# The best of Canadian literature? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [April 1, 2004, 2:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648 "2004-04-01T02:17:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![cowgirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/8c91f0/32.png) [@cowgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cowgirl)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/21 "2004-04-01T14:40:47Z")
Hey, congrats on getting into grad school, **Hamish**! Looks like you’ve got your work cut out for you - a list of ‘the best’ Canadian authors soon turns into a list of Canadian authors ! Two of my favourites haven’t been mentioned: Michael Ondaatje (a fantastic poet as well as novelist) and Rohintin Mistry. ---
**Author:** ![WordMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/e8c25b/32.png) [@WordMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WordMan)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/22 "2004-04-01T15:58:30Z")
Chalk up another huge Robertson Davies fan - I have a signed first edition set of his Deptford Trilogy. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 4:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/23 "2004-04-01T16:08:29Z")
Congrats on grad school, **Hamish**. I think that, whether you like him or not, any discussion of great Canadian novelists needs to include John Ralston Saul. If you’re interested in 19th Century Canadian literature, you might want to check out this link, which is a scanned copy of a speech given by George Stewart to the Canadian Club in New York City (in 1871, I think), about Canadian literature. While he mentions that there isn’t much Canadian literature (because Canadians are too busy building a country to write books), he does point out some authors he finds significant. [http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/PageView/29148/0005?id=aec029eb07a37089](http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/PageView/29148/0005?id=aec029eb07a37089) He also points out something else that retarded Canadian publishing. He says that, under British copyright law, in Canada and Australia, the author only could claim copyright within his province. His or her works weren’t protected anywhere else. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/24 "2004-04-01T16:20:21Z")
> [@coven](#): > > His work is certainly Canadian, but I’m pretty sure he wasn’t. Well, Service lived everywhere. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 5:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/25 "2004-04-01T17:36:14Z")
> [@detop](#): > > Don’t you mean Gordon R. Dickson ? Yes, yes I do. Sheesh. I didn’t think that looked quite right when I typed it. Robert Service was born in England to Scottish parents, and moved to Canada in his twenties. ---
**Author:** ![Quint](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/76d3ee/32.png) [@Quint](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Quint)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/26 "2004-04-01T18:51:02Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Robert Service was born in England to Scottish parents, and moved to Canada in his twenties. [hijack]He also moved to France in his thirties, where he married and eventually died. As **Captain Amazing** said, during all this time, “Service lived everywhere”. Not everywhere in the Stompin’ Tom sense of all over Canada, but in the L.A., New Orleans, the Balkans, Tahiti, France, sense of everywhere. His work from his time in the Yukon is certainly the essence of Canadian, but I’m not sure the man himself was. Canada made him rich, so maybe he identified himself as Canadian, but as far as I can tell he was as much a citizen of France as he was of Canada.[/hijack] ---
**Author:** ![vl\_mungo](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/bc8723/32.png) [@vl\_mungo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vl_mungo)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/27 "2004-04-01T19:51:54Z")
**Three Cheers For Me** by Donald Jack Volume I of the Bandy Papers Winner of the [Stephen Leacock Award for Humour](http://www.leacock.ca/awards.html) Vols. II & III are well worth reading too. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [April 1, 2004, 9:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/28 "2004-04-01T21:44:29Z")
An overlooked classic, in my opinion, is the poet Earle Birney’s novel **Turvey** , winner of the 1949 Leacock Prize. A darkly farcical look at the Canadian military bureaucratic machine during WW2, it follows the misadventures of an innocent from Skookum Falls, British Columbia. A little “Good Soldier Schweik” and a slight foreshadowing of “Catch-22;” worth reading. Although set during a world war, it’s not a “war book;” it’s about people caught up in a giant machine; it’s not about combat or fighting, either. Birney had a great ear for the bawdy dialogue of the common soldiery (without recourse to four-letter words), and this is reflected in the book. The whole book has the ring of truth, as it is based on his experiences in WW2 (and on his varied work experiences during the Great Depression). ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 1:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/29 "2004-04-02T01:08:56Z")
