Update: Several weeks after I published this post, Alice Munro’s daughter, Andrea Skinner, told the world of the fact that her stepfather had sexually assaulted her, and that after her mother learned this, she continued to live with him until his death.
Thank you so much, Imola... That's really sweet to read. It still feels like this magic category but now I know the magic could be within my reach one day. I've gushed about it before, but Elamin Abdelmahmoud's book of memoir style essays, "Son of Elsewhere" was life changing for me. I had a sudden realization that maybe I can do this. Maybe what I know can be CanLit.
Personally, I find Canlit often boring. It could really use some spice! I will check your recommendation. But in the meanwhile, I’m really enjoying reading you, and learning from you!
I was so obsessed with it for years! But yes, the generic CanLit of my youth - the Jane Urquharts and Michael Ondaatjes? Not so much my style anymore. They are brilliant but they are not writing for me and that's ok! Not everything is for everyone! I put a list of BIPOC Canadian authors in the footnotes to look at. If you haven't already, read Omar El Akkad's "What Strange Paradise" - Incredible and very very apt for our time.
I feel really lovingly called out by this piece, especially by your quotation from Marwan Makhoul: “in order for me to write poetry that isn’t political / I must listen to the birds / And in order to hear the birds / The warplanes must be silent...” How many years did I spend writing about the color of the canopy of leaves where I would adventure as a kid? Even if I was extremely lonely going out into the woods (is extreme loneliness an essential quality for any nascent writer?) I was always permitted to go. And the sky was mostly quiet, except for the birds.
Oh Isabel, I'm glad you saw that... Honestly, if only those words could reach the people who refuse to see it, the ones who accuse people like me (and other BIPOC) of politicizing everything, when we're really just sharing our experiences, and we've been made political just for being.
I've never heard of can lit before! And I think the only Canadian writer I read a lot from is Margaret Atwood, is her works considered Canlit? I really would like to also see more diversity in literature around the world, be it written in English or translated.
Rachel, I think Margaret Atwood is definitely CanLit and I used to read her stuff a lot! But her writing isn't the version of CanLit I reference here, because she intentionally wrote very political, feminist content with high plotting and action. I think she was the exception.
This is lovely Noha. So much of this resonates with me, too much to say to put in a comment! Maybe I’ll write a response essay. But oh the double consciousness! I recommend reading Toni Morrison’s essays on the white gaze and how it impacts non-white writers. I’ve never read Alice Munro. Do you have a favorite of hers you recommend?
Thank you for the reading suggestion, Ambata! I think I would definitely appreciate them. I think my favourite is the painfully awkward, "Dance of the Happy Shades," but there are so many brilliant ones. If you want, the best bet is to pick up a book of her "greatest hits" if you will. Munro primarily wrote short stories so you'll get a lot of different stories in one book.
I've not read Alice Munro, but you inspire me to do so. My impression of conventional CanLit is...Farley Mowat and Madeleine L'Engle.
I just read a lengthy comment section populated heavily by a white supremacist who insisted that WEB Du Bois had no impact on social science. And reading this reminded me that one of Du Bois' cultural contributions was the concept of double consciousness itself. Here it is, appearing in your essay on Alice Munro to enrich your approach to writing and perhaps our understanding of a country's literature. What a world!
Love your lesson of pushing through. What you say “ To write my reality because of the mess and humanity, not in spite of it.” Thank you for that. I need to remember it more myself.
You raise a good question about what do we teach young students of literature, especially those looking to literature as models for their own creative work? And why must young writers be told they are opening new ground, rather admitting that erasure has taken place? This brings me back to a freshman literature and philosophy seminar, "Man's Quest for Meaning in Western Liiterature." After a heated discussion in the cafeteria, I was deputized to ask "Were there no women who ever quested for meaning in Western Culture?" No writers or philosophers? (This was at a US Catholic women's college in 1972.) The two professors chuckled and said that well, I would just have to write some, wouldn't I? Inventing a whole body of work seemed like an enormous task. And I now know in hindsight totally unnecessary. But to hear Malala reflect on her own assigned work for her Oxford PPE degree, with its limited range, I had to wonder.
You have such a graceful way of weaving complex threads together in a way that uplifts, teaches and magnifies. Thank you so much Noha- I always love reading your words. They stay with me long after my eyes have left the page xx
Always a treat to read you Noha! Can lit can only be improved by the addition of your writing.
Thank you so much, Imola... That's really sweet to read. It still feels like this magic category but now I know the magic could be within my reach one day. I've gushed about it before, but Elamin Abdelmahmoud's book of memoir style essays, "Son of Elsewhere" was life changing for me. I had a sudden realization that maybe I can do this. Maybe what I know can be CanLit.
