[Canada] Canadian Politics Redux

[HVC]

The only author i read who i know is canadian is Margaret Laurence.

[Josephus]

The only author i read who i know is canadian is Margaret Laurence.

Sorry to hear that.

[Josephus]

I admit (but not "thankfully") that I've always wanted to read a book by her but never got around to do so. I have been thinking about "Handmaid's Tale" (which is probably her most best known book) but then I fear I would find it extremely depressing. I don't enjoy reading dystopian stories.

Ever read Timothy Findley, Marti? You might like him.

[Oexmelin]

I also read Louis Hemon's Maria Chapdelaine. There may be others. I took three Can Lit courses in university so there was an awful lot.

Louis Hémon is French.

[HVC]

The only author i read who i know is canadian is Margaret Laurence.

Sorry to hear that.

I've probably read more. i used to read a lot. She's just the only one i'm conscious of being canadian. The Stone Angel Was a good book, actually.

[Malthus]

My plug for CanLit is to suggest Viper read some early Douglas Coupland.  Or in the alternative (and in a totally different style) some Mordecai Richler.

I can already hear Viper gagging by this thought.

Most French Quebecers that have even heard of Richler would prefer to eat shit Salò-style than read his works. He has a bad reputation here as a Frog-hating jackass, did some dubious interventions on the whole French language issues in the late 80s and early 90s, and collectively we weren't exactly sad when he passed away.

In Quebec, Mordecai Richler is seen as a reminder of the "Speak White" attitude of a passed era, whether it is deserved or not.

Then again, Céline was a French collaborationist and an anti-semite, doesn't stop him from being a great author. So maybe Viper can dissociate Richler the author, from Richler the asshole.

I liked "Open Secrets" by Alice Munro in my English Literature class. So there, another suggestion.

I considered replying to GF "of course I've read a Quebec author - Mordecai Richler!" but I thought better of it.  GF wanted a specifically french-Canadian author - but it would be amusing to troll you guys by pointing out that the single most famous Quebec author is of course not French-Canadian (and is cordially loathed by the Quebec nationalist types). 

[Oexmelin]

It is not really surprising that an English Quebecker is "the single most famous" author in the Anglophone world... Few people know him outside of the US or Canada, I would venture - certainly next to no one in the francophone world.  In the francophone world, "the single most respected" Quebec author might be Réjean Ducharme - who can with great difficulty be termed "famous" because he is a Salinger type of recluse. Contemporary more famous would be Danny Laferrière.

[Neil]

For non-Canadians of course it will be different, but I truly find it difficult to believe that any Canadian even slightly media-aware could not know what my aunt looks like - she's made herself a very public persona here and her face is in the news commenting on this or that with some regularity.

News is regional on the networks.  She might be all over the Toronto media, but we'd never know out here.

Does she look like you wearing a dress?

[HVC]

For non-Canadians of course it will be different, but I truly find it difficult to believe that any Canadian even slightly media-aware could not know what my aunt looks like - she's made herself a very public persona here and her face is in the news commenting on this or that with some regularity.

News is regional on the networks.  She might be all over the Toronto media, but we'd never know out here.

Does she look like you wearing a dress?

Margaret is not amused by your comment

[crazy canuck]

I know who Margaret Atwood is, but I have thankfully avoided ever reading any of her books.

This is one of the oddest things I have ever seen you post.  Why are you "thankful" you have not read one of her books?

He is a conservative. They usually treat their ignorance as something to be proud of.

BB's statement did smack of a certain anti-intellectualism which is why I said it was odd coming from him.  Yes he is a Conservative, but I would never describe BB as a person thinks being ingorant is something to be proud of.  I leave that description for people who like to engage frequently in overly broad generalizations.

[crazy canuck]

News is regional on the networks.  She might be all over the Toronto media, but we'd never know out here.

Then for some reason the news of Ms Atwood does not filter into Edmonton but does everywhere else in the Country.  One more indication of the barren wasteland (both literal and metaphorical) you live in.

[Grallon]

... Contemporary more famous would be Danny Laferrière.

Hardly a Quebecer...  Try Victor-Levy Beaulieu - who apparently as a reputation in France for being one of (if not) the greatest living Quebec author.  He has written extensively about several western literature authors such as James Joyce, Jack Kerouak or Victor Hugo.  He's written essays, novels, theater plays, TV shows, articles, etc

He is ferociously nationalist, he even once called the previous Governor General a 'negro queen' (in the same sense as the potentates installed as puppets in Africa during the colonial era).  And of course he's attacked Richler several times for his rampant contempt of our people.



G.

[Neil]

News is regional on the networks.  She might be all over the Toronto media, but we'd never know out here.

Then for some reason the news of Ms Atwood does not filter into Edmonton but does everywhere else in the Country.  One more indication of the barren wasteland (both literal and metaphorical) you live in.

Go burn a car, fag.

[Oexmelin]

Hardly a Quebecer...  Try Victor-Levy Beaulieu - who apparently as a reputation in France for being one of (if not) the greatest living Quebec author.

Sorry, but no. On both counts. I consider Laferrière as much a Quebecker as anybody else - unless you want to engage in cheap racism and want to nominate only "Quebeckers of French Canadian descent". Especially since some of his more recent work (try "je suis un écrivain japonais" or "L'énigme du retour") deal with the question of troubled identity - hardly a foreign theme in Quebec litterature anyway.

As for VLB's fame in France: inexistant.

[HVC]

Looks like Danny Laferrière moved to quebec when he was 22 (wiki to the rescue) so maybe that's what Grallon meant?