> [@featherlou](#): > > Of course, in university courses they will probably completely ignore the good sci-fi bunch in favour of the likes of ol’ sourpuss, Atwood. Hey, I like Atwood. But we do have quite a few good SF writers, don’t we? The work of SF I read while going for my degree was Elizabeth Vonarburg’s _Reluctant Voyagers_ (translated from _Voyageurs malgré eux_). Very creepy, but I think part of it hinges on knowing Montreal geography, because her alternate history erases a number of key buildings from the landscape without ever pointing out this detail… ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/30 "2004-04-02T01:13:33Z")
> [@detop](#): > > Here is his [bibliography](http://felix.cyberscol.qc.ca/LQ/auteurT/theria_y/oeuvr_yt.html) **Hamish** , it’s in French but it should give you an idea. As for a recommendation, I would suggest his most famous novel _Agaguk_… Thank you, and thanks to **MoonIndigo1** for adding to my list of French-Canadian authors. I grew up in the BC school system, which did its best to pretend French Canada did not exist, so it’s my first time seeing most of those names. On the subject of French authors, I’ve read a little bit about Michel Tremblay’s life, but I have yet any of his work except one short story. Anyone have any recommendations? ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/31 "2004-04-02T01:23:34Z")
> [@Captain Amazing](#): > > Congrats on grad school, **Hamish**. I think that, whether you like him or not, any discussion of great Canadian novelists needs to include John Ralston Saul. My first year on this board, I quoted Saul incessantly. My first GD thread, on the limits of reason, was inspired by _Voltaire’s Bastards_. I’ve read all his non-fiction, and I was completely engrossed. His ideas helped shape my philosophies at a critical juncture in my life. Still, I wasn’t too impressed with his fiction. I only read _Baraka_. I know enough about his life to know that chunks of it are autobiographical – which made it interesting in that regard – but I didn’t like the style very much. Odd for a novel of international intrigue, I found it a little dull. > [@](#): > > [http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/PageView/29148/0005?id=aec029eb07a37089](http://www.canadiana.org/ECO/PageView/29148/0005?id=aec029eb07a37089) Thanks. I’ll look it over. And thanks you to everyone who’s congratulating me on getting into grad school. I’m happy about it, and looking forward to it. ---
**Author:** ![Hamish](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a5b964/32.png) [@Hamish](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hamish)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/32 "2004-04-02T01:29:28Z")
> [@Rodd Hill](#): > > Birney had a great ear for the bawdy dialogue of the common soldiery (without recourse to four-letter words), and this is reflected in the book. The whole book has the ring of truth, as it is based on his experiences in WW2 (and on his varied work experiences during the Great Depression). Birney had a great ear for language. I think he’s at his best when he plays with it. I’ve never read any of his fiction, but if his skill with language carries over, it should be great reading. (Nice username, by the way. I grew up in Esquimalt, and my father is a military history buff, so we made a number of trips up to that fort) ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 2:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/33 "2004-04-02T02:33:56Z")
I forgot to mention Marie-Claire Blais. \*Une Saison dans la vie d’Emmanuel \* would be a good place to start. Réjean Ducharme is a significant Canadian author also. \*L’Avalée des avalés \* is a darkly humourous absurd tale. Louis Caron (_Le Canard de bois)_ is another fine writer. Michel Tremblay is mostly known for his plays, though he has written a number of somewhat autobiographical novels. His best-known plays are _Les Belles-soeurs, Ste-Carmen de la Main, Albertine en cinq temps, A Toi pour toujours, ta Marie-Lou_. In any given year, one or more of his plays are likely to be produced in Montreal, Hamish, so keep your eyes open. BTW, Les Belles-Soeurs was rather successful in Scotland-- an adaptation entitled “_The Guid Sisters_”. I’d say you should go with the most obvious, his best known work (Les Belles-soeurs) ---
