ReCalling Early Canada: Reading the Political in Literary and Cultural Production

Allison Sivak is a librarian in the Science and Technology Library,
University of Alberta.

“When we call and recall ‘Early Canada,’ what is ‘it’ that we
call upon and how does the very name we give to ‘it’ shape in
advance what it is that we set out to recall?” This question shapes
the 12 papers collected in ReCalling Early Canada. Arising out of the
2003 conference of the same name, the book is the “first book-length
collection of essays to focus on Canadian literary and cultural
production prior to WW I.” Attempting to dispute the assumption that
Canadian literature “began” in the mid-20th century, the essays
cover terrain as varied as Theresa Gowanlock’s captivity narrative,
the documentation of the Aboriginal “family” by white photographers,
and conflicting national identities as portrayed in French and English
fiction.

The range of topics highlights not only lesser-known Canadian cultural
publications, but asks what cultural products merit investigation by the
historian; in other words, how do we designate the objects that have
“created” our history? Accordingly, many of the essays explore
published works by lesser-known authors. Those essays that deal with
more canonical Canadian authors examine their lesser-known facets;
Janice Fiamengo’s piece on Sara Jeanette Duncan, for example, focuses
on Duncan’s political journalism, rather than on her fictional
comedies of manners. Others discuss how we may read archival materials;
for example, Kathleen Venema’s paper considers the “domestic
politics” of fur trade life as written in the private letters of
Letiticia Mactavish Hargrave.

This collection is highly recommended for both undergraduate and
graduate collections in academic libraries.