Have they produced any literary works of note?No Alice Munro doesn't count since she is a woman
Munro doesn't count because she sucks.Robertson Davies is decent.
Canadian cultural production is a rancid backwater of imitators and pseudo-intellectuals, in all fields but especially in literature. There is no tenable national identity, not only because of official multiculturalism but also owing to the political arrangements made at confederation, which sees the country fractured at every level. The only winners are hyper-local elites operating patronage networks and (more recently) multinational corporations primed with the capital to buy-out such networks wholesale. The culture industry of the entire country is only made practicable by the distribution of “prizes,” or sometimes grants, which make the earning of a living possible. These monies are awarded either by the government or private interests, both of which seek only the reproduction of familiar vernacular forms. The only exceptions to this are multicultural advancement and memesis of artistic innovations made elsewhere, i.e. making the Canadian version of xyz.You’d think that such a stagnant environment would breed some rebels, someone willing to define for themselves what Canadian art ought to be, but no. Anyone who is both aware enough of this state of affairs and possessed of the artistic skill to challenge it simply opts (once again) to make art in the style of other traditions. Why? Because there is nothing to be proud of in being Canadian, because there is nothing *in being* Canadian at all, and therefore there is nothing to champion. It is a sad, listless nation convinced of its own superiority.That said, I like the poems of Al Purdy.
Lawrence Hill
>>23616740Never heard of any. Makes me wonder if there's any noteable Inuit /lit/ though. Most I ever read about Canada was Amundsen's account of his northwest passage expedition, which was a comfy read, but of course, he was Norwegian.
>>23616740Farley Mowat I guess
Alice Munro
>>23616948delet
The man who raped Alice Munro's daughter is a living work of art, he is poetry in motion
>>23616740I've always much preferred Alistair MacLeod to Alice Munro. His son Alexander MacLeod is writing some good stuff too.Some of the Confederation Poets were quality, especially Bliss Carman.
>>23616964Petition for him to get the Nobel Prize in Literature
Anne Carson Marian Engel
>>23616868I reject this. Canadian literature has not always been bad, it has become bad because of state intervention and the resulting domination by untalented women like Margaret Atwood, Alice Munro and Emily St. John Mandel who are willing to toe the party line.There were some good novelists and poets back in the early twentieth century but that tradition died with the implementation of official multiculturalism.
>>23616740That one where the woman shags the bear is supposed to be really good but I've never read it so I can't verify these claims
>>23616740William Gibson if he counts
Lise Tremblay
>>23617011Being “good” and being “good Canadian literature” are not the same thing. My contention is that there fundamentally is no such thing as Canadian literature, not that there’s never been a worthwhile writer who was incidentally a Canadian. Even among white anglophone Canadians, the political circumstances of Confederation have never allowed for the coalescence of an overarching national identity worthy of a distinct literary tradition. At most, one can point to a Laurentian identity at the turn of the last century which is popularly (but incorrectly) taken as representative of the entire country. This quickly becomes absurd to even speak of, considering all of the internecine conflicts within this narrow group (Orangemen vs Catholics, town vs country, anglophilic vs American), none of which were ameliorated by a unifying event, and certainly not by the wars. Then, as swiftly as it emerged, it evaporates in the post-war period. Pearson may have done something by seeking out a truly independent foreign policy (Sinai), if such independence didn’t simply make us more beholden to America. The elder Trudeau’s patriation of the constitution may have helped, if he weren’t such a radlib economically and socially. The compromises of 1982 have only made the Canadian project less coherent and more subject to cultural and economic imperialism. As odious as the CRTC and CCA may be, along with their attendant policy prescriptions, the fact of the matter is that any chance of a market for Canadian art would have dried up long ago without their intervention. Sure, being consumed by American cultural hegemony in a single generation may have been preferable to this slow and embarrassing death happening now, but the outcome is essentially the same.Let’s not forget that it wasn’t just the government that propped up talentless hacks, but monied interests at Scotiabank etc. etc. which had a vested interest in making Canadian culture as intelligible and inoffensive to American sensibilities as possible. We’re open for business, and the culture industry in Canada operates on both public and private funds to make sure the Canadian people don’t stray too far from what’s good for business. Is it any wonder that the result is bland, repetitious, and unserious? It’s only in the past 20 years that the weight of multiculturalism-as-marketing came to the fore, but this is of course oriented at market trends wholly unrelated to good art. It is not (at least not simply) official multiculturalism having arrived at a position to dissolve some pre-existing national identity. It became in the national interest to seek investors (read: slackers and pillagers) from all corners, not just the United States. Incidentally, minority representation became more and more important in American culture at around the same time, and so it was a “win-win.”Anyway, I’m done schizo posting. Canada is so fucking cooked, dude, it’s unreal
mostly it sucks. Robertson Davies is fun but kind of "stuffy" or something. Mavis Gallant is worth checking out. I also recommend John Metcalf's books. he's a critic, and he's elitist and contrarian in a fun way that I think people on here would appreciate. He edited a collection of canadian short stories that's mostly pretty good.