**Author:** ![Jeff](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/e19b73/32.png) [@Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 9:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/34 "2004-04-02T09:24:05Z")
One other I haven’t seen mentioned yet is Alistair MacLeod. Also Guy Vanderhaeghe - though I’ve only read _The Englishman’s Boy_ and I’m honestly not sure what lit critics think of his work in general. Both are relatively recent additions to the CanLit scene. On a non-fiction/historical note I would include David MacFarlane, for his wonderful _The Danger Tree_. And another vote for Robertson Davies. ---
**Author:** ![Rodd\_Hill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/3ab097/32.png) [@Rodd\_Hill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rodd_Hill)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/35 "2004-04-02T15:43:02Z")
Hey, Hamish! If you visited between 1980 and 1998, and ever spoke to the interpretive staff (or came on a school tour), chances are it was either a tall, thin guy or a medium height fat guy. I was the fat guy! (I still work there, but I’m not longer a fat guy, and no longer doing interpretation, but curatorial). I use what little influence I have to make the summer students we get every year read “Turvey,” just because a) it has vague theme connections to our military history period themes; b) kids should read more anyhow (especially Canadian writers); c) I’d like to think that maybe a few of them will realize that “pre-1999” doesn’t automatically mean “old and busted.” On reading Birney’s bio, I see that he was a Selection Officer in the Canadian Army–which means that he made himself the bumbling, least likeable character in the novel. Heh. I like that. (Needless to say, you and **Matt** get a free ride in the 1942 jeep if you come for a visit!) ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/36 "2004-04-02T16:47:57Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > Hey, I like Atwood. > > But we do have quite a few good SF writers, don’t we? The work of SF I read while going for my degree was Elizabeth Vonarburg’s _Reluctant Voyagers_ (translated from _Voyageurs malgré eux_). Very creepy, but I think part of it hinges on knowing Montreal geography, because her alternate history erases a number of key buildings from the landscape without ever pointing out this detail… I figure Atwood is a love/hate thing - either you love her or flat-out hate her. I don’t love her. 😃 I read a sci-fi book way back when that was set in a future Edmonton - I can’t for the life of me think of the book, but it was a very pleasant change to read a book set in _my_ world, rather than somewhere in the U.S. or Great Britain. ---
**Author:** ![MoodIndigo1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/e8c25b/32.png) [@MoodIndigo1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MoodIndigo1)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/37 "2004-04-02T17:59:14Z")
Featherlou, could the book be _The Night Watch_, by Sean Stewart? Not a bad read, not a great writer either, but I know what you mean: I too like reading books set in a familiar décor. ---
**Author:** ![Dangerosa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/22d042/32.png) [@Dangerosa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dangerosa)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/38 "2004-04-02T19:01:29Z")
This may be a good place to ask this. I was in the bookstore. I was buying Oryx and Crake and Possession on tape. The clerk recommended (based on this) a new female Canadian author, but I cannot remember the name. The book was something about a family and everything looks normal when you start the book…but it isn’t. Any ideas? ---
**Author:** ![Treviathan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/838e76/32.png) [@Treviathan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treviathan)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/39 "2004-04-02T19:56:26Z")
Finally, a chance to put my two-and-a-half years working on a M.A. in Western Canadian literature to some real use. **Canonical** : Admittedly, I don’t know anyone who’d ever call _Roughing it in the Bush_, by Susanna Moodie, their favorite work of literature. But it’s one of the earliest texts to come out of Canada, and it documents the struggle of early European settlers trying to establish themselves in Upper Canada. _Such is My Beloved_, by Morley Callaghan, is the story of a priest whose idealistic life is destroyed because of his relationship with a prostitute. Written in the 1930s, it’s one of my favorite Canadian novels. Stephen Leacock’s satires of small-town and urban Canadian life, _Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town_ and _Arcadian Adventures of the Idle Rich_, are considered landmarks of modern satire. The Leacock award is given anually to the best humourous piece of Canadian fiction. Go into any Canadian