Canadian&Australian - suggestions for 20th Century Lit

[mooooom]

I've been working through everybody's lists, thanks for your suggestions, but still haven't located any suggestions for Canadian or Oceania great modern lit. I know there are members of both on this board, hoping that will help. I am really looking for books that will include a "feel" of the country, and even a little of its history, but also just really good books.

 

Thanks for any suggestions. I will post my complete list when it's done.

 

Hallie

[In The Great White North]

In Flander's Fields was written by a Canadian

[Kareni]

One book you might want to consider for Australia is Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington. Here's the blurb from Amazon:

 

"Following an Australian government edict in 1931, black aboriginal children and children of mixed marriages were gathered up and taken to settlements to be institutionally assimilated. In Rabbit-Proof Fence, award-wining author Doris Pilkington traces the story of her mother, Molly, one of three young girls uprooted from their community in Southwestern Australia and taken to the Moore River Native Settlement. There, Molly and her relatives Gracie and Daisy were forbidden to speak their native language, forced to abandon their heritage, and taught to be culturally white. After regular stays in solitary confinement, the three girls planned and executed a daring escape from the grim camp."

 

It was certainly an interesting read. I don't know if it's considered a classic, however. There is also a movie version Rabbit-Proof Fence.

 

Edited to add: Perhaps you can locate one of the following books through interlibrary loan. I suspect that either might fit the bill.

 

Australian Literature: An Anthology of Writing from the Land Down Under by Edelson

 

or The Literature of Australia: An Anthology by Jose.

 

Regards,

Kareni

Edited January 3, 2010 by Kareni

[Rosie_0801]

It was certainly an interesting read. I don't know if it's considered a classic, however. There is also a movie version Rabbit-Proof Fence.

 

 

It's becoming one.

 

You could try Bryce Courtney's books, some of them might be suitable. They are hardly "Great Books" but they will give some flavour.

 

Rosie

[nmoira]

Here's what I did for CanLit in highschool:

 

Stephen Leacock -- numerous selections

Roberson Davies -- Fifth Business (I'm a huge Davies fan)

Margaret Laurence -- Stone Angels; The Diviners

Margaret Atwood -- Surfacing (and she's written plenty more in the last 25 years)

Sinclair Ross -- As For Me and My House

W.O. Mitchell -- Who Has Seen the Wind

Timothy Findley -- The Wars (this book survived an attempt to ban it in our school district)

Farley Mowat -- Never Cry Wolf

 

various poets, including Leacock, Leonard Cohen, Robert Service

 

Carol Shields, Alice Monroe, Mordecai Richler, Michael Ondaatje, Gabrielle Roy, and Saul Bellow are some of the more notable omissions.

Edited January 6, 2010 by nmoira
typo

[Amber in AUS]

Rabbit Proof Fence is unreal. I had the pleasure of being at the opening here in Perth and meeting the cast, it was overwhelming. Some of the mission buildings are still there, one was not far from where i used to live. It is an unimaginable story. The book is not very long.

 

Another that i can think of which is a true Aussie classic is AB Facey's A Fortunate Life. This is a great book. Also takes place mostly in Western Australia and several of the places mentioned in the book are well known to me. This would be a typical high school lit selection here. It is medium length.

 

You might also like Kings in Grass Castles which is by one of the Duracks. I found this a hard, long read, but it was VERY interesting. A long book.

 

HTH

[Amber in AUS]

Rabbit Proof Fence is unreal. I had the pleasure of being at the opening here in Perth and meeting the cast, it was overwhelming. Some of the mission buildings are still there, one was not far from where i used to live. It is an unimaginable story. The book is not very long.

 

Another that i can think of which is a true Aussie classic is AB Facey's A Fortunate Life. This is a great book. Also takes place mostly in Western Australia and several of the places mentioned in the book are well known to me. This would be a typical high school lit selection here. It is medium length.

 

You might also like Kings in Grass Castles which is by one of the Duracks. I found this a hard, long read, but it was VERY interesting. A long book.

