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Literary Attitudes in English Canada, 1880-1900

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Literary Attitudes in English Canada, 1880-1900 LITERARY ATTITUDES IN ENGLISH CANADA, 1880-1900 Thomas Donald MacLulich B.A., University of Toronto, 1967 A THESIS SUBMITTED IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF i THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF MASTER OF ARTS in the Department of English @ THOMAS DONALD MACLULICH 1971 SIMON FRASER UNIVERSITY July 1971 APPROVAL Name : Thomas '~onaldMacLulich Degree : Master of Arts Title of Thesis: Literary Attitudes in English Canada, 1880-1900 Examining Committee: Bruce Nesbitt Senior Supervisor - - - Lionel' / Kearns John Mills b.~.Cook External Examiner Assistant Professor of History Simon Fraser University, Burnaby, B.C. Date Approved: July 29, 1971 ABSTRACT An examination of articles in literary periodicals and of many other separately published works shows that Canadian literary criticism of the late nineteenth century is not part of the history of ideas in the highest academic sense, but is part of the history of popular taste. Most of the pre- .rp- vailing attitudes are present in the initial reactions to the work of the Confederation Poets. Roberts, Lampman, Carman, \ and Campbell were largely responsible for a change in the tenor of Canadian criticism from pessimism to optimism. They were welcomed for their distinctively "Canadianttqualities and also, paradoxically, for their similiarities to recognized British writers. Some critics, however, deprecated their ran,,rk as mere nature descriptions with no spiritual or human meaning. Critics debated whether Canada had a "distinctive national literature" or not. Their arguments were influenced by Canada's ambiguous political status. Some thought she could have no "national" literature because she was not a nation; others thought the development of a literature would hasten nationhood. Because the concept of literary develop- ment used was based on European models, it was thought Canada lacked traditions which would endow the Canadian scene with the allusive potential of European backgrounds. iii Canada offered a writer only natural landscape or the picturesqueness of French Canada, both subjects incompatible with the highest art. Canadian critics often placed them- selves in the awkward position of calling for a d' tinctively Canadian literature, yet believing that the characteristicsr which made it Canadian also made it inferior. Critics felt literature had a strong influence on society, principally through its effect on morality. They demanded that literature express Christian attitudes, or at least not deal with morally offensive ideas. Advocates of "realism" and "idealism" debated whether literature should depict the world as it Is or the world as it ought to be. Both sides, however, used moral arguments to support their views, and both positions were frequently coloured by a liking for the "romance" or novel of adventure and escape. It was usually held that art had a duty to be optimistic and cheerful, and several writers expressed a barely concealed distrust for all art, Canadian critics generally lagged behind advanced British thought, and took a conservative position on the critical issues of their time, Critics often pointed out the failure of Canadians to support their own authors. As causes they cited Canada's newness, the influence of materialistic American attitudes, and the low standard of literary criticism in Canada. However, Sara Jeanette Duncan said that Canadians were poor critics and readers because they were Philistines at heart, not because of any external influences. The way Canadian critics deferred to foreign judgments and to conventional opinions, their belief that some things are intrinsically "poetic," and their demands for optimism and amusement all support Miss Duncan's contention that the prevailing mental- . ity was strongly Philistine. Literary attitudes in Canada were frequently middle class symbols of respectability, ' not signs of any real understanding of literature. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS The research for this study was made possible by a President's Research Grant during the Fall semester, 1970. A reneved Teaching Assistantship in the Department of English during the Spring semester,- 1971, made it possible to sustain body as well as soul during the actual writing of the thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Bruce Nesbitt for his act of faith in agreeing to supervise this study even before he or I knew what it was to contain, and for his attentive reading of the manuscript as it evolved. 