NATIVE WRITERS AND CANADIAN WRITING by W. H. New (Editor) ( 9780774803717 )

Item Details

Title:

NATIVE WRITERS AND CANADIAN WRITING

By:

Format:

Paperback

List price:	£27.99
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ISBN 10:

0774803711

ISBN 13:

9780774803717

Publisher:

UNIVERSITY OF BRITISH COLUMBIA PRESS

Pub. date:

1 January, 1990

Pages:

306

Description:

A co-publication with the journal Canadian Literature -- Canada's foremost literary journal -- this collection examines the growing prominence of contemporary Native writing.

Synopsis:

Sometimes people are willing to listen only to those voices thatconfirm the conventions they already know. The unfamiliar makes themfear. Or makes them condescend. Neither fear nor condescensionencourages listening. And no one who does not listen learns tohear.- W.H. New, 'Learning to Listen.' Native Writers and Canadian Writing is a co-publicationwith Canadian Literature -- Canada's foremost literary journal --of a special double issue which focuses on literature by and aboutCanada's Native peoples and contains original articles and poems byboth Native and non-Native writers. These not only reflect the growingprominence of contemporary Native writing but also direct the reader tothe traditional literature from which it springs and which has beenlargely misunderstood by the non- Native community -- myths, rituals,and songs having been interpreted more often as artistic"curiosities" rather than the masterworks of a differentculture.Essays examining the conventional portrayals of Native people inliterature touch on works which range from the eighteenth-centuryjournals of explorer Alexander Mackenzie, to the novels of JamesFenimore Cooper, and to early writers in Canada such ashistorian-humourist Thomas Chandler Haliburton. Studies of Nativeliterature focus on the oral literary traditions of the Haida and Inuitand their transcribers and on modern works by playwright Tomson Highwayand authors Lee Maracle and Thomas King, among others. Thesecommentaries illuminate the way in which Native writers view themselvesand their disparate worlds, their gifts for pathos, humour, andself-parody, and their search for their own voices and distinct formsof communication.Viewing Canada's Native peoples in historical, anthropological,and political contexts, the book exposes prejudices and misconceptionsentrenched since colonial days regarding Native societies and theirmoral, spiritual, and political values -- values embodied in theirhereditary literature. Just as Native visual art has flourished inrecent years, the book records the initiatives now being taken byNative societies to preserve and promote their own cultural identitythrough the spoken and written word. These include control of their owneducation, creative writing programs, projects to preserve still extantlanguages, folklore, songs, and rituals, and the founding of Nativepublishing houses. Not only are these endeavours valuable contributionsto tribal cultures, but they also contribute to the past and ongoingliterary heritage of Canada as a nation. Recognition of the place ofNative literature as an integral part of the Canadian cultural scene isone of the main goals of Native Writers and Canadian Writing.As W.H. New points out, this collection is 'a speaking place ... aseries of opportunities to begin listening.'Native Writers and Canadian Writing has been produced asone of the projects celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Universityof British Columbia.

Publication:

Canada

Imprint:

University of British Columbia Press

Returns:

Returnable

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