Studying Canadian Literature

» pamela_saint - Canada in the classroom

Hi Paula,

Unless curriculum have changed since I've been in school, I think you're correct on both counts. Canadian literature isn't taught and it should be. I went to school in New England, from kindergarten through graduate school, and I don't remember Canadian literature ever being addressed as a course of study. Perhaps we ignorantly consider Canada to be an extension of ourselves, just a bit northern.

On a side note, I just finished Alistair Macleod's No Great Mischief. What a gorgeous, gorgeous book. The deceptively simple prose ties together patterns and connections so that the characters and the landscape haunt you long after you've put the book down. I keep recommending it to everyone. In fact, I'm finding it difficult to dive into another book, so I'm contemplating running to the store to buy Macleod's collection of short stories!

-- posted by pamela_saint

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» calypso3 - Re: Canada in the classroom

Hi Pamela,
Canadian Literature is rarely taught even in Canadian classrooms, let alone in American ones -- that is an entirely different story altogether. It is scary how we are each other's closest neighbours, yet we learn so little about each other in school! In Social Studies, we did the Soviet Union/Russia twice (grades nine and eleven or twelve; I don't remember which exactly) and did not study the United States even once. That is ridiculous and the reason there is a lot of ignorance on both sides relating to the other.
- Paula

-- posted by calypso3

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