The prose received a strong boost from the 1960s in the so-called “Elizabethan Age” of Canadian literature: Margaret Laurence tells of the Puritan conventions of a small prairie town (Manawaka cycle, e.g. “The stone angel,” 1964; German, “The stone Engel «), Margaret Atwood’s extremely versatile prose thematizes, inter alia. Power issues in society and culture, the threat of environmental destruction and gender relations (“The handmaid’s tale”, 1985; German “Der Magdalene Report”). In addition, inter alia Alice Munro, Audrey Thomas (* 1935), Mavis Gallant, Jane Rule (* 1931, † 2007), Aritha van Herk (* 1954) and Carol Shields (* 1935, † 2003) expanded the English-language narrative literature to include a decidedly female position.
R. Davies’ comical-satirical Deptford trilogy (e.g. “Fifth business”, 1970; German “Der Fifth im Spiel”) has been completely translated into German. Other important prose writers are Jack Hodgins (* 1938), Marian Engel (* 1933, † 1985; »Bear«, 1976; German »Bär«), Timothy Findley (* 1930, † 2002; »The wars«, 1977; German » The war and the toad «). Thomas’ novel “Mrs. Blood “(1970) and its sequel” Blown figures “(1974) are experimental prose pieces that, like Dave Godfrey’s (* 1938, † 2015) novel” The new ancestors “(1970), are set in West Africa. Van Herk’s fictional-biographical turn to the Arctic, the representation of the worldview of Métis and Cree in the historical novels by R. Wiebe and the works of John Moss (* 1940) exemplify the territorial expansion of Canadian literature. At the same time, such texts represent the new genre of »life writing«, which also includes R. Kroetsch’s »A likely story. The writing life «(1995). The literary spectrum has recently been broadened by contributions from ethnic minorities, including: by Anne Cameron (* 1938), who draws from the myths and fairy tales of the Indian tribes of the north-west coast of Canada (“Daughters of copper woman”, 1981), Thomas King (* 1943), whose strength i.a. the inclusion of Indian humor in his novels (“Green grass, running water”, 1993; German “Wenn Coyote tanzt”) is, Joy Kogawa (* 1935), who describes the fate of Japanese Canadians in World War II in “Obasan” (1981), or Sky Lee (* 1952), the best-known Asian-Canadian writer (“Disappearing moon cafe”, 1990). Visit harvardshoes.com for North America overview.
Transculturalism and ethnicity are thematically at the center of M. Ondaatje’s works (including »The English patient«, 1992; German »Der Englische Patient«), which at the same time exemplarily represent the metahistorical novel, which is very pronounced in Canada, and which are committed to the design principles of postmodern writing. D. Coupland created a special, postmodern form of naturalism with realistic descriptions of the so-called »Generation X«. Y. Martel had international success with his imaginative novel “Life of Pi” (2001, German: “Shipwreck with Tiger”), in which he addresses the power of imagination as the principle of (survival) life.
As an extremely productive and successful genre, in addition to the novel, the short story has established itself in the last 40 years. a. The following authors contributed: Mavis Leslie Gallant (“The Pegnitz Junction”, 1973), Alice Munro (“Who do you think you are”, 1978), Margaret Atwood (“Dancing girls”, 1977), Audrey Thomas (* 1935; ” Real mothers “, 1981), Norman Levine (* 1924, † 2005;” One-way ticket “, 1961), Hugh Hood (* 1928, † 2000;” Around the mountain “, 1967) and John Metcalf (* 1938), Leon Rooke (* 1934), Clark Blaise (* 1940), W. D. Valgardson (* 1939) and A. Macleod. The ethnic mosaic in the genre Shortstory is enriched by Thomas King, Dionne Brand (* 1953), born in Trinidad, and Neil Bissoondath (* 1955;“Digging up the mountains”, 1986), Austin Clarke (* 1934, † 2016) from Barbados ), the Indian-born R. Mistry (“Tales from Firozsha Baag”, 1987; German “Das Kaleidoskop des Lebens”) or Kristjana Gunnars (* 1948) and Janice Kulyk Keefer (* 1952)with Icelandic and Ukrainian roots. The brilliant development of contemporary Canadian short stories was promoted, inter alia. by John Metcalfs Editor of numerous short story anthologies as well as Robert Weavers (* 1921, † 2008) CBC radio program »Anthology«, which broadcast weekly readings of Canadian literature, especially the short story, for over 30 years (1953–85). This genre was honored in 2013 with the award of the Nobel Prize for Literature to Alice Munro.
Although the Anglo-Canadian drama was already widespread in the form of radio plays before the 1960s, stage plays only achieved great success with the centenary (1967). The following became known: J. Reaney with “Colors in the dark” (1967) and G. Ryga with “The ecstasy of Rita Joe” (1967). Other important pieces are David Freeman’s (* 1945) “Creeps” (1971), David French (* 1939) “Mercer plays” (1972 ff.), Sharon Pollocks (* 1936) “Walsh” (1973), David Fennarios (* 1947) “Balconville” (1979), John Grays (* 1946) and Eric Petersons (* 1946) one-man performance “Billy Bishop goes to war” (1979), Judith Thompson’s (* 1954) “The crackwalker” (1980), Wendy Lills (* 1950) “The occupation of Heather Rose” (1985) and Ann-Marie Macdonalds (* 1959) “Goodnight Desdemona (Good morning Juliet)” (1988). The English- and French-speaking director and author R. Lepage develops his own texts (“collective writings”) with actors, of which there are hardly any printed versions. The “ethnic” drama is a.o. by the “native Playwrights” Tomson Highway (* 1951; “The Rez sisters”, 1986), Daniel David Moses (* 1952; “The Indian medicine shows”, 1995) and Drew Hayden Taylor (* 1962; “Toronto at Dreame’s rock «, 1989), the Afro-Canadian Djanet Sears (* 1959; “Harlem duet”, 1997) and the Jewish author Jason Sherman (* 1962; “Reading Hebron”, 1996).
The trends in poetry since the 1960s have been diverse: Al Purdy breaks through social and linguistic taboos with her (“The cariboo horses”, 1965). The lyrical works of Daphne Marlatt (* 1942; »Steveston«, 1974), Andrew Suknaski (* 1942, † 2012; »Wood mountain poems«, 1973) and Kroetsch (»Field notes«, 1981) have a strong narrative character. Dennis Lee’s (* 1939) “Civil elegies” (1968) are political meditations on Vietnam, the USA and Canadian identity problems. B. P. Nichol is characterized by concretismwho experiments with new forms of presentation (including “sound poetry”) (“four horsemen”, 1970 ff.). The poems by Gwendolyn MacEwen (* 1941, † 1987) and Susan Musgraves (* 1951) are mystical and lyrical with Haida Indian inspirations (“The impstone”, 1976). M. Ondaatje’s poetry is written in a controlled, sensitive language. L. Cohen, one of the most internationally known Canadian songwriters and singers since the 1970s, wrote melancholy poems about religion, spirituality, interpersonal relationships and sexuality. The lyric works of the most famous and versatile Canadian writer Atwood fascinate through linguistic power, imaginative range and intellectual depth of focus (“Eating fire: selected poetry, 1965–1995”, 1998).
