Canadian Lit

[Anonymous No.21775808]

What is Canadian literature all about? Can it be summed up as:
>Canadian literature is an extended meditation on the quotidian minutiae of post-colonial prairie urban gay-straight Canadian life.

[Anonymous No.21775830]

>>21775808
all the books in this fucking hell on earth are written by women or gays. there are absolutely no books of value written by canadians, who are subhuman animals and the scum of the earth. even if you read a book in public these fucking bastards will just sexually harass you for reading because they're illiterate and subhuman. america should just invade this fucking shithole of a country, or china, and commit genocide against the canadian "people". they're not human beings and they don't deserve to fucking live

[Anonymous No.21775845]

>>21775830
Is Sinclair Lewis a fag?

[Anonymous No.21775849]

>>21775830
Is Sinclair Ross a cocksucking fag?

[Anonymous No.21775885]

>>21775849
>Sinclair Ross
i never read that fucking faggot, man. this country deserves to be invaded by america or china and i hope they commit genocide against the canadian "people" because they're fucking evil and they don't deserve to live

[Anonymous No.21775888]

>>21775885
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U_JaCb1K6ns
Will you save Bakker? He wrote a spoof anti-Canlit novel and filched $20k from the arts community to write "literary" drivel when he's really a Fantasy chad.

[Anonymous No.21775891]

>>21775888
>fantasy writer
i hate this country so goddamn much

[Anonymous No.21775893]

>>21775808
I mean Jordan Peterson is Canadian, so...there's that

[Anonymous No.21775909]

>>21775808
Frye has a book on this: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bush_Garden
And I think Atwood expanded on his ideas specifically on Canadian lit.
Canada seems to have a nice and little literary tradition. Ondaatje has some nice poems and Carson seems good too. Munro is very good. I'd like to read Québécois authors. But Canadians seem to neglect their literary tradition very much. I was in Toronto and getting any of what you'd expect to be the more canonical works was incredibly hard. I could only easily find the worst of Cohen and Atwood. Shame on Canadians.

[Anonymous No.21775913]

>>21775909
>Atwood
>Ondaatje
We had to read them for honours English. It was abysmal. Munro seemed okay but not read as much. I think Canada maybe has some cultural cringe OHSTRAYLYA.

[Anonymous No.21775915]

>>21775893
>Jordan Peterson
>>21775909
>Atwood
canadians are literally subhuman

[࿇ C Œ M G E N V S ࿇ !KNDY/Ar.iI No.21775923]

CANADIAN CULTURE IS HARVESTING MAPLE SYRUP, BREAKING FAST WITH MAPLE SYRUP, DRINKING MAPLE SYRUP BEER, MAKING MAPLE SYRUP WHISKEY, BRUSHING YOUR TEETH WITH MAPLE SYRUP, HIBERNATING, MAKING DOCUMENTARIES ABOUT YOUR LIFE IN THE SNOW, WANTING TO BE A HOCKEY PLAYER WHEN YOU GROW UP, RIDING ELK, GROWING UP TO BE A THESPIAN IN UNHOLYWOOD, DREAMING ABOUT PLAYING HOCKEY, BECOMING A «YOUTUBE»/«TIKTOK» COMEDIAN, PRETENDING TO BE WELCOMING OF CHINESE IMMIGRANTS, PLAYING HOCKEY, SMUGGLING LITHIVM OUT OF MEXICO, BEING A SOCIOPOLITCAL EXPERIMENTAL SUBJECT OF WHATEVER ATLANTICISTIC TRIAL RUN HAS BEEN CONCOCTED THIS MONTH, WATCHING HOCKEY, KNEELING BEFORE THE BRITISHER MONARCH, RUNNING ALONG WITH THE UNITEDSTATIAN MASTER.

[Anonymous No.21775926]

>ctrl + f: xiaowen zeng
>zero results
Come on guys, she's so peng...

[Anonymous No.21775934]

>>21775923
CUM alliance against the Iberian menace...

[Anonymous No.21775950]

Pic related has redpills on gene editing

[Anonymous No.21775956]

>>21775913
I thought Ondaatje was a fine poet, did you read his novels? His verse novels also seem interesting, and that seems to be something characteristic of Canadian lit (I don't know if there's anyone else doing it apart from him and Carson). And what Atwood novel did you have to read? I got her first novel while in Toronto because everything that's not The Handamaid's Tale seems interesting, and the fact that she actually critically engages with Canadian literature gives me hope she is not a charlatan.
Munro is amazing you really have to read more of her.
If you're Canadian I think you should keep a more open mind about your tradition. Very few people but Canadians will actually have the willingness to explore and engage with what has been written in your country. You might not have a Shakespeare but you could find a great minor author.

