/lit/ - Literature

>>10789363
We need the particulars from which we can approach the universal, otherwise we'll just be rehashing whatever dominates the European/American literary scene.

Personally I think Canada should look to Argentina for building literary greatness. Gaucho Epics>Modernism>Borges is a pretty good rough formula.

What my (far off and eventual) goal is, as far as literature is concerned, is to write a decent history of British Columbia. We have a couple decent books which amount to collections of dates and names, but nothing that really captures the constantly emerging spirit which is present in our nation. There's very little about the countless wars that were fought over land that's now covered in forest; the people who lived and loved and suffered and died amid a timeless and uncaring landscape; the native tribes that would take down whales on 100 foot canoes, then trade the fat as far as the Aztec Empire and Hawaii; the gold rush and all the miscreants it brought; John Jewitt who was enslaved by Indians; King Maquinna who enslaved him and several other white men, then learned both English and Spanish and negotiated a peace treaty between the two empires; the Chinese who built the railroads and spent their nights in opium dens and brothels. There's a lot of good material to work with, it's just underutilized.

There's even an existent metaphysical language in artwork that could easily be transferred to magical literature: the frog for example, is a motif for the supernatural, because it can travel between land and ocean and inhabits two worlds at once. Raven brings order to the universe through his dionysian adventures of self interest, crime, and eroticism. Etc. Etc.

What made me appreciate the artistic output of my province a lot more is when I realized that literature, painting, those other "high" artistic endeavors are just trying to put someone else's shoe on our feet. Where we excel is wood carving and civil society, and this should be a point of pride. If you look at legal systems, ours is far more creative and organic (a literal collage of various nations, united under the concept of a crown) than most others, and in terms of woodcarvings BC is literally going through it's own renaissance right now.