highschool, and chances are students will have read either _The Diviners_ or _The Stone Angel_, two novels by Maragaret Laurence about the constraints of being a progressive woman in a small town. Robertson Davies and Margaret Atwood are internationally renowned, but I don’t know if there’s one particular work of theirs that would be considered “canonical.” I guess it would likely be Atwood’s _The Handmaid’s Tale_ (though in my survey course in second-year we read _The Edible Woman_ - a poor choice, I thought) and either Davies’ _Leaven of Malice_ or something from his _Deptford Trilogy_. Most people are familiar with Mordecai Richler’s _The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz_. Alice Munro has a number of wonderful short story collections (or “cycles,” as we debated pretentiously throughout my two short-story seminars), with _The Moons of Jupiter_ and _Who Do You Think You Are?_ being probably the most critically renowned. **Favorites** : I’ve mentioned this in other threads, and I’ll stand by my opinion that Timothy Findley’s _The Wars_ is the most powerful, well-crafted Canadian work of literature ever written. It’s a stunningly sad and sensitive look at the inhumanity of WWI - which sounds clichéed and done before, but trust me, it’s an amazing read. I’ve read it three times, front-to-back, in one sitting each time. It just doesn’t lose any of its power on multiple readings. While not about Canada, Rohinton Mistry’s _A Fine Balance_ is worth looking at as an example of how diverse and multicultural Canadian literature can be. Set in Indira Gandhi’s India, it examines the lives of four characters and how their choices are constrained by politics, caste, religion, and so on. At over 700 pages it’s quite a read, but it’s one of the few books that made me so angry (in a good way, of course) that I almost opened a pit thread about it. I’ve been researching Guy Vanderhaeghe for my thesis, and he has so much wonderful material that it’s hard to pick just one text. _The Englishman’s Boy_ won the Governor General’s award, and is probably his most well-known text, but even better, I think, is his most recent novel _The Last Crossing_. Which wasn’t even _nominated_ for the GG - a major oversight. A professor of American literature I once had claimed that twenty or thirty years from now, Canadians would be reading Vanderhaeghe with the same reverence that Americans have for Steinbeck and Hemingway. I think Douglas Coupland’s best novel isn’t _Generation X_, but _Microserfs_, which I approached with some trepidation because - being the Luddite that I am - I know dick-all about computers, the [dot.com](http://dot.com) industry, and technology in general. But it was immediately accessible. I loved the innocence and naivete of the characters - it’s refreshing when a writer can write about youth and urbanity without being cynical and jaded. On the other hand, Russell Smith writes some wonderful satire about urban Ontario. Check out his short story collection _Young Men_. There’s a plethora of Aboriginal literature in Canada, and it’s definitely an emerging field of study. (So if you’re looking for a job when you get out, pay attention. ;)) Again, the most “canonical” texts are probably Thomas King’s _Green Grass, Running Water_ and two works by Tomson Highway, the play _Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing_ and the novel _Kiss of the Fur Queen_. If you’ve read any William Falkner, you’d probably have a good grasp of Highway. Drew Hayden Taylor’s plays, notably _alterNatives_, are both politically charged and bitingly funny. I’m sure I could go on, but I’m feeling guilty, having now put more effort into this post than the last two months of my thesis. 🙂 Oh, and **Dangerosa** , the female author wasn’t Gloria Sawai, was it? ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [April 2, 2004, 8:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648/40 "2004-04-02T20:46:02Z")
> [@Hamish](#): > > Still, I wasn’t too impressed with his fiction. I only read _Baraka_. I know enough about his life to know that chunks of it are autobiographical – which made it interesting in that regard – but I didn’t like the style very much. Odd for a novel of international intrigue, I found it a little dull. The book to try of his is his first novel, “The Birds of Prey”. It’s about this writer trying to investigate the plane crash that killed General Ailleret. the French Chief of Staff. It’s a weird thing about Saul that his novels are sort of more popular outside of Canada than inside it. Birds of Prey is still extremely popular in France (where it was first published, under the title “Mort d’un General”, and “The Paradise Eater” won this really prestigious Italian award for literature. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-best-of-canadian-literature/237648.md?page=3)