>>23617311Sorry forgot to mention -- specifically the reason for checking out John Metcalf if you're in this thread is that he gives a good honest survey of canadian literature without being afraid to say that a lot of it isn't very good. I don't know if his books on other topics are any good
>>23617196>Anyway, I’m done schizo posting. Canada is so fucking cooked, dude, it’s unrealYou could make a sort of culture out of that, couldn't you?
>>23616740I can't think of any authors specifically for which this is the case, but the other problem is, if you're a talented Canadian, why the fuck would you continue to live in Canada instead of moving to England or the United States, where you can earn a lot more money doing the same thing you were doing in Canada?
>>23617914This is what most Canadian artists of any stripe do if they reach a certain level of success. Writers might stick around at a greater rate because they get handed cushy teaching jobs in worthless creative writing departments.Anne Carson is a notable example of a living writer who moved South, consciously distanced herself from the Canadian identity, yet still is followed sycophantically by the Canadian “literary scene” and is not infrequently the recipient of huge cash prizes and grants from our various institutions
Anne of Green Gables
>>23616740Canada is a meme country. Quite frankly I can't believe it still exists.
>>23616740Bliss Carmen's translations of Sappho.
>>23617914>>23617929Yeesh, is Canada is the most cucked nation in the planet? Sincerely cannot think of a more economically-bankrupt, culturally-barren, and spiritually-empty place on earth.
>>23616868>There is no tenable national identity, not only because of official multiculturalism but also owing to the political arrangements made at confederation, which sees the country fractured at every level. The only winners are hyper-local elites operating patronage networks and (more recently) multinational corporations primed with the capital to buy-out such networks wholesale.Any books that elaborate on this?
Kim Thúy
>>23618364ThisAlong with other memes like Australia and New Zealand
bump
>Emile Nelligan>Dany LaferriereHow to make love to a negro without getting tired is pretty kino. It's like Bukowski, but Laferriere doesn't take himself so seriously.t. Anglo who can speak french
>>23616740
>>23618364South Park have expended tremendous effort in portraying Canada as a meme and yet they defiantly continue to exist.
>>23617914Why would earning potential be so much higher anywhere but Canada?
>>23621393The maple dollar is worthless and you get taxed out the ass
Margaret Atwood
>>23616868As a half-Canadian, Canada has a deeply ingrained crab bucket mentality that prefers mediocrity over individual greatness.
>>23620861feel better canuck?
>>23616868Schitt's Creek won all your American awards
"A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder" is pretty good if your into weird adventure stories with satirical elements. Also would second Robertson Davies.
why did canada allow the us to hive off its entire west coast, there's no reason why alaska has to take all the coastline beneath whitehorse
>40 replies inNot a single mention of Manley P HallShame on you, /lit./
>>23616740only canadian worth a shit was marshall mcluhan.
>>23616740Marshall McLuhan
Iain Reid's works have become pretty popular. I've read his first memoir-style book, I'm Thinking and Foe (the one with the replicant husband) and they were good and very different in style, which is interesting.
>>23622538Funt fact: there was a short-lived moment in history when British Columbia considered joining the US. That part of Canada was neglected for the longest time and it could've very easily gone the same way as Russian Alaska.
>>23616740My diary
>>23617196Fuck off Quebecker
>>23616740The Stone Angel
>>23616740Anne of Green Gables and Harpoon of the Hunter
>>23618423>Spiritually emptyFuck off, we have many ghosts of murdered girls
>>23623843why you do that tho
>>23616740Swallowed (L'Avalée des avalés) by Rejean DucharmeStory of a self-involved girl constantly at conflict with her identity and relationship to others, in particular struggling with cultural identity except it's Catholic/Jewish; the Catholic side is decadent and useless albeit vainly loving, while the Jewish side is harsh and domineering. If you want a metaphor for strife between cultural and economic interests, this could be it; in the end the character runs off to Israel where she's falsely venerated as a hero and completely neurotic. Ahem.I heard of another Quebec book about a guy with multiple heads that I think was supposed to be a metaphor for the Quebec cultural split of the time, but I dunno the name.
>>23616740Their only worthwhile writer is Mike Clattenburg
>>23616868To be fair, it must be difficult to formulate any national identity when your history amounts to being Americans who were too pussy to rise up against the British.
Quebec has some quality material that you may not find in English. Here in Montreal I know some French literature nerds.
>>23616740Peter Watts. Blindsight is a masterpiece.
>>23616740Worm is pretty cool. It also popularized webnovel slop, so we have Canada to thank for that
>>23622538It was appeasement by the British who needed to be on good terms with the United States before WW1.
>>23616740No
