Skip to main content Skip to search Skip to search

Literary Collections Canadian

The Search for English-Canadian Literature

An Anthology of Critical Articles from the Nineteenth and Early Twentieth Centuries

edited by Carl Ballstadt

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Dec 1975
Category
Canadian, Books & Reading, Canadian

  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802062635
    Publish Date
    Dec 1975
    List Price
    $35.95

  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442633223
    Publish Date
    Dec 1975
    List Price
    $26.95

Add it to your shelf

Where to buy it

Description

The search for a distinctive Canadian literature is not new. It began in the 1820s, and even then involved many of the same issues that concern critics today. Much of this early material is now inaccessible to most Canadians. Carl Ballstadt has selected for this volume a number of the most importance statements from a century of growth. The pieces come from essays, prefaces, and editorials published between 1823 and 1926 in a variety of works including the major literary periodicals of the time. Among the authors are Thomas D’Arcy McGee, Sara Jeannette Duncan, Daniel Wilson, Goldwin Smith, G. Mercer Adam, Pelham Edgar, J.D. Robins, J.D. Logan, and Charles Mair. The major themes they treated, with frequent diversity of views, are the kind of writing best suited to a new country; the economic and spiritual barriers to the creation of literature; the feasibility of creating a ‘national’ literature; the need for serious criticism; the relationship between European traditions and the developing Canadian imagination; Canada’s ‘northern’ character; the advantages of two cultural streams; and the significance of Canadian achievements in poetry. This book provides essential background to anyone concerned with the path Canadian literature followed to modern times.

About the author

Carl Ballstadt is a member of the Department of English at McMaster University.

Carl Ballstadt's profile page

Other titles by

I Bless You in My Heart

Selected Correspondence of Catharine Parr Traill

edited by Carl Ballstadt, Michael Peterman & Elizabeth Hopkins

Forest and Other Gleanings

The Fugitive Writings of Catharine Parr Traill

by (author) Catherine Parr Traill
edited by Michael Peterman & Carl Ballstadt

Letters of Love and Duty

The Correspondence of Susanna and John Moodie

edited by Carl Ballstadt, Elizabeth Hopkins & Michael Peterman

Letters of Love and Duty

The Correspondence of Susanna and John Moodie

edited by Carl Ballstadt, Elizabeth Hopkins & Michael Peterman

Susanna Moodie

Letters of a Lifetime

by (author) Susanna Moodie
edited by Carl Ballstadt, Elizabeth Hopkins & Michael Peterman

Roughing it in the Bush or Life in Canada

by (author) Susanna Moodie & Carl Ballstadt

Roughing it in the Bush or Life in Canada

by (author) Susanna Moodie & Carl Ballstadt