The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature

From Aboriginal writing to Margaret Atwood, this is a complete English-language history of Canadian writing in English and French from its beginnings. The multi-authored volume pays special attention to works from the 1960s and after, to multicultural and indigenous writing, popular literature, and the interaction of anglophone and francophone cultures throughout Canadian history. Established genres such as fiction, drama and poetry are discussed alongside forms of writing which have traditionally received less attention, such as the essay, nature-writing, life-writing, journalism, and comics, and also writing in which the conventional separation between genres has broken down, such as the poetic novel. Written by an international team of distinguished scholars, the volume includes a separate, substantial section discussing major genres in French, as well as a detailed chronology of historical and literary/cultural events, and an extensive bibliography covering criticism in English and French.

Chronology; Introduction Coral Ann Howells and Eva-Marie Kröller; Part I. Old and New World, La Nouvelle-France, the Canadas, Dominion of Canada: 1. Native societies and French colonization Barbara Belyea; 2. Reports from La Nouvelle-France: the Jesuit Relations, Marie de l'Incarnation, and Elisabeth Bégon E. D. Blodgett; 3. Migrations, multiple allegiances and satirical traditions: from Frances Brooke to Thomas Chandler Haliburton Marta Dvorák; 4. Writing in the Northwest: narratives, journals, letters, 1700–1870 Bruce Greenfield; 5. Literature of settlement Carole Gerson; 6. History in English and French, 1832–98 E. D. Blodgett; Part II. The Post-Confederation Period: 7. Post-Confederation poetry D. M. R. Bentley; 8. Writing by Victorian naturalists Christoph Irmscher; 9. Short fiction Gerald Lynch; 10. Bestselling authors, magazines and the international market Michael Peterman; 11. Textual and social experiment in women's genres Janice Fiamengo; 12. Canada and the Great War Susan Fisher; Part III. Models of Modernity, post-World War I: 13. Staging personalities in modernism and realism Irene Gammel; 14. E. J. Pratt and the McGill poets Adrian Fowler; 15. The forties and fifties: signs of cultural change Coral Ann Howells; 16. The Centennial Eva-Marie Kröller; 17. Forms of non-fiction: Innis, McLuhan, Frye and Grant David Staines; Part IV. Aesthetic Experiments, 1960 and After: 18. Quartet: Atwood, Gallant, Munro, Shields Robert Thacker; 19. The short story W. H. New; 20. Canadian drama: performing communities Anne Nothof; 21. Poetry Kevin McNeilly; 22. Poetry, drama and the postmodern novel Ian Rae; 23. Comic art and bande dessinée: from the funnies to graphic novels Jean-Paul Gabilliet; 24. 'Ghost stories': fictions of history and myth Teresa Gibert; 25. Indigenous writing: poetry and prose Lally Grauer and Armand Ruffo; 26. Contemporary aboriginal theater Helen Gilbert; 27. Transcultural life-writing Alfred Hornung; 28. Multiculturalism and globalization Neil ten Kortenaar; Part V. Writing in French: 29. Poetry Robert Yergeau; 30. Drama Jane Moss; 31. Fiction Réjean Beaudoin and André Lamontagne.

From Aboriginal writing to Margaret Atwood, this volume is the first multi-authored English-language history of Canadian writing in English and French. Paying special attention to works from the 1960s and after, it also includes a separate section discussing major genres in French, a detailed chronology, and an extensive bibliography.

Coral Ann Howells is Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of English Studies at the University of London. She is Professor Emerita at the University of Reading, and a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada.
Eva-Marie Kröller is Professor in the Department of English at the University of British Columbia, Vancouver. She is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, and served as editor-in-chief of Canadian Literature from 1995 to 2003.