Introduction to Volumes I and II THE Literary History of Canada (Canadian Literature in English) is a co-operative project which began in 1957. Its Editors have had two principal aims: to publish a comprehensive reference book on the (English) literary history of this country, and to encourage established and younger scholars to engage in a critical study of that history both before and after the appearance of the book. The programme for basic research into the literature in English which led to the History in a massive single volume in 1965 required six years and the work of many hands. From the beginning, the task of survey and assessment was seen to be beyond the scope of any one man; it was accomplished by the Editors and twenty-nine other scholars, almost all of whom are named in the list of contributors at the end of Volume n. With deep regret we record the loss through death of three of these original contributors, the Very Rev. James S. Thomson, Professor John A. Irving, and Professor Desmond Pacey, and of one of our most vigorous supporters, Professor Roy M. Wiles. Now, in 1975, the 1965 book is being revised and republished as two volumes, parts i to in as Volume I of the new set, and part iv as Volume n. There is also a new Volume m, devoted to the years 1960-1973. The preserva- tion of continuity throughout the series has involved chiefly minor revisions, but also the rewriting of certain chapters. We extend our welcome and our thanks to three new contributors, professors Sheila A. Egoff, Thomas A. Goudge, and John Webster Grant, while we remain sincerely grateful to all who wrote in 1965, no less to those who were prevented by various cir- cumstances from revision or further writing for the series. Although the purposes of the Literary History have remained the same, the climate for studies in Canadian literature has improved remarkably since work on the project began in 1957. The difficulties facing the original contributors are now part of Canada's literary history, for they had not the advantages, however limited, prevailing in contemporary scholarship in American literature or in general Canadian history; Canadian literary history and criticism (in Vlll INTRODUCTION English) had been provided with a much narrower base of authenticated information. The amount of primary research needed to establish a foundation for this work, especially with reference to all periods before 1920, was unusually large for a subject of such national significance. There cannot now be any doubts about the existence of literature in Can- ada, yet the terms in the subtitle "Canadian ... in English" may require defini- tion. Although "Canadian" has a clear reference in external matters, it often has to be qualified when the reference is an internal one and the context is historical, sociological, or cultural. "English-Canadian" and "French-Cana- dian" are commonly used to emphasize a "bicultural," certainly a bilingual, situation in a land settled by people of many different origins. We employed "Canadian literature in English" here, rather than "English-Canadian litera- ture," because the former term puts the name of this country first and suggests unity rather than division. We still hope for "Canadian literature in French" to be given treatment paralleling our work in an "Histoire de la litterature canadienne-frangaise." We were so fortunate as to have our History trans- lated into French by Professor Maurice Lebel, an honour conferred by this most distinguished scholar of the Universite Laval. It would be of immense value to have a similar French-Canadian Histoire and a translation of it into English. The time will come, one may hope, when it will be possible to facili- tate a comparative study of both literatures. Now the term "Canadian." Referring to our thought, culture, and especially the art of writing, Northrop Frye has said that Canada is "an environment, the place where something has happened." It has been our task to discover what kind of "place" Canada was and is, and what has happened here in the realm of literature and of closely associated writings. "Canadian" has been broadly used for whoever or whatever is native, or has been naturalized, or has a distinct bearing upon the native—that is on people or events which had their focus here, although one could insist in some other context upon employing the label of the author's home country, as one might in referring to the New World novels of John Gait, known as a novelist of Scotland. Historically, Canada was a number of "places." After the power of France in the northern part of North America fell before General Wolfe in 1759, the noun "Quebec" and the adjective "Canadian" were used to designate the old French colony and (from 1774 to 1791) also the "Old North West." After 1791 there were two Canadas, Lower (the old province) and Upper (now called Ontario); but between 1841 and 1867 there was once more a single Canada, with East (Quebec) and West (Ontario) sections. The British Atlantic provinces of Nova Scotia and New Brunswick did not bear the name of Canada before 1867, the date of Confederation with Quebec and Ontario by the British North America Act. Other colonies in the East joined later: Prince Edward Island in 1873 and Newfoundland not until 1949. In the INTRODUCTION IX farther Canadian West new provinces were formed as settlement progressed: Manitoba in 1870, British Columbia in 1871, Saskatchewan and Alberta in 1905. The Yukon and other Territories extend beyond the provinces. Canada is now the name for the whole northern half of the continent, except Alaska; it refers to the units and their common area and identity. Historically, the name often groups them all together in spite of what they were called in their own right in the period before federation. The Editors and contributors have not joined in a chauvinistic hunt for "the great Canadian novel" or even for "Canadianism." They wish to demon- strate, not to argue about, what and how much has grown up in Canada. Their attitude resembles that of the painter Homer Watson, expressed on September 30, 1930, in a letter to Mr. Arthur Lismer: "Myself being so much Canadian, why should I think of trying to be Canadian? . Things form naturally, not by forcing. ... I was born amid the hardwood trees and noted the beech, oak and elm, as native as the jack pine. And the trees mentioned are not as those of England. There is a difference which I hope anyone with a [discerning] mind will see." Our writers have recognized no embargo upon foreign subject-matter, no restriction upon intellectual trade. "Canadian" culture has concerned itself, for example, with the classics, Freud, and international affairs as well as with Huron Indians or Montreal's social problems. The report given here has tried to show how the best writing in this country has reflected local, national, and universal matters which have engaged our serious thought. If we do not launch out from a studied knowledge of ourselves and of our own ways, no one else will. That writing of intellectual and artistic quality has a history in Canada cannot be doubted; but readers may still have some misgivings about the title, "literary history." If a study with any foundation was to be made, "literary" had to be employed in a generic sense. Authors and books of slight importance could not be set aside without investigation; these volumes may give some names their first and last mention in a discussion of Canadian literature. Descriptive reference, however, without the addition of a specific claim for artistic value, must not be construed as anything more than an illustration of what was in the "environment." Whenever values are being critically assessed, "literary" is used, of course, in its restricted meaning. These volumes treat, not only works generically classified as "literature," but also, chiefly in separate chapters, other works which have influenced literature or have been significantly related to literature in expressing the cultural life of the country. Canadian achievements in writing on philosophy, general history, the social sciences, religion and theology, and the natural sciences have been outlined. It would be too much to claim that we have here the intellectual history of Canada, even with restriction to the humanities, but these X INTRODUCTION volumes do deal with much that would have to be taken into account in such a desirable production. "Literary history" has been chosen as a main tide instead of "history of literature" because the latter carries too limited a suggestion of a review of books. Each term indicates that temporal sequence is not to be neglected; but the latter would not have conveyed fully the purpose of noting whatever germinates, grows, continues, recurs, or becomes distinctive, perhaps unique. These volumes represent a positive attempt to give a history of Canada in terms of writings which deserve more or less attention because of significant thought, form, and use of language. They also aim to contribute to criticism by offering reasons for singling out those works regarded as the best. The divisions and periods of this history have not been arbitrarily imposed, but have rather been discovered in the light of the evidence. Literary history need not match exactly the main lines of political events, and uneven progress in different genres can upset any pre-established system of dates for groups of chapters. No formula was laid down for the approach to, and the internal organization of, these chapters. It was suspected that some ready-made cate- gories and descriptive headings hitherto solemnly accepted in Canadian literary history might prove to be part of the folklore, and thus hamper basic research.