally ceded Canada to the British. The Seven Years War therefore laid thebiculturalfoundations of modern Canada.

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Constitution Act 1867

English and French as official languages

Other ethnic groups distinctive demographics (1) that characterize Canada today

Canadian literature and society: perfect expression of multiculturalism http://www.statcan.gc.ca/tables-tableaux/sum-som/l01/cst01/demo26a-eng.htm

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Radical changes: wider range of cultural backgrounds

Immigration Act (1978) nondiscrimination as a major principle .

Dual colonial heritageAmerican influenceCommunication vs. Miles

Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms (1982)

The most visible and recognized part of the Canadian Constitutionthe Charter of Rights and Freedoms, guarantees the rights of individuals expanding the rights of minoritieshttp://www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/canadian-charter-of-rights-and-freedoms/

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U. S. versus Canadian Literature

U.S.CanadaEnglish languagebilingual, multicultural context- world powerattentionexperimenting, in the shadow of a world power

Democracy/optimism/provincialism/individualism- problematic market

Melting/Boiling PotSalad bowl - freedom of speech

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Shared:

- writers are not cultural spokesmen for the nation- fashions in writingvalue of the book+ reputationschool boards taste / mainstreamingdecreasing frustration about non-European lit- quest for identity- pragmatism- individualism- Calvinism

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Canadians are conditioned from infancy to think of themselves as citizens of a country of uncertain identity, confusing past, hazardous future.

US: open-ended horizon (intolerance for Indians, individualism)Can: terra incognita

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THEMES:1. Divine order and the land (Colonial Period-WWII)2. Breakup of the Old Order (1940-1950s) 3. Search for Vital Truth (1960s)4. The New Hero (1970s)(+ voice giving)

1. Divine order and the landCalvinist notionRecurring themes: - submission to Gods design, fulfilment of Gods plan- acceptance of ones duty+ obedience- individual < system ordered by God or a king

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2. Breakup of the Old Order

like the disintegration of the Am Dream, Can Lost GenerationCan protagonist not disillusioned but confusedGuilt complex, lack of self reliance, individualisme.g. H. MacLennan: The Watch that Ends the Night

3. Search for Vital Truth

Quebec: independent nationProblem of identityhero gets even more confusedLoss of traditional valuesThere is no total life controlling order

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4. The New Hero Like the traditional Am hero (self-reliance, individualism, independent, self-confidence) no guilt complex, feeling of insignificance any moreVictim of a social system

e. g. M. Atwood: The Handmaids Talegrowing national values

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5. Voice Giving to Marginal Entities

Ethnic, gender, regional consciousnessHistoriographic metafictionR. Kroetsch, G. Bowering

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Contemporary Sub-themes:

Adam and the garden coming to terms with the wildernesscolonial statusisolation mentality (post-colonial discourse)garrison mentalityalienationIndians and settlers (T. Moore: Black Robe)Exploring the land/Frontier experience/PioneersCalvinism, sense of guilt challenged (G. Roy: The Lady with Chains, S. Ross: As for Me and My House)The role of the environment (F. Mowat: Never Cry Wolf)

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The ordering East v the Undefined West (H. Hodgins, A. Van Herk, M. Lowry)victims (Atwood)immigrant identitiesnative identity (Kinsella, Wiebe)sexual (body) politics (C. Shields: Stone Diaries, Doris Anderson, Monique Bosco, Rachel Wyatt, Joan Barefoot, M. Engel, A. Munro, Atwood, Laurence, S. Anderson-Dargatz: The Cure of Death by Lightning)

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