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While organizing my book collection, I had noticed that my selection is predominately British and American literature over Canadian literature. The British cannon was easy for me to legitimize because many of the courses I have taken in university centralize around British authors. What I found astonishing was the disproportionate ratio of American lit novels to Canadian lit novels (70-30 approx.). This unbalance is not a result of me taking more American based courses than Canadian courses. Rather, I unconsciously have purchased a vastly greater quantity of American lit books (unconsciously as I rarely look up an author's bio before purchasing a book).

The question I pose is why-what has inclined me to choose American literature over Canadian literature. There is a logical possibility that since U.S. has nearly 100 years more history and nearly 10x the population of Canada, there is much greater opportunity for U.S. to compile more notable works. However, I wonder if there is something more to it than that. Personally, I have heard that American literature is just more entertaining and action-oriented than Canadian literature since there have been more distinctive events in its history to derive from. However, this perspective is not entirely concrete. One of my favourirte books is by Canadian author, Rawi Hage, called "De Niro's Game". This book is filled with similar action, consequence and dilemmas which would normally entice a multitude of readers. Aside from personal preference, is there an 'it factor' which American texts exclusively possess (emphasized in greater light when compared to Canadian texts)?

I found this post intriguing in part because I am an American currently living in Canada. And while I consider myself a generally well-read individual, I can't say that I have read a single work by a Canadian author. Years ago I remember browsing through a Barnes & Noble (our version of Chapters) and noting Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale on the "Summer Reading" table, but this was long after I graduated from high school.

Within the States---at least at the high school level---there doesn't seem to be much interest in Canadian literature. I suspect this is the result of numerous factors, but initially two come to my mind: (1) a consciousness of the vastness of properly American literature and concern to expose students to that canon, and--to be quite blunt--(2) a general amnesia about our northern neighbor's existence.

To be clear, I am not defending this amnesia, but merely attempting to assess the reality of the situation of Canadian literature (in American high school classrooms).

CMF

This reminds me of Nick Mount’s dissertation/book, When Canadian Literature Moved to New York. I debated taking a first year course with him, so I wanted to read some of his work before choosing his course over another. In the book, he argues that Canadian Literature was actually born in New York. Canadian writing was developed as a profession not on the Canadian plains, Mount says, but social places like café’s in New York in the late nineteenth-century. The bulk of his book focuses on immigration—he argues that most of the successful, Canadian-born writers were expatriates, and most of them landed in New York. While expat’s like Ernest Seton and Bliss Carman were acknowledged in Canada for their writing, they also were the catalyst for Canada to identify a solid, identifiable model of the Canadian canon that was different from all other literatures. Seton and Carman generally wrote domestic novels, which contrasts with the nationalistic and regional themes that we identify as being stereotypically Canadian. Because of this, expatriate writers were eliminated because they did not fit the emerging mold of the Canadian literary canon.