4 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS vi INTRODUCTION 1 1. THE SCHOOL OF QANABIAN POETRY 9 11. NATIONALISM 48 111. IDEAS 89 IV. THE PHILISTINE IN CANADA 134 CONCLUSION 175 BIBLIOGRAPHY 181 vii INTRODUCTION It is misleading to assert, as does Norman Shrive, that the ''only research" yet done on literary attitudes in nineteenth century Canada is Claude Bissell's article, "Literary Taste in Central Canada During the Late Nineteenth Century. Everyone who has undertaken any extended critical work on a writer from this period has necessarily formed opinions about the prevailing climate of opinion, even if his observations were not set forth systematically, or were based on incomplete evidence. A. J. M. Smith, Roy Daniells, Alfred Bailey, Frank Watt, Carl Klinck, John P. Matthews, and Desmond Pacey, as well as Bissell and Shrive himself have all at some time considered the conditions surrounding literature during Canada's first years. In his Ph.D. thesis Robert L. McDougall has studied the nineteenth century Canadian back- ground by means of the periodical literature of the time, and Carl Ballstadt has written an M.A. thesis dealing with nationalism in pre-Confederation literary criticism. Nevertheless, the existing studies of the period offer a somewhat distant, generalized viewpoint. The short studies, Charles Mair: Literary Nationalist (Toronto: ~niver- sity of Toronto -Press, 1965), p. x. For Bissell's article, see Canadian Historical Review, XXXI (1950). 237-51. in particular, are forced to simplify and omit the detail of their topic. In order to convey some aspects of late Victorian Canadian thought, and to demonstrate the widespread prevalence of certain attitudes it is really necessary to quote and paraphrase to an extent only possible in a longer study. Bissell and McDougall describe the prevailing attitudes in Canada with care and insight, and relate them to world-wide intellectual currents. But their work leaves room for study which would inquire into the mental processes underlying Canadian attitudes. To. -".- what extent were Canadian writers the prisoners-iz id~as;~ot the masters? Did Canadian C-- thought move only within certain narrowly prescribed boundari,es, _ __-.--. -- *___--*___111____1_______._l_r*___111____1_______._l_r---*___111____1_______._l_r".*___111____1_______._l_r - or was there room for innovation? How suitable for dealing --- . _ * ".. - Were Canadian the advancing frontier of lves, and provide a useful --" - -, . *"--- Canadian literature in the-^Iat~--nine~eentEcentury. *.. "*.-...I Like Bissellls rk, this thesis is based mainly on material drawn from Canadian literary periodic- als. The files of these magazines have not been read --in toto, but have been scanned for reviews and articles on current books, articles on particular writers old and new, and articles on general literary topics. As well, much of the separately published literary criticism of the period has been consulted. For the most part this material consists OX attempts to describe the historical development and current state of liter- ature and culture in the new Dominion. Some works along more orthodox lines, especially studies of well-established writers such as Shelley, Tennyson, or Browning, also found their way into print in Canada, and have been examined. The principal magazines of the period were -Rose- 3 - el ford's Canadian Monthly and National ~eview, The Week, - - - -- and the Canadian Magazine, all published in Toronto. Except for a short gap in 1883, these magazines span the period. They were all serious in tone, with some intellectual pre- tensions, and all were conducted partly with the missionary motive of raising the intellectual life of Canada to a level equal with that of the Old World. Despite carrying a good deal of fiction and poetry, these magazinep were not "literary" in the narrow sense of the term; however, they all carried regular sections of book reviews and frequent articles on literary subjects, and all attempted to promote the emerging literature of Canada. -Rose-Belford's was the continuation of the intellectually prestigious Canadian Monthly -and National ~eview~after its merger in 1878 with Belfordls Monthly Magazine, a more popularly-oriented publication. The Canadian Monthly had been modelled on serious British journals such 2~itedhereafter as Rose-Belford's. 7 3~itedhereafter as Week.- *cited hereafter as Canadian Monthly. 4 as the Fortnightly Review and Blackwoodls ~a~azine,'and its successor followed a very similar programme. The Week- too was based on British examples, emulating weekly reviews such as the Spectator. Both -Rose-Belford's and the Week- were directed at an educated minority audience, which wished to keep abreast of the latest developments in the intellectual world, although the -Week had the added topical appeal of dealing on a weekly basis with current events in Canada and elsewhere. Aimed at a broad middle-class audience and facing increasing American competition, the Canadian Magazine appeared in a more popularly appealing format, making greater use of illustrations and photographs, and using more spacious typography
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