Personally, I find Canlit often boring. It could really use some spice! I will check your recommendation. But in the meanwhile, I’m really enjoying reading you, and learning from you!
Thank you again! I am blushing!!
I was so obsessed with it for years! But yes, the generic CanLit of my youth - the Jane Urquharts and Michael Ondaatjes? Not so much my style anymore. They are brilliant but they are not writing for me and that's ok! Not everything is for everyone! I put a list of BIPOC Canadian authors in the footnotes to look at. If you haven't already, read Omar El Akkad's "What Strange Paradise" - Incredible and very very apt for our time.
I feel really lovingly called out by this piece, especially by your quotation from Marwan Makhoul: “in order for me to write poetry that isn’t political / I must listen to the birds / And in order to hear the birds / The warplanes must be silent...” How many years did I spend writing about the color of the canopy of leaves where I would adventure as a kid? Even if I was extremely lonely going out into the woods (is extreme loneliness an essential quality for any nascent writer?) I was always permitted to go. And the sky was mostly quiet, except for the birds.
Oh Isabel, I'm glad you saw that... Honestly, if only those words could reach the people who refuse to see it, the ones who accuse people like me (and other BIPOC) of politicizing everything, when we're really just sharing our experiences, and we've been made political just for being.
I've never heard of can lit before! And I think the only Canadian writer I read a lot from is Margaret Atwood, is her works considered Canlit? I really would like to also see more diversity in literature around the world, be it written in English or translated.
Rachel, I think Margaret Atwood is definitely CanLit and I used to read her stuff a lot! But her writing isn't the version of CanLit I reference here, because she intentionally wrote very political, feminist content with high plotting and action. I think she was the exception.
This is lovely Noha. So much of this resonates with me, too much to say to put in a comment! Maybe I’ll write a response essay. But oh the double consciousness! I recommend reading Toni Morrison’s essays on the white gaze and how it impacts non-white writers. I’ve never read Alice Munro. Do you have a favorite of hers you recommend?
Thank you for the reading suggestion, Ambata! I think I would definitely appreciate them. I think my favourite is the painfully awkward, "Dance of the Happy Shades," but there are so many brilliant ones. If you want, the best bet is to pick up a book of her "greatest hits" if you will. Munro primarily wrote short stories so you'll get a lot of different stories in one book.
I've not read Alice Munro, but you inspire me to do so. My impression of conventional CanLit is...Farley Mowat and Madeleine L'Engle.
I just read a lengthy comment section populated heavily by a white supremacist who insisted that WEB Du Bois had no impact on social science. And reading this reminded me that one of Du Bois' cultural contributions was the concept of double consciousness itself. Here it is, appearing in your essay on Alice Munro to enrich your approach to writing and perhaps our understanding of a country's literature. What a world!
Leah, that's wild!
The nasty comments - ugh! I spend a lot of time reading those and shaking my head too. Somehow I can't help myself...
Love your lesson of pushing through. What you say “ To write my reality because of the mess and humanity, not in spite of it.” Thank you for that. I need to remember it more myself.
Thank you! It's hard, but it's where the good stuff is.
You have a wise and wonderful written voice, Noha. I'm glad you're sharing it.
Thank you, Diana. I appreciate that 🙏🏽
Thank you for sharing this with me, I went on a similar journey through Can Lit.
I'm so glad you enjoyed it, Lydia.
It’s all in the can
https://www.anagrammer.com/anagrammer/10-alice-munro-monster-0-incel-truman-romeos
A duh
https://www.anagrammer.com/anagrammer/10-alice-munro-monster-0-morose-truman-incel
You raise a good question about what do we teach young students of literature, especially those looking to literature as models for their own creative work? And why must young writers be told they are opening new ground, rather admitting that erasure has taken place? This brings me back to a freshman literature and philosophy seminar, "Man's Quest for Meaning in Western Liiterature." After a heated discussion in the cafeteria, I was deputized to ask "Were there no women who ever quested for meaning in Western Culture?" No writers or philosophers? (This was at a US Catholic women's college in 1972.) The two professors chuckled and said that well, I would just have to write some, wouldn't I? Inventing a whole body of work seemed like an enormous task. And I now know in hindsight totally unnecessary. But to hear Malala reflect on her own assigned work for her Oxford PPE degree, with its limited range, I had to wonder.
You have such a graceful way of weaving complex threads together in a way that uplifts, teaches and magnifies. Thank you so much Noha- I always love reading your words. They stay with me long after my eyes have left the page xx
Well, Jane, you've just made my day with these comments! Thank you so much.