Canadian literature is the literature of a group of multicultural communities, written in languages including Canadian English, Canadian French, and Indigenous languages. Influences on Canadian writers are broad both geographically and historically, representing Canada's diversity in culture and region.
Gabrielle Roy was a notable French Canadian author.
Charles G. D. Roberts was a poet that belonged to an informal group known as the Confederation Poets.
Short story writer Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2013.
The former Canadian Parliamentary Poet Laureate George Elliott Clarke (2015)
The theory of garrison mentality argues that early Canadian identity was characterised by fear of an empty and hostile national landscape. It suggests that the environment's impact on the national psyche has influenced themes within Canadian literature, cinema and television. The term was first coined by literary critic Northrop Frye in the Literary History of Canada (1965), who used the metaphorical image of a garrison to illustrate that Canadians are defensive and hiding from external forces. It was then expanded upon by various other critics, including authors and academics. The garrison mentality is apparent in both older and more contemporary Canadian literature and media. The theory has received criticism and praise for its overarching premise that the natural environment has determined the qualities of a population.
Painting by Edward Walsh from 1803 to 1807, depicting the upper Canadian wilderness closing off a small village from the rest of society.
Canadian author Margaret Atwood in 2009, who both contributed to the development of the garrison mentality and exhibited it in her own literature.
A worn down garage from Schitt's Creek. Its unappealing design reflects the garrison mentality, as characters are forced to spend time in and around this environment.