[Anonymous No.21775970]

>>21775926
yo i would fuck that bitch

[Anonymous No.21775972]

>>21775956
>And what Atwood novel did you have to read?
Throughout uni, we read her short stories (metafictional wank ones), Alias Grace, and Oryx & Crake. I think them to be really on the nose and not really art at all.
>not a charlatan
She has to turn everything into some persecution complex dystopia, even Alias Grace which was not historically accurate at all, and which she sprinkled with shite poetry. The only interesting thing was historiographical metafiction, but others did it better.
>did you read his novels?
We read Anil's Ghost. It was very boring.
>If you're Canadian
I'm Australian. We just study other country's lit more because we are ashamed of heckin colonialism or even standing out as Australians. But that started in the 40s and 50s due to being colonial subjects.

[Anonymous No.21775978]

>>21775956
>you could find a great minor author.
bro you can't even read on a park bench without canadians sexually harassing you and calling it "morality". over half of canadians are functionally illiterate. life here is miserable. there is no possibility for literature here because there is no life here. canadians are subhuman animals and th scum of the fucking earth. we don't need literature, we need a genocide of all fucking subhuman catholics, protestants and hindus

[Anonymous No.21776022]

>>21775972
>We just study other country's lit more because we are ashamed of heckin colonialism
That's a shame. Australian literature also seems minor but not too bad. Any poets you'd recommend? Or any good novelists apart from White and Murnane?
And I was afraid that Atwood would be too in your face. I'll still read her first novel to see what's up.
>>21775978
It is indeed a shame what seems to happen in Canada. As I said, I find it sad that Canadians seem to neglect their literature (and I'd assume their culture as a whole). You can continue with that neglect or actually maintain culture alive. Do not despair, anon. I believe that a broken country can find hope in what they have been able to achieve in culture in the past and maybe even the present. My country is doing much worse than Canada so I know what you feel.

[Anonymous No.21776028]

>>21775849
Sinclair wrote some beautiful short stories but I never felt the need to read his other works

[Anonymous No.21776034]

>>21776022
>My country is doing much worse than Canada so I know what you feel
first off, thanks for your kind and hopeful words. but, secondly, you don't understand how truly awful canadians are. there is no possibility for culture in canada due to the extreme totalitarian "morality" here. if you for instance even wrote something violent, since everyone here is psychotic you would be criminalized and pathologized for creating something violent. it's a neofascist hellhole. canadians are illiterate and psychotic. i would rather live in a violent third world country than in canada. canadians are not human beings. it's like nazi germany here. there is no possibility for culture. canadians are below language. everything is about "morality" to them, but their "morality" is an excuse for injustice, oppression, and murder

[Anonymous No.21776041]

>>21776022
>Any poets you'd recommend?
Some people who stick in my mind are Paterson, Lawson, Judith Wright, Adam Lindsay Gordon, and Bruce Dawe (who I think was on good terms with Coetzee who moved here).
>novels
I don't like it much, but True History of the Kelly Gang is quite famous here. My friend also likes David Foster (the Australian novelist), but I haven't read much of him apart from gleaning some grungy book. You can just check the Vogel award for what gets accepted here, but it's usually derivative and boring.

[Anonymous No.21776192]

>>21776034
But has it always been that way? Maybe you see there is no possibility for the growth of culture now, but that doesn't mean there is no culture. That's why I believe engaging with one's own culture is important, above all in times of crises. Culture ––and literature and a literary tradition––is not something that just exists, but that exists when there is someone ––readers, writers, critics in this case–– to keep it alive. Do you really not believe that Canada has borne out any good author or work?
>>21776041
Thank you anon, will check some of them out.

[Anonymous No.21776201]

>>21775830
Maybe you should go back to whence your parents came if you hate it so much. You won’t be missed. Read some Salman Rushdie

[Anonymous No.21776236]

>>21776201
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m5qZ0vmJw4Y
He's an alien and he wants to phone home, anon.

[Anonymous No.21776242]

>>21775808
The thing about Canadian culture is that there really isn't a cutting edge or abrasive side, it's almost all a variation of sensible blandness. There’s nothing offensive, or exciting -- it all sort of sits there.

It's hard to think that someone like, say, Celine, Houellebecq or Genet, Thomas Bernhard, Nabokov or Mishima could have been created or made a name in the literary culture that is Canadian, they're all too hard-edged. One could argue that all of these writers were or are obsessives, nutjobs and assholes, but you need that for good literature. A bunch of Canadian nice guys and university women aren’t going to cut it.

[Anonymous No.21776315]

>>21776242
Any successful Canadians just move to the US, get dual citizenship and hide their Canadian background in the early life section of Wikipedia.

