ENGL 3853 Canadian Literature I Fall 2009, Room 2041, Wednesdays, 6:30-9:30 pm Instructor: Professor Elizabeth Davey Office: Rm. 2098 Phone: 416-226-6620 ext. 6713 E-mail: [email protected] Office Hours: Tuesdays, Thursdays; 10:00-11:00; Wednesdays 1:00-4:00; or by appointment Commuter Hotline: 416-226-6620 ext. 2187 Class cancellations due to inclement weather or illness will be announced/posted on the commuter hotline. Mailboxes: Every student is responsible for information communicated through the student mailboxes. A mailbox directory is posted beside the mailboxes. For more information contact the Registrar's office. COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course is an introduction to Canadian literature from its beginnings through the 1960s. [Authors include some of the following: Moodie, Leacock, Pratt, Davies, Laurence, Callaghan, Roy, Wiebe, Carr, Richler, Avison, Purdy, Page and Layton.] Texts are chosen from works in both English and French (in translation). Among significant themes discussed are relationship to the land and struggle to define identity as Canadians. INTRODUCTION: Included in the course is a field trip to The McMichael Canadian Art Collection. “They were both Canadians, so they had this much together—the knowledge of the little you dare admit. .” Mavis Gallant, “The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street” “He doesn’t want to talk about Canada. .There you have the Canadian dilemma in a sentence. Nobody wants to talk about Canada, not even us Canadians. You’re right, Paddy. Canada is a bore .” Brian Moore, The Luck of Ginger Coffey I come from a country of slow and diffident words of broken rhythms of unsaid feelings Next time I am born I intend to come from a different country. Elizabeth Brewster, “Gold Man” “Canada is an unknown territory for the people who live in it. .I’m talking about Canada as a state of mind, as the space you inhabit not just with your body but with your head. It’s that kind of space in which we find ourselves lost. Literature is not only a mirror; it is also a map, a geography of the mind. Margaret Atwood, Survival My snoweyed country jabbed with plenty pine, maple, oak, ash, apple, fir, cedar, tamarack stuffing a poet’s belly, stuffing the poet in any man his belly for weather, mountains, water friction in colours. Snoweyed country surly over flag debates, fishing rights lost bomber contracts loved like a foal with its nose in the grass. Peter Van Toorn, “Ode” COURSE OBJECTIVES: • That you will be exposed to some significant Canadian writers as you read the assigned poems, short stories, and novels. • That you will grapple with issues these writers raise; to name a few. What it means to be a Canadian What it means to be both Canadian and part of another cultural group What it means to be powerless in our society What it means to be responsible in our society More important, what it means to be human. • That you will think through your response to the issues identified in our discussion and be able to articulate that response in oral and written (and perhaps visual?) forms. • That you will respond to the creativity of these writers with creativity of your own. REQUIRED TEXTS: Gabrielle Roy. The Tin Flute . Morley Callaghan. Such Is My Beloved . Robertson Davies. Fifth Business . Sheila Watson. The Double Hook . (additional photocopies will be given in class to cover shorter readings) COURSE EVALUATION: 10% Attendance/participation/attention is expected at all sessions. See comments below regarding appropriate involvement in class. 25% Take home midterm examination Due November 4 15% Attendance and participation (in written form) to Canadian art as seen in The Art Gallery of Ontario, Canadian Collection, Field Trip, October 21 [a question on the art gallery will be part of your midterm] 25% A 12-15-hour creative project reflecting your thinking on our course objectives. It may (and probably will) include writing, but I am particularly interested in your use of other art forms—the visual arts, photography, drama, music (in all its forms). It should involve some research . It could take the form of a notebook/collage of visual and written impressions/reflections; it could be a multi-media presentation; it could be---. .Let your imagination take you to some new places. Part of the project will include a log/journal of the process and a five-minute presentation of the project in the final two classes of the term. Due either December 2 or December 9. 