“I don’t really like Canadian Literature. I don’t think it’s as interesting as English or British Literature.” I said to my English 227 professor.
“Oh?” He seemed unperturbed. “Have you taken other English courses?”
“Yes.”
“Which books did you read in those classes?”
I shifted my feet and listed a few that I remembered. “Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.. That was engaging.. Prometheus Bound was a favorite.. And Life of Pi was insightful.”
“Life of Pi was written by a Canadian Author.”
At the time, I didn’t think I had read any Canadian texts. I didn’t think they were as informative as outsourced literature since I lived in Canada all my life. Oh, how little I knew. I’ve been wanting to read Tigana by Guy Gavriel Kay. He is a Canadian writer. Fine, one or two books are written by Canadian writers, that doesn’t mean that I like it. Well… the Silverwing Series by Kenneth Oppel has always been close to my heart. Surprise, surprise, he’s a Canadian writer as well! If I had thought before I spoke to my professor, I would have remembered that I also enjoyed reading Indigenous myths as a child. Canadian stories have always been a part of my life.
Maybe, it was time for a revamp in my perspective. Discriminating across genres is like deciding whether a Golden Retriever or a German Shepherd was the better type of dog. A crude example, but Golden Retrievers were bred for retrieving game, where as German Shepherd’s were originally bred to herd sheep. Every breed has something to offer, just as every person and every genre has something offer. It is a matter of where to look, why and how hard we seek to understand.
What I didn’t know was what Canadian Literature had to offer. What were its advantages and disadvantages? What kind of intrinsic understandings or underlying implications does Canadian Literature offer? Naturally, I registered in English 470A. Not only do I want to increase my knowledge in “allusions and symbolic knowledge other than Western,” I want to understand what I am saying about myself in context of Canadian Literature.
So, to those reading my blog, welcome to the next 4 months of my renewed understanding of Canadian Literature.
Doubt brings one to a possibly humble and forever diverging path
Work Cited:
“ENGL 470A (3 cr): Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres” Distance Learning UBC, September 16, 2016. http://distancelearning.ubc.ca/courses-and-programs/distance-learning-courses/courses/engl/engl470a/. September 16, 2016
Silva, Jason. “Storytelling Animal” Facebook. August 30. 2016. https://www.facebook.com/jasonlsilva/videos/1732598057004472/. September 16, 2016
Smith, Russel. “Why do we struggle with what makes Canadian literature?” The Globe and Mail, November 21, 2013 http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/books-and-media/why-do-we-struggle-with-what-makes-canadian-literature/article15536056/. September 16, 2016
Testing