ENG252Y5Y:

CANADIAN LITERATURE
Dr. Daniela Janes
Office: North Building 296B
Email: d.janes@utoronto.ca
Office hours: Thursday 9-10
and Friday 11-12, or
by appointment

Fall/Winter 2014-15
Wednesday 9-10/Friday 9-11
Room: CC2150
http://portal.utoronto.ca
TA: Max Karpinski
max.karpinski@mail.utoronto.ca

Description
This course introduces students to the breadth and diversity of Canadian literature through an
examination of novels, short stories, poetry, non-fiction prose and drama. Students will read a
selection of Canadian literature across its history, paying attention to formal developments and
stylistic innovations. We will have the opportunity to consider a range of thematic and theoretical
topics, including the representation of place, identity, history, and nation; the figure of the artist;
gender, race, and power; modernism; postmodernism; and postcolonialism.
Course Objectives
The main goal of the course is, naturally, to develop your knowledge of Canadian literature and
literary history through weekly readings of canonical English-Canadian texts. Lectures will
contextualize the readings, familiarize you with a range of critical terms, and offer close readings
and analysis of the material. In your written work for this course you will sharpen your critical
skills and develop your writing, analysis and argumentation. Please note that I am happy to
discuss any aspect of the course or your assignments with you, so do not hesitate to make an
appointment to meet with me.
Required Texts
Moss and Sugars, Canadian Literature in English: Texts and Contexts. Vol. 1 and 2.
James De Mille, A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder (1888)
L.M. Montgomery, Anne of Green Gables (1908)
Sinclair Ross, As For Me and My House (1941)
Margaret Atwood, Surfacing (1972)
John Gray, with Eric Peterson, Billy Bishop Goes to War, Second Edition (1978/1981)
Michael Ondaatje, In the Skin of a Lion (1987)
Thomas King, Green Grass, Running Water (1993)
Yann Martel, Life of Pi (2001)
These books have been ordered at the UTM Bookstore. You can check bookstore hours and book
prices at www.uoftbookstore.com. Several additional short texts will be posted on Portal.
Recommended Reading/Reference
Oxford English Dictionary (OED): http://www.oed.com.myaccess.library.utoronto.ca/
Writing at the University of Toronto Website: http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/
M. H. Abrams, A Glossary of Literary Terms.
Joseph Gibaldi, The MLA Handbook for Writers of Research Papers. Seventh Edition. Note that
you must use MLA style citations in your written work, so please familiarize yourself with this
format.

Method of Evaluation
Essay 1 (2000-2200 words): Due Friday, November 7 at 9 a.m. Worth 25%.
First Term Test: Wednesday, November 19 at 9 a.m. Worth 10%.
Essay 2 (2000-2200 words): Due Friday, March 6 at 9 a.m. Worth 25%.
Final Exam: Date TBA. Worth 30%.
Informed Participation. Ongoing. Worth 10%.
COURSE POLICIES:
Academic Integrity
I look forward to reading the two essays that you will produce for this course. It is, however, vital
that I remind students of the necessity of producing original work. Plagiarism is a very serious
academic offence. It includes failing to use and acknowledge your sources properly, submitting
the same piece of work for credit in more than one class, and submitting an essay written by
someone else as your own work. The University of Toronto Mississauga calendar reminds
students that Honesty and fairness are considered fundamental to the Universitys mission, and,
as a result, all those who violate those principles are dealt with as if they were damaging the
integrity of the University itself. When students are suspected of cheating or a similar academic
offence, they are typically surprised at how formally and seriously the matter is dealt withand
how severe the consequences can be if it is determined that cheating did occur. The University of
Toronto treats cases of cheating and plagiarism very seriously.
https://registrar.utm.utoronto.ca/student/calendar/calendar_detail2.pl?Topic=Academic%20Hones
ty
Students should be sure to save all notes and essay drafts until the end of term in case they are
asked to produce them. Students may also be asked to produce annotated bibliographies of all
sources consulted in the production of their essays. If you do engage in research for your essays,
make sure you keep careful track of where your ideas are coming from. Please consult
http://www.writing.utoronto.ca/advice/using-sources/how-not-to-plagiarize for more information
on how not to plagiarize.
Students in this course will be required to submit both a hard-copy of their essay for grading as
well as an electronic version of their essay to www.turnitin.com. Our class i.d. is 8340186. The
password is canlit. Below is the Universitys statement on the use of turnitin.com.
"Normally, students will be required to submit their course essays to Turnitin.com for a
review of textual similarity and detection of possible plagiarism. In doing so, students
will allow their essays to be included as source documents in the Turnitin.com reference
database, where they will be used solely for the purpose of detecting plagiarism. The
terms that apply to the University's use of the Turnitin.com service are described on the
Turnitin.com web site.
Attendance
It is expected that you arrive to class on time and prepared, and that you remain for the duration
of the class. In order to be considered duly prepared for class, you will need to have completed
the scheduled readings, have the text with you in class, and be ready to discuss it. I look forward
to hearing your responses and analysis of our texts. Note that unexplained absences will result in
the lowering of your participation mark. Please contact me in advance if you need to miss classes
or leave early.

