About

This website is part of an online conference for ENGL 470A at the University of British Columbia, a fully online course devoted to exploring “Canadian literature in a historical context with a focus on the intersections and departures between European and Indigenous traditions of literature and orature,” in the words of our instructor, Dr. Erika Paterson. Throughout the course, we have examined a spectrum of literature from Canadian immigrants, First Nations, and visitors, including works by Thomas King, Northrop Frye, and Susanna Moodie to name a few. To culminate our studies this term, we present a literary intervention in the form of an online conference, modeled partly after the literary interventions suggested by contributors to Issue 204 of the journal Canadian Literature.

Our team is specifically interested in examining the roles of immigrant culture and digital media in Canadian literature today. Drawing from our diverse backgrounds, we are curious about the diversity of immigrant experiences in terms of where they (we) came from as well as how they (we) react and adapt to Canada. Framed in the multimedia approach of digital literacy and orality, today’s literature can contain visual, aural, and interactive components beyond the printed page. In our intervention, we are exploring the diversity of Canadian literary voices online and reflecting on their significance for the direction of Canadian literature as a whole. Please check out our first posting on a young Canadian poet with a very engaging online presence.

To motivate the multiple, interwoven paths of our intervention, we provide some relevant reflections on Canadian literature from three articles in CanLit 204.

Firstly, on the history of Canadian literature, we hear Lily Cho discuss colonial history and its relevance for modern Canadian authors:

“The colonial archive of immigration history in Canada— the head tax certificates, the Hansard debates on exclusion, internment, immigration, the passenger logs of immigration ships, and so on— is more than just historical context for reading diasporic Canadian literature. It functions as a site of dialogic engagement.”

We can extend her ideas of the literary significance of immigrant experiences as recorded in the official archives of Canada to the experience of First Nations people as well, especially in the forum of online literature, where the orality stemming from First Nations cultures can be woven into the fabric of multimedia content.

Next, we listen to Laura Moss offer a purpose for literary criticism in Canada today:

“[B]eing ethically grounded— as advocates of culture in the framework of neoliberalism and globalization— is the public role literary critics play today.”

She also points out that literary critics have no need for “lists of key works or authors” and need not “damn [certain] forms of writing as old-fashioned.” She instead advocates for “generously connecting ideas and people and for taking seriously the places they inhabit and the art they produce,” much in the accessible, grassroots spirit of today’s digital literature.

Finally, we note the need to promote diverse voices in online literature, as even its relatively barrier-free environment for dissemination and sharing of literary works is biased towards individuals with greater offline privileges. Ian Rae mentions this in his article on new media poetry, a literary discipline where the loudest Canadian voices are currently “white, middle-class, predominantly male poets from Toronto.” He also urges Canadian authors and critics to resist being “subsumed into an American melting pot,” where the uniqueness of the Canadian experience may be lost.

Weaving together these threads, we hope to highlight diversity in Canadian literature while exploring the potential of the online environment. We are excited to begin dialogue and look forward to engaging with content from the rest of the class.

Works Cited

Paterson, Erika. “Course Syllabus.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. Web. 24 March 2014.

Paterson, Erika. “Instructor’s Bio.” ENGL 470A Canadian Studies: Canadian Literary Genres. Web. 24 March 2014.

Canadian Literature homepage. Canadian Literature, 2014. Web. 24 March 2014.

Cho, Lily. “Archives of diasporic citizenship.” Canadian Literature 204 (2010): 142. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 24 March 2014.

Moss, Laura. “Introduction: generous and grounded connections.” Canadian Literature 204 (2010): 103. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 24 March 2014.

Rae, Ian. “The case for digital poetics.” Canadian Literature 204 (2010): 134. Canadian Periodicals Index Quarterly. Web. 24 March 2014.