The Canadian Canon

[ions]

Canadian Can-on(s)

I'm not well read enough, yet, in Canadian Literature to dispute any listed there but I do know that my Canadian Canon will include Farley Mowat, probably Never Cry Wolf and certainly will have Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams.

This article did remind me I want to get Canada's first Science Fiction Novel.

[Eric]

Thanks, ions, for the Globe & Mail reference. I too am not well enough read to say anything about Canadian literature, but that article does at least make a stab at drawing people's attention to Canadian literature in its own right, and not just a poor man's U.S. literature. Robertson Davies is a name I've wanted to investigate for a long time.

[ions]

These are books either about Canada or by Canadians that I would recommend to anyone without qualm, I would consider them part of a Canadian Canon but that doesn't mean a whole lot. Regardless of any sort of nationalistic implications these are great novels.

Colony of Unrequited Dreams by Wayne Johnston
Never Cry Wolf by Farley Mowat
Fifth Business by Robertson Davies
The Stone Angel by Margaret Laurence
The Handmaids Tale by Margaret Atwood
The Wars by Timothy Findley

[Mirabell]

The Never Cry Wolf thing sounds like an awful sentimental kid's book. What's good about it? PLus I have never heard of Ms. Margaret Laurence.

I crave information! Mr. A student, thou shalt answer me!

[ions]

It is indeed sentimental, I don't have the negative association with that word that many do, but it is also funny in its humility. Sad in its honesty. Is it a sappy lets love nature story? Yup. A damn good one. Sometimes it gets pitched as a young adult book, sometimes it sits in the nature section. I've seen it in adult fiction as well. It's one of the earliest novels I read and along with Jack London Farley Mowat was one of my first steps in loving reading. I'm biased and it's quite possible that one would get nothing from it unless they come at it young or with an animal loving heart. I hope I can see objectively enough beyond my bias to say that it's still a great book.

Margaret Laurence is a staple in Highschool English. A realist focusing mostly on rural smalltown Canada, but also some work on Africa where she lived briefly, and family dynamics. The Stone Angel, Hollywood moving coming soon, or is out, I dunno, is perhaps the book assigned book in HS I appreciated more than any other. Yeah, I think so. She's also very well known for The Diviners which I don't know a lot about but is on my to read list.

Wikipedia