 

HTH

[LuckyDuck103]

Another vote for Canadian Stephen Leacock. I've only read "Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town". I thoroughly enjoyed it. Let me put it this way, I grew up in the southern hemispere, in a different era and culture but it still resonated. I think anyone who's lived in a somewhat self-contained community will relate. The tone is light and fluffy but it still pulls punches. A lot of Leacock's work is available in the public domain. I'm planning to download a few of them from http://www.bookdepository.com

[Storm Bay]

Here's what I did for CanLit in highschool:

 

Stephen Leacock -- numerous selections

Roberson Davies -- Fifth Business (I'm a huge Davies fan)

Margaret Laurence -- Stone Angels; The Diviners

Margaret Atwood -- Surfacing (and she's written plenty more in the last 25 years)

Sinclair Ross -- As For Me and My House

W.O. Mitchell -- Who Has Seen the Wind

Timothy Findley -- The Wars (this book survived and attempt to ban it in our school district)

Farley Mowat -- Never Cry Wolf

 

various poets, including Leacock, Leonard Cohen, Robert Service

 

Carol Shields, Alice Monroe, Mordecai Richler, Michael Ondaatje, Gabrielle Roy, and Saul Bellow are some of the more notable omissions.

 

 

Right. I personally can't stand Margaret Atwood's writing, but she is one of the biggest names. Robert Service uses humour and his Songs of the Far North (I think that's the title; it inclued "The Cremation of Sam Magee") ties in the history of the gold rush, the far north, etc. We met his neice a few years ago on a flight to BC so he became more real to me. Farley Mowatt has written a lot of books. Never Cry Wolf is about his time studying wolves in the far north and is serious, but he has some humourous books as well. Mowatt grew up in Saskatoon in the 1930s and 1940s, so books like The Dog Who Wouldn't Be (humourous and based on his real dog) will tie what life was like in Sask for a boy then (he had moved there from back east--back east is a BC phrase for Ontario, Quebec & the maritimes, but those in ON call the maritimes down east--just a bit of Canadian trivia.)

 

Gabrielle Roy is more Quebec, and the only book of hers I read was The Tin Flute, but on my own because my mother had it in the house. Leonard Cohen is a totally different kettle of fish from Robert Service.

 

Carol Shields tended to write some darkish novels (she had cancer when she wrote one, I think The Stone Angel) but her Republic of Love is a wonderful read and not so dark. Her writing is fabulous, and her voice much better, IMO, than Margaret Atwood.

 

Much of Canadian lit is dark, as you may have gleaned from other posts.

 

Does it have to be by famous Canadian writiers? If you want in interesting novel that takes place in BC on the coast where the characters are based, quite accurately from what I understand, on two real, colourful women, you might be interested in The Goat Lady's Daughter by Rosella Leslie, ISBN 10 is 1-897126-o6-9 and the ISBN 13 is 978-1-897126-06-6

 

Christie Harris wrote some books, but they might have been for children, and one was called The Raven's Cry. When I just googled to double check the title, I saw it on Amazon (not sure if it's US or Can Amazon).

 

Ian Brown, Jowi Taylor, Tony Parsons, Denise Chong, Karen Connelly, Lawrence Hill, Annabel Lyon are names I just cut & pasted who will be attending one of the writer's festivals in BC in 2010, but of course that's just one province out of 10.

 

http://www.amazon.com/Mourning-Dove-Salishan-Autobiography-American/dp/0803282079 This is an autobiography I have had out of the library before by a Salish woman that is worth reading.

 

There are more, but I really need to get off line soon, make lunch, transport dc, etc. I think Little House on the Water Hen is also Canadian, but I only read an abridged version.

[Peela]

Cloudstreet by Tim Winton is a modern Australian classic that has won a prestigious award. I haven't read it yet..it is on our list this year for my kids and I. It is set during the 1940s and 50s I believe and reflects the culture here during that time.

 

Here is the Wikipedia entry on it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cloudstreet

[mta]

More Australian suggestions...

 

Patrick White - Tree of Man, Voss etc (these were sometimes options back when I was at school). His writing is beautifully crafted and just exquisite.

 

Peter Goldsworthy - very easy to read but some have quite adult themes.

 

My Brother Jack - can't remember who wrote it...

 

Someone above has already suggested Tim Winton. I am not a fan - Breath was just ghastly and really rather dull, I thought (despite winning so very many awards). Very "accessible."

 

The Getting of Wisdom (Henry Handel Richardson) - not sure whether it scrapes into the 20th century or not.

 

Thea Astley, Peter Carey (his short stories are super too) and David Malouf are authors worth considering.

 

You could also look at the 20th century winners of the Miles Franklin Award.