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Class Participation
Your thoughtful participation and engagement in class discussion is an important part of your
learning experience. The 10% allocated for participation is a significant part of your grade, so
please bring your ideas and questions to class. I am also prepared to evaluate short written
commentaries as part of your participation mark. You may submit your responses, thoughts or
questions either in hard-copy or in the body of an email (no attachments please) before class.
You should speak with me early in the term if youd like more information about this option.
E-culture Policy
The most efficient way to discuss your term work or thoughts about the course is in person, and I
encourage you to meet with me before or after class, or during my office hours. Email should be
used for brief messages only. Please indicate the course code in the subject line and be sure to
sign your letter. I will respond to electronic messages as promptly as possible, but you should
anticipate that during busy times in the term it may take several days to respond. Note that I do
not reply to emails on the weekend. Finally, please note that I will not accept written work that is
submitted by email. If you are submitting late work you should upload your essay to turnitin.com
where it will be date-stamped. You can then send me a brief email to notify me that it has been
submitted.
Use of Electronic Devices in Class
You are welcome to use a laptop in class for taking notes. All other uses are prohibited during
class time. Please do not allow your electronic devices to become a distraction.
U of T Portal
Assignments, grades, readings, and occasionally announcements will be posted on the course
website. Ensure that you check your utoronto email regularly.
Policy Regarding Late Essays
Assignments must be handed in at the beginning of class on the due date. Essays that arrive after
class has begun will be penalized 1%. Late essays will be penalized 2% a day (including
weekends). Essays that are more than two weeks late will not be accepted without prior
arrangement. If you anticipate problems meeting a deadline, please speak with me well in
advance (at least 48 hours before the essay is due). Please note that students who miss class
deadlines due to illness or other crises should make use of the online absence declaration system
via ROSI.
Policy Regarding Missed Tests
There are only three acceptable reasons to miss a test: illness, a serious family emergency, or
religious observance. Students who miss a test due to illness must self-declare their absence on
ROSI and provide documentation in order to arrange for a make-up test. If you must miss a test
please inform me by email in advance and we will make arrangements for you to write a make-up
test at the earliest opportunity (no later than one week after the original date).
Drop Date
The last day to drop Y courses without academic penalty is February 16, 2013. By this point,
your midterm test and first essay will have been graded and returned.
Changes to the Syllabus
The schedule listed below should be considered a guideline for the pace of our course reading.
Every attempt will be made to follow the schedule as it is laid out but please note that it is subject
to change.

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STUDENT RESOURCES:
Robert Gillespie Academic Skills Centre, UTM
Room 390, Hazel McCallion Academic Learning Centre (905.828.3858)
www.utm.utoronto.ca/asc
The Academic Skills Centre offers resources for developing your critical reading, writing and
thinking abilities. The Centre offers free one-on-one and small group tutoring, workshops on
research, writing, and editing, and assistance for non-native speakers of English.
AccessAbility Resource Centre, UTM
Room 2047, South Building (905.569.4699)
access@utm.utoronto.ca
Students with diverse needs are welcome in this course. The UTM AccessAbility Resource
Centre offers services to assess specific student needs, provide referrals, and arrange appropriate
accommodations. If you would benefit from having academic accommodations during the year,
please contact the Centre for information about registering.

