120130 VO Cultural and Regional Studies (Canadian Civilisation) (2010W)

The lecture course will consider the evolution of Canada as a country and as seen through its literatures. Beginning with an introduction to the history of the country, we will move on to a consideration of its wealth of political, cultural, and literary institutions and practices.

The course will analyze in detail the early attempts to define a literature, beginning with the nineteenth-century demands that the country learn to speak for itself. Lucy Maud Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables will be studied as a literary work in itself, as a product of American publishing, and as the first classic work of Canadian literature. The French presence in Canada will be highlighted by the appearance of Gabrielle Roy's The Tin Flute (1945), a magnificent work of fiction heralding the growth (earlier than English-Canadian fiction) of a unique and vibrant literature in Quebec. Margaret Atwood's poetic sequence, The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), looks back to the pioneering world of early Canada and creates Moodie's life as a celebration of her career and her later appearance in contemporary Canada. This foray into the Canadian poetic world offers us a careful look at one of the most significant Canadian writers. Finally, the transformation of Canada from a pioneering world into a global power will be the subject of our study of Rohinton Mistry's Tales from Firozsha Baag (1987).