Canadian Literature Lecture Review

Flashcards reviewing key literary figures, works, genres, historical contexts, and characters from Canadian Literature based on lecture slides.

What languages is Canadian literature primarily written in, reflecting Canada's bilingualism?

English or French

What forms did the earliest written works in Canadian literature take?

Diaries, journals, letters, travel and exploration accounts, and reports on encounters with Inuit and other native peoples (First Nations)

What were the earliest Canadian poems?

Patriotic songs and hymns

What is considered the first novel in Canadian literature, published in 1769?

The History of Emily Montague

Who authored the 1769 novel The History of Emily Montague?

Frances Moore Brooke, wife of an English army chaplain

Who was early immigrant prose writer Susanna Strickland Moodie's writer sister?

Catherine Parr Traill

What is the title of Susanna Moodie's 1852 work written to discourage prospective immigrants to Canada?

Roughing It in the Bush, Or, Forest Life in Canada

Which 1970 poetry collection by Margaret Atwood reconstructed the colonial Canadian landscape based on Susanna Moodie's life?

The Journals of Susanna Moodie

Who are the two early Canadian women writers featured on this commemorative postage stamp?

Susanna Moodie and Catharine Parr Traill

Who wrote the famous 1832 Canadian historical romance novel Wacousta; or, The Prophecy?

John Richardson

What historical event is portrayed in John Richardson's Wacousta; or, The Prophecy?

The 1763 uprising led by Pontiac, chief of the Ottawa Indians, at Fort Detroit

Who is the Native Canadian antagonist in John Richardson's 1832 novel Wacousta?

Wacousta

Which 1824 novel by Julia Catherine Beckwith preceded Wacousta as an early Canadian novel?

St Ursula's Convent; or, The Nun of Canada

What was the parentage background of Canadian writer and performer Pauline Johnson?

Born to a Mohawk father and an English mother

Under what title were Pauline Johnson's poetry collections published together in 1912?

Flint and Feather

Under what title were Pauline Johnson's stories collected?

Legends of Vancouver

Which writer and performer is commemorated on this 5-cent Canadian postage stamp?

E. Pauline Johnson

Which long narrative poem was written by Newfoundland poet E.J. Pratt in 1917?

Rachel: A Sea Story of Newfoundland

What was the title of E.J. Pratt's verse drama that he burnt, leaving only one surviving copy saved by his wife?

Clay

How many times did E.J. Pratt win the Governor General's Prize?

Three times

What is the title of E.J. Pratt's blank-verse epic poem?

Brébeuf and his Brethren

What is the subject of E.J. Pratt's 1945 work They are Returning?

World War II and concentration camps

Which 1952 epic poem by E.J. Pratt chronicles the construction of the Canadian transcontinental railway?

Towards the Last Spike

Which landmark 1936 poetry anthology heralded the emergence of modernism in Canadian poetry?

New Provinces

Who anonymously edited the 1936 modernist anthology New Provinces?

F.R. Scott

Which group of four modernist poets was featured in New Provinces alongside E.J. Pratt?

The Montreal Group (A.J.M. Smith, A.M. Klein, Leo Kennedy, F.R. Scott)

Which Winnipeg-born poet and Communist Party activist authored the 1944 poetry collection Day and Night?

Dorothy Livesay

In which country was the rebel Canadian poet Irving Layton born?

Romania

Which 1945 Hugh MacLennan novel is set mostly in Quebec during the First World War?

Two Solitudes

Which 1959 Hugh MacLennan novel is set against WWII, fascism, the Spanish Civil War, and the Great Depression?

The Watch That Ends the Night

Where was French Canadian author Gabrielle Roy born?

Saint Boniface, Manitoba

Which poverty-stricken Montreal district inspired Gabrielle Roy's first major Canadian urban novel?

Saint-Henri

What is the original French title of Gabrielle Roy's 1945 novel that won the Prix Femina in 1947?

Bonheur d'occasion

What is the English title of Gabrielle Roy's Bonheur d'occasion?

The Tin Flute

Which 1954 novel by Gabrielle Roy is considered a significant work of psychological realism depicting urban life and war effects?

Alexandre Chenevert

What is the English title of Gabrielle Roy's 1955 Governor-General's Award-winning work Rue Deschambault?

Streets of Riches

Who is considered the primary English translator of Gabrielle Roy's works, including her autobiography La détresse et l’enchantement?

Patricia Claxton

What is the family background of Canadian playwright George Ryga?

Born in Alberta to a family of Ukrainian immigrants

What is the title of George Ryga's famous 1967 play about a young Indigenous woman who moves to the city?

The Ecstasy of Rita Joe

What happens to the protagonist Rita Joe after moving to the city in George Ryga's 1967 play?

She suffers racism, marginalization, rape, and murder

Which older poet served as Leonard Cohen's mentor?

Irving Layton

Which 2006 poetry collection by Leonard Cohen was dedicated to his mentor Irving Layton?

Book of Longing

What are the titles of Leonard Cohen's two published novels?

The Favourite Game (1963) and Beautiful Losers (1966)

Which Japanese Canadian author wrote the 1981 docufiction novel Obasan?

Joy Kogawa

What does the Japanese word 'Obasan' translate to in English?

Aunt

Who is the narrator of Joy Kogawa's novel Obasan?

Naomi Nakane, an Alberta schoolteacher in 1972

What historical government action during World War II forms the central narrative of Joy Kogawa's Obasan?

The internment of Japanese Canadians and confiscation of their property

What was the title of Mavis Gallant's first short story published in The New Yorker?

"Madeline's Birthday"

How many short stories did Mavis Gallant publish in The New Yorker throughout her career?

116 stories

Which 1981 collection by Mavis Gallant won the Governor General's Literary Award for Fiction?

Home Truths

Where is Lucy Maud Montgomery's