On topic: Douglas Coupland is ok from what I can remember

[Anonymous No.21776329]

>>21776201
>go back
if every person like you was fucking executed, just slaughtered like the animals you are, this would be a good country. i'm 4th generation and have lived here my entire miserable life you fucking nazi faggot piece of shit fuckin goof. kill yourself

[Anonymous No.21776342]

>>21776329
So then maybe do something with the opportunities you have and move somewhere nicer you stupid fucking hoser. Oh wait, that’d require effort and you’re too busy blazing the legal green and watching curling. Dumb fuck

[Anonymous No.21776347]

>>21776192
>But has it always been that way?
yep.
>that doesn't mean there is no culture
there's no culture, there's only hate.
>. That's why I believe engaging with one's own culture is important
white supremacist genocide and raping children is not culture. canada is hell on earth
>Culture ––and literature and a literary tradition––is not something that just exists, but that exists when there is someone ––readers, writers, critics in this case–– to keep it alive.
again, over 50% of canadians are functionally illiterate. these people are subhuman animals and the scum of the earth.
>Do you really not believe that Canada has borne out any good author or work?
absolutely none. in over 150 years, all canadians have ever done is drink, do drugs, and rape and kill women and rape and kill children. they're illiterate nazi bastards and the scum of the earth. they're not human beings

[Anonymous No.21776350]

>>21776342
you don't understand how fascistic this nation is. if i weren't oppressed i would gladly leave and renounce my citizenship. if the country i emigrated to waged war against canada i would gladly kill as many canadians as possibly. they're not human beings and they don't deserve to live

[Anonymous No.21776367]

>>21776329
>calls Canadians subhuman, calls the country hell on earth

>calls people who point out his racism Nazis

Seriously, go back to India. Canada is not a place for intolerant bigots.

[Anonymous No.21776377]

>>21776367
i'm white you fucking psychotic fascist bastard. seriously, all you people are the same. you're nothing but hateful nazi beasts. i should have the legal right to kill and eat you like the fucking animals you are

[Anonymous No.21776383]

There are a suspicious numbers of poopie themed novels coming out of Canada. Could the stereotype that Canadians are scat fetishists be true?

[Anonymous No.21776384]

>>21776367
>>21776377
also - you're the intolerant bigot here you fucking piece of white supremacist neonazi shit. you should forced to prostrate yourself on the ground and shot in the back of the head. you're not a human being and you don't deserve to fucking live you evil nazi piece of shit

[Anonymous No.21776386]

Literature should be able to be understood universally not nationality specific

[Anonymous No.21776391]

>>21776383
>▶
canadians are fucking asshole, they fuck each other up the ass, they get fucked up the ass, they let their fucking dogs fuck them up the ass. goddamn psychotic sodomite bastards. nuke canada

[Anonymous No.21776392]

[Anonymous No.21776395]

>>21776386
canadians are too evil to access the universal. everything is extremely particular to them. also, over half of canadians are illiterate, and the other just read "atomic habits" or harry potter at best.

[Anonymous No.21776402]

Why are Canadians so obsessed with poop, bros?

[Anonymous No.21776417]

>>21776386
But talking about national literatures is still useful because, while there does not exist something particular that makes a novel American and not French, an American novel still belongs to a history that in a sense determines it and gives it certain characteristics. This is why a "national" literature is also a global literature: someone like Faulkner might belong to American literature, but in some sense it also belongs to Latin American literature (or its history) because LatAm authors took him as a foundation.

[Anonymous No.21776425]

>>21776402
they're. literally. assholes.

[Anonymous No.21776428]

>>21776417
canada does not have literature, canadians are mentally retarded and illiterate and they're too busy smoking meth, sucking dogs off, and raping their children.

[Anonymous No.21776437]

[Anonymous No.21777129]

Frye is perhaps the Blake critic par excellence and also one of the most significant literary critics of the 20th century. Munro is an excellent Gothic (Southern) writer and absolutely deserves her nobel prize. I'd say we get half of Lowry, with how much Under the Volcano was composed in BC, and Canada itself clearly figures as a paradisiacal image for him. Robert Service is fun and quite good - I think Joyce was even complimentary of him. And then, of course there's McLuhan who marshalled in media studies. Vassanji is quite good, but not at the same level at the others I mentioned.

Anyone who thinks Peterson is representative of Canadian lit is likely poorly read and completely out of touch.

[Anonymous No.21777193]

>>21775909
The Garrison Mentality does not hold up to scrutiny. It is not an accurate diagnosis of Canadian society in the 21st Century at the very least.