SCHEDULE
N.B. For items taken from our anthologies, I provide the page number on which the assigned
reading starts. Please note that you should also read the head-note for each author.
FALL TERM:
Week One: Exploration Narratives
Wednesday, September 10
A brief introduction to Canadian literature (overview; themes; writers)
Earle Birney: Can. Lit. (attached)
Friday, September 12: Narratives of Encounter
(N.B. Bring Vol. 1 and 2)
Brian Maracle, The First Words (1)
Context: Section 1: Narratives of Encounter: Introduction: Who/What/Where is Here?
(15); Figures for Section I (33)
Jacques Cartier: From The Voyages of Jacques Cartier (42)
Samuel Hearne: From A Journey from Prince of Waless Fort in Hudsons Bay to the
Northern Ocean (73)
David Thompson: From Narrative of His Explorations in Western America (84)
John Newlove, Samuel Hearne in Wintertime (428) [Vol. 2]
Week Two: Exploration Narratives; Settler and Travel Narratives
Wednesday, September 17: (N.B. Bring Vol. 1 and 2)
John Franklin: From Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea 1819-1922
(92)
Inuit Testimony of the 1845 Franklin Expedition (103)
Stan Rogers: Northwest Passage (516) [Vol. 2]
Margaret Atwood: The Age of Lead (450) [Vol. 2]
Friday, September 19: (N.B. Bring Vol. 1 and 2)
Context: Section II: Narratives of Emigration, Settlement, and Invasion: Introduction:
Canada as Home (109); Figures for Section II (132)
Anna Brownell Jameson: From Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada (176)
[readings continue on page 5]

Catharine Parr Traill: From The Backwoods of Canada (196)

Susanna Moodie: From Roughing It in the Bush (211)
Margaret Atwood: From The Journals of Susanna Moodie (441) [Vol. 2]
Marjorie Pickthall, The Third Generation (posted on Portal; print out and bring to
class)

Week Three:
Wednesday, September 24
George Henry (Maungwudaus): From An Account of the Chippewa Indians (232)
George Copway (Kah-ge-ga-gah-bowh): From Life, History and Travels of Kah-ge-gagah-bowh (240)
Friday, September 26: (N.B. Bring Vol. 1 and 2)
Context: Section III: Post-Confederation Period Context: Introduction: A New
Nationality (251); Figures for Section III (275)
From The British North America Act, 1867 (294)
John A. Macdonald, Confederation (299)
Thomas DArcy McGee, Protection for Canadian Literature (305)
Alexander Muir, The Maple Leaf for Ever (316)
Anonymous, The Anti-Confederation Song (318)
O Canada! (326)
Marilyn Dumont, Letter to Sir John A. Macdonald (645) [Vol. 2]
Week Four: Representing Race
Wednesday, October 1 (N.B. Bring Vol. 1 and 2)
From The Indian Act (321)
From The Indian Act (revised statutes, 1927) (324)
Louis Riel, Address to the Jury (333)
Agnes Maule Machar, Quebec to Ontario, A Plea for the Life of Louis Riel, September,
1885) (314)
bpNichol, The Long Weekend of Louis Riel (510) [Vol. 2]
Friday, October 3
Pauline Johnson, A Cry from an Indian Wife (395); The Song My Paddle Sings
(396); His Majesty, the West Wind (398); Canadian Born (400); A Strong Race
Opinion: On the Indian Girl in Modern Fiction (401)
Pauline Johnson, A Red Girls Reasoning (posted on Portal; print out and bring to
class)
From An Act to Restrict and Regulate Chinese Immigration into Canada (338)
Edith Eaton, Its Wavering Image (posted on Portal; print out and bring to class)
Week Five: Nineteenth-Century Adventure Novel
October 8, October 10
James De Mille: A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder
Week Six:
October 15, October 17
A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder, continued
Week Seven: Nineteenth-Century Poets
Wednesday, October 22
Charles G.D. Roberts: Canada (354); The Tantramar Revisited (356); The Poet is
Bidden to Manhattan Island (358); The Poetry of Nature (361)

