History of Canadian Literature (History of Literature Series)

"A History of Canadian Literature" looks at the work of individual writers and also at the social and cultural contexts that helped shape their preoccupations and helped direct their choice of literary form. W.H. New explains how - from early records of oral tales to the writing strategies of the 1980s - writer, reader, literature, and society are interrelated. New discusses both Aboriginal and European mythologies, looking at pre-Contact narratives and also at the way Contact experience altered hierarchies of literary value. He then considers representations of the "real," whether in documentary, fantasy, or satire; the precedence of historical romance and the social construction of Nature and State; ironic subversions of power, the politics of cultural form, and the relevance of the media to a representation of community standard and individual voice. New suggests some ways in which writers of the later twentieth century codified such issues as history, gender, ethnicity, and literary technique itself. All genres are represented, with examples chosen primarily, but not exclusively, from anglophone and francophone texts. A chronology, plates, and a series of tables supplement the commentary.