The changing face of Canadian Literture
Canadian Literature, when traced from when the first settlers arrived in Canada until today, has changed not only in its literary form but also in its aspirations.As one might expect from an immigrant community, the first literary forms were epistolary in nature, describing conditions and climes in this strange new world to relatives and friends Frances Brooke, in 1766, took advantage of this accepted form of writing and created a novel called 'The History of Emily Montague' which described this new land from several different viewpoints. By utilizing her characters as individual narrators, Frances Brooke was able to provide the Europeans with descriptions that varied from a both a perspective of gender and Other early immigrants wrote in another widely popular form of literature, ' the exploration narrative.' These novels originated from hastily written notes and reports written by the early explorers and surveyors. They provided very detailed illustrations of the flora, fauna and geographical environment. Although they also provided a description of the hardships and privatations that their authors endured, these observations were often
They reported this culture and how that culture differed from that of the Europeans. Other writers, notably David Thompson, John Franklin and Dr. But a more direct and obvious form of verse had now supplanted the idyllic and pastoral romanticism of the Loyalist poets. By 1890 Archibald Lampman and Duncan Campbell Scott had become what were later called 'Confederation Poets'. The modern Canadian writers of today, notably Alice Munro, Mavis Gallant, Margaret Lawrence and Mordecai Richler, still use this almost 'kitchen sink' form of writing. Their characters say and do exactly the same kinds of things as we (as Canadians) all do. When Charles Sangster wrote 'From The St Lawrence to the Saguenay,' in 1856, he was heavily criticised for failing to utilise a native idiomatic tone. The settlements had now turned into towns and the towns had turned into industrialised cities. Writers such as Thomas Chandler Haliburton continued to enchant the European public with tall tales that echoed the social changes and lack of class distinctions inherent to such an unstructured environment. These 'exploration narratives' also introduced a detail of the aboriginal culture to the Europeans. By the mid 1800's the European immigrants were being superceded by immigrant refugees from America. Lampman especially was concerned about the rise of cities, but also realised that for Canada to grow as a nation they were a necessary evil. These adventures from the new land promised a future that was only bounded by one's own skills, talents and hard work. The 'settlers narrative' format of literature had evolved to encompass the truth.
Common topics in this essay:
John Richardson,
Frances Brooke,
Campbell Scott,
Roughing Bush',
Modern Canadian,
Susanna Moodie,
Backwoods Canada',
Stephen Leacock,
Mordecai Richler,
Chandler Haliburton,
novel called,
writers poets,
canadian literature,
wrote novel called,
exploratory narrative,
catherine parr,
campbell scott,
personal intimate,
called 'the,
form writing,
duncan campbell scott,
novel called 'the,
created novel,
|
Acceptance Essays