25% In-class final Exam as scheduled by Registrar Attendance: • Attendance, promptness, and attentiveness are expected at all class sessions. Attendance and active participation in class discussion will be reflected in your participation grade. If you must be absent, please let me know; further, you must take the initiative for obtaining material you missed. More than two absences jeopardizes your successful completion of the class. Please see the Academic Calendar for detailed attendance policy. Classroom etiquette It is a matter of courtesy and consideration to all of us that you observe some basic behaviours: • Come to class on time. • Do not leave the classroom during the class hour except for extreme emergency. • Turn off cell phones. • Limit your computer use to note-taking. Assignments: • All assignments must be completed to pass the course, due on the day indicated. No assignments will be accepted after the last day of the term unless you have followed the procedure outlined in the Academic Calendar. • Inclusive language is expected in all writing assignments. • Please make sure your mail box number and name appear on all assignments. • As a general rule I do not accept assignments in electronic form. • You are advised to keep copies of your work until you have received your assignment back from your professor. (Your take-home examination will be marked and returned as a formal essay.) • All sources of information used for essays must be fully documented according to MLA guidelines. If you are uncertain how to follow these guidelines, please visit the Writing Centre. See the Academic Calendar for Tyndale’s official policy on documentation and plagiarism. OUTLINE AND SCHEDULE September 16 Reflections on Canadian identity Introductory thoughts from White Civility: The Literary Project of Canada by Daniel Coleman Introduction to Canadian poetry September 23 Some “confederation poets”; excerpt Susanna Moodie (1803- 1885), Roughing It In the Bush; excerpt Emily Carr (1871- 1945), Klee Wyck; excerpt Stephen Leacock (1869-1944) September 30 poetry selections, E. J. Pratt (1882-1964) from “The Titanic” and from “Brebeuf and His Brethren” Gabrielle Roy (1909- ), The Tin Flute (1947) October 7 poetry selections, Earl Birney (1904-1995); Raymond Souster (1921- ); Gabrielle Roy, The Tin Flute October 14 Morley Callaghan (1903-1990), Such Is My Beloved (1934) October 21 Field Trip to Art Gallery of Ontario, downtown Toronto October 28 READING DAYS (no class) November 4 Midterm Due [including question on art gallery visit] poetry selections: Margaret Avison (1918-2007), P K. Page (1916- ); Al Purdy (1918-2000) November 11 Sheila Watson (1909-1998), The Double Hook (1959) November 18 Margaret Laurence (1926-1987), “To Set Our House In Order” poetry selections November 25 Robertson Davies, Fifth Business (1970) December 2 Alice Munro (1931- ), “Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You” (1974) Presentations of projects December 9 Presentation of projects SELECT BIBLIOGRAPHY Bibliographies on individual authors will be suggested when we study them. Journals and Reference Works Canadian Literature Canadian Poetry English Studies in Canada Oxford Companion to Canadian Literature . 1997 Canadian Writers Oxford Literary Guide to Canada Bennett, Donna and Russell Brown, eds. A New Anthology of Canadian Literature in Literature in English . Toronto: Oxford University Press, 2002. Atwood, Margaret . Survival . Toronto: Anansi, 1972. Coleman, Daniel. White Civility: The Literary Project of English Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 2006. Gadpaille, Michelle. The Canadian Short Story . Toronto: Oxford University Press, 1988. Heath, Jeffrey, ed. Profiles in Canadian Literature, Vols 1- Klinck, Carl, ed. Literary History of Canada: Canadian Literature in English. Lecker, Robert, Jack David, Ellen Quigley, eds. Canadian Writers and Their Works , Vols 1- . Toronto: ECW Press. Levinson, Michael, ed. The Cambridge Companion to Modernism . Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1999. Lennard, John. The Poetry Handbook. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1996. Matterson, Stephen and Darryl Jones. Studying Poetry . London: Arnold Publishers, 2000. Messenger, Cynthia. “Canadian Poetry,” in Roberts. 304-317. Moss, John. A Reader’s Guide to the Canadian Novel . Roberts, Neil, ed. A Companion to Twentieth Century Poetry. Oxford: Blackwell, 2003. Smith, A. J. M., ed. Masks of Fiction: Canadian Critics on Canadian Prose. Williams, David. Confessional Fictions: A Portrait of the Artist in the Canadian Novel . Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. Woodcock, George, ed. The Canadian Novel in the Twentieth Century. .