Letters & Reflections
About Letters & Reflections
Letters & Reflections has been created as a place for commentary that is not published in the print journal, Canadian Literature. Please note that this section has not been subject to our peer review process. The content of Letters & Reflections will not be published in the journal and should only be cited from this website. The bottom of each piece contains a sample MLA citation.
Newest Letters
CanLit Tuition Award
posted on August 4, 2009
by Laura Potter
Between January and December 2006, I had the pleasure of working as editorial intern at Canadian Literature through the UBC Arts Co-operative Program. Delighted when I landed the job, I became further excited when I learned that I would also be the recipient of the CanLit Tuition Award which would contribute towards the part-time studies I was undertaking alongside my work at CL. The peace of mind that came with this award should not be underestimated, as it helped me avoid the financial worries too typical among my friends and fellow students. [...]
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Bloody Words
posted on June 11, 2009
by Louise Penny
Louise Penny delivered this speech at the "Bloody Words IX" Conference in Ottawa on June 6th, 2009 at the Marriott Hotel, after receiving the Canadian Guest of Honour Award before a gathering of 250 writers, critics, media types, and mystery enthusiasts who included police, forensic scientists, academics, and publishers, as well as dedicated readers. [...]
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Canada - Land of Longing
posted on May 26, 2009
by Thomas Kraft
Alfons März was born in 1930, the son of a bicycle mechanic and a domestic worker in Neumarkt, Upper Palatinate. His youth was profoundly marked by the Second World War, with only his youth and good luck saving him from combat duty during the war's dying days. As an important transport hub near Nuremberg, his home city had been hit by bombing, though the damage was at first not so extensive. However, when the American troops advanced, a Hungarian SS brigade mounted an embittered defense of the city. They shot the mayor as he tried to affect an unconditional surrender, white flag in hand. During the subsequent fighting, the heart of the old town was almost completely destroyed, but was to be faithfully reconstructed after the war. [...]
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"Done with multiculturalism?": Putting Canadian Attitudes towards Immigration to the Test
posted on May 26, 2009
by Peter Schneck: University Osnabrück
From a European perspective, and particularly the German one, Canada has always appeared to be the ‘better' and somehow ‘more legitimate' version of America. Even though Canada is also a rather large country, it seems (and not only to us Germans) less threatening, less formidable, and also less violent than the USA-the quintessential country of immigration-which also makes Canada appear more 'relaxed' and fundamentally more tolerant. Canada is thus generally perceived as a nation where different ethnicities and ideologies can live side-by-side without problems, in other words, peaceably and productively. [...]
Literary Scenes in Canada
posted on May 26, 2009
by Ian Rae
What is a literary scene? Some critics, such as Northrop Frye in his landmark Anatomy of Criticism (1957), esteem a work of art solely on the basis of its manipulation of aesthetic codes. However, many postmodern critics take a sociological approach to literature that investigates the social milieu in which literary codes are deployed and combined with other forms of authority. According to Pierre Bourdieu in The Field of Cultural Production (1993), authors occupy positions in a literary milieu that is partially determined by economic criteria such as class, means to fund the writing process, interest in financial reward, access to publishers, and the availability of an educated readership with leisure time. However, Bourdieu emphasizes the agency of artists to contest institutional pressures through the production of social capital, which artists generate by challenging readerly expectations, tailoring works toward cliques instead of the mass market, and even scorning the need for publication (art for art's sake). The term literary "scene" thus distinguishes itself from "tradition," "genre," and "industry" by the way in which it privileges artisanal productions that emphasize cultural over economic capital. The identity of a literary scene arises from its manner of creating a unique field of cultural production in a well-defined geographic, economic, political, and social territory. [...]
