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Literary Criticism Canadian

Downtown Canada

Writing Canadian Cities

edited by Justin D. Edwards & Douglas Ivison

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
Nov 2005
Category
Canadian
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802087201
    Publish Date
    Nov 2005
    List Price
    $93.00
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9780802086686
    Publish Date
    Nov 2005
    List Price
    $53.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442674059
    Publish Date
    Oct 2005
    List Price
    $93.00

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Description

The vast majority of Canadians live in cities, yet for the most part, discussions of Canadian literature have failed to actively engage with the country's urban experience. Canada's prevalent myths continue to be about nordicity and the wilderness, and, stereotypically at least, its literature is often perceived as being about small towns, rural areas, and 'roughing it in the bush.'

Downtown Canada is a collection of essays that addresses Canada as an urban place. The contributors focus their attention on the writing of Canada's cities - including Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, and Halifax - and call attention to the centrality of the city in Canadian literature. They examine how characters are affected by the urban experience in works by a group of authors as diverse as the country itself: Hugh MacLennan, Jovette Marchessault, Michael Ondaatje, Austin Clarke, and Gerald Lynch, to name just a few. Editors Justin D. Edwards and Douglas Ivison have brought together an esteemed group of international Canadian literary scholars, and together they have created a book that is timely and unique, questioning conventional assumptions about Canadian literature, and Canadian culture more generally.

About the authors

Justin D. Edwards is associate professor of English at the University of Copenhagen where he teaches, among other things, Canadian and American gothic literature.

Justin D. Edwards' profile page

Douglas Ivison is an assistant professor in the Department of English at Lakehead University.

Douglas Ivison's profile page