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Friday, October 24 (N.B. Bring Vol. 1 and 2)
Archibald Lampman: Among the Timothy (414); The Railway Station (416); The
City of the End of Things (417); To a Millionaire (420); The Modern Politician
(420)
Duncan Campbell Scott: The Onondaga Madonna (427); Indian Place-Names (433);
Powassans Drum (433); The Last of the Indian Treaties (437)
Armand Garnet Ruffo: Poem for Duncan Campbell Scott (648) [Vol. 2]
Week Eight: The Bildungsroman
October 29, 31
L.M. Montgomery: Anne of Green Gables
Week Nine:
November 5, 7
Anne of Green Gables, continued
N.B. Essay #1 is due on Friday, November 7 at 9 a.m.
Week Ten:
Wednesday, November 12:
Context: Section IV: Turn of the Century: Introduction: Canada on the World Stage
(451); Figures for Section IV (467)
Clifford Sifton: The Immigrants Canada Wants (475)
John McCrae: In Flanders Fields (516)
Poetry of the First World War (posted on Portal; print out and bring to class)
Friday, November 14
Stephen Leacock: The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias (493)
J.G. Sime: Munitions! (485)
Week Eleven: Modernism
Wednesday, November 19
First Term Test
Friday, November 21
Context: Section V: Modernism: Introduction: Making It New in Canada (1) [Vol. 2];
Figures for Section V (27)
E.J. Pratt: From Towards the Last Spike (55)
Gordon Lightfoot: Canadian Railroad Trilogy (431)
Leonard Cohen, For E.J.P. (377)
F. R. Scott: The Canadian Authors Meet (85); Bonne Entente (88); The Canadian
Social Register (88); All Spikes But the Last (91)
Week Twelve:
Wednesday, November 26
A.J.M. Smith: To Hold in a Poem (96); The Lonely Land (both versions) (96-97); A
Rejected Preface (99)
A.M. Klein: Heirloom (152); Portrait of the Poet as Landscape (153)
Friday, November 28
Earle Birney: Canada: Case History: 1945 (116); Bushed (117); I accuse us (121);
Canada: Case History: 1973 (124)
Dorothy Livesay: Day and Night: (164); Bartok and the Geranium (168); The Three
Emilys (169)
Hugh MacLennan: Boy Meets Girl in Winnipeg and Who Cares? (126)

* * * Winter Break * * *
WINTER TERM:
Week One: Prairie Realism
January 7, 9
Sinclair Ross: As For Me and My House
Week Two:
January 14, 16
As For Me and My House, continued
Week Three:
Wednesday, January 21
P.K. Page: The Stenographers (193); Stories of Snow (195), Photos of a Salt Mine
(196)
Al Purdy: The Country North of Belleville (274); Lament for the Dorsets (277)
Friday, January 23: Nationalism and Mythologies
Context: Section VI: Contemporary Period, 1960-1985: Introduction: Nationalists,
Intellectuals, and Iconoclasts
Chief Dan George: A Lament for Confederation (251)
Northrop Frye: Conclusion to a Literary History of Canada (252)
Robertson Davies: The Canada of Myth and Reality (265)
Margaret Atwood: Surfacing
Week Four:
January 28, 30
Surfacing, continued
Week Five: Drama
February 4, 6
John Gray, with Eric Peterson: Billy Bishop Goes to War
Week Six: Short Stories
Wednesday, February 11
Margaret Laurence: A Bird in the House (300)
Friday, February 13
Alice Munro: Meneseteung" (336)
Rudy Wiebe, Where is the Voice Coming From? (384)
* * * Reading Week: February 17-20 * * *
Week Seven:
Wednesday, February 25
Context: Section VII: Contemporary Canada, 1985-Present: Introduction: The Local, the
National, and the Global (517); Figures for Section VII (539)
Michael Ondaatje: In the Skin of a Lion
Friday, February 27
In the Skin of a Lion, continued

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Week Eight:
March 4, 6
Thomas King: Green Grass, Running Water
N.B. Essay #2 is due on Friday, March 6 at 9 a.m.
Week Nine:
March 11, 13
Green Grass, Running Water, continued
Week Ten:
March 18, 20
Yann Martel: Life of Pi
Week Eleven:
March 25, 27
Life of Pi, continued
Week Twelve:
Wednesday, April 1
Last day of class: Course Review and Exam Preparation
Friday, April 3
University closed
The final exam will be scheduled during the exam period (April 13-27).
It may be necessary to schedule exams during the day for classes held in the evening and vice
versa. Exams may also be held on Saturdays during the day and the evenings. Students who make
personal commitments during the examination period do so at their own risk. No petitions will be
accepted for deferred examinations to accommodate personal or vacation plans.
*

Can. Lit.
(or them able leave her ever)
since wed always sky about
when we had eagles they flew out
leaving no shadow bigger than a wrens
to trouble even our broodiest hens

we French&English never lost

our civil war
endure it still
a bloody civil bore

too busy bridging loneliness

to be alone
we hacked in railway ties
what Emily etched in bone

the wounded sirened off

no Whitman wanted
its only by our lack of ghosts
were haunted [1962, rev. 1966]