Canadian Cafe & Chop Suey, located at 238 – 8th Avenue SE, Calgary, Alberta, 1973. Photograph by Bill Simpkins. Reproduced with permission from the Glenbow Archives (NA-5516-10b).
Check out this week’s delicious CanLit Guides chapter: “What is ‘Restaurant Literature’? Depictions of Chinese Restaurants in Canadian Literature” by Nathalie Cooke and Shelley Boyd.
This chapter identifies a growing body of Canadian literary works depicting Chinese restaurants as sites and sources of narrative, and seeks to answer a series of questions. What are the characteristics of the genre of restaurant literature? What are the key texts—those responsible for shaping, reshaping, and innovating this genre? What historical contexts have influenced this genre’s development? This chapter looks closely at a representative selection of restaurant literature in order to explore ways in which authors have written Chinese restaurants into the literary landscape, and to understand storytelling’s ability to introduce readers to new characters, cultures, and perspectives over time.
Read “What is ‘Restaurant Literature’? Depictions of Chinese Restaurants in Canadian Literature”
CanLit Guides, created and maintained by Canadian Literature, is a open-access collection of learning materials on different topics in the field of Canadian literature. The CanLit Guides 2018 Collection is the result of collaboration between experts in the field and our editorial team. The chapters here cover a range of topics, time periods, and genres, and show the dynamic ways scholars are engaging with literatures in Canada today.