History of Literature in Canada: English‐Canadian and French‐Canadian

A recurring complaint from the literary and cultural commentariat is that particular areas are under‐recognised. Canadian literature (or “Canlit”) is one of these, characterised pejoratively either as a post‐colonial voice peeping out from under the legacy of British (“Englit”) or French literature and culture, or as a form of idiosyncratic indigenous and nationalistic expression. The variety and vigour of Canadian literature, in at least three styles (in English, in the French above all of Québec, and First Nation and Inuit), is plain to see once you look for it and at it. It is not a mere historical curiosity centred...