[Anonymous No.21777438]

>>21775808
>>21775909
Yeah it's because the government sold the country to mercenary economic interests, so that it's less a country than an economic stopover for people to make money in a place with relatively good quality of living and then do something else.
Canadian culture was originally based on the enormous frontier of inhospitable nature, as most of it is barely habitable, so we should have a very robust physical and outdoor culture but it depends on where you live and most people live in cities which became increasingly multicultural and those people have marginal interest and limited means in those regards.
We're like an America that is more British, with a smaller population that is more spread out over a more northerly climate, with a French colony separating the east coast from the rest of the nation.

[Anonymous No.21777533]

>>21777193
Additionally and I have to assume Frye talks about this but it's not only a vast unknown, it's having America on the other side so that it's like we're on a little periphery of Civilization next to a precipice. So as Canadians when we want to define ourselves we have to escape the shadow of America but at the same time the freedom on the other side is forbidding and doesn't provide any reassurance or guidance on who we are. There's also the Native question.
This has led to us having a relatively shaky existential situation that is primarily defined by contrast to the US. I think that has given rise to a tendency towards parody and satire, which partially explains our comedic tradition. I think it also made us easy prey for globalism and concomitant multiculturalism where a tenuous identity moves to accommodate any and all identities because that's the path of least resistance.
But I also think it's ripe ground for the imagination of individuals to flourish. Were it not for globohomo conformism, there would be very little of it at all. How can you conform when there's no overarching identity to conform to? Of course, multiculturalism was marketed to voters as non-conformism.
Culture here exists in pockets and varies from province to province and region to region because the landmass is so enormous. Anyway I'm talking out of my ass in part because I've never organized these thoughts into a coherent form before. I should really prioritize studying and understanding my country's literary culture.

[Anonymous No.21777568]

>>21777438
It’s funny that you think this is a new phenomenon. Canada has always belonged to mercantile interests. Read some history.

[Anonymous No.21777603]

>>21777568
No I'm aware and I have read some. It's obvious abundant nature goes hand in hand with abundant trade in natural resources. There is a difference though between colonial interests and a multi-ethnic globohomo free for all. It's possible this country never did have a chance but you're just having a kneejerk reaction. Calm down, smoke a spliff, hang out with your Indian friends.

[Anonymous No.21777613]

>>21777603
It’s ok to admit you’re wrong frienderino. I’m sorry if I offended you there eh?

[Anonymous No.21777705]

>>21777613
You're taking a step back in the exchange, I already addressed that in the response you're replying to, plus you're boring. Feel free to comment on any part of my posts other than the bits that irked you because they cause you to perceive me as a political partisan.

[Anonymous No.21777715]

Almost nothing of value, this coming from a Canadian

[Anonymous No.21777722]

>>21777705
All your posts are /pol/ tier. This is a board for books. Read one. Perhaps the one I posted.

[Anonymous No.21777724]

>>21775808
I say this every canadian lit thread:a lot of you would love Robertson Davies.

[Anonymous No.21777897]

>>21777568
>>21777603
Canada should be nationalized. All of it. Only by reverting to our true nature as wagies within a massive hierarchial multiculti corporation running on government subsidies and monopolies will we ever realize our true destiny as Argentina.

[Anonymous No.21778033]

Even though the Canadian literary culture is shit right now, I promise I'll help to make it better in the future. All we can do is add to the culture by producing better literature instead of complaining about the lack thereof. Without Canadian readers, writers and critics we're gonna have this shit cultureless hellscape forever.

[Anonymous No.21778601]

as a canadian, what should i write to save canadian literature?

[Anonymous No.21778627]

>>21777724
>Robertson Davies
It's incredible that he has basically been forgotten. If people want to actually learn something about this country start with Donald Creighton. Mcluhan, Frye, Morton, Grant are others.

[Anonymous No.21779239]

>>21778627
Yeah, Davies was THE Canadian man of letters. Great books, ran a new university that actually had standards and helped establish the Stratford Shakespeare festival. With how the wind was blowing after he died it isn't surprising that the current academic culture downplays him, but he is so up /lit/'s alley that it's typically pathetic that they complain about Canadian literature without having even tried him.

[Anonymous No.21779334]

>>21777724
>>21778627
>>21779239
Agree totally on the Davies front. He's honestly one of the only Canadian writers worth reading.

>>21775808
I like Alistair MacLeod. Fun edgy moody stories about life in Cape Breton.

[Anonymous No.21779342]

>>21775830

[Anonymous No.21779356]

>>21778601
Just anything but the Shitkickers.

[Anonymous No.21779376]

First for bakker

[Anonymous No.21779400]

>>21779376
https://youtu.be/U_JaCb1K6ns

[Anonymous No.21780255]

>>21777715
i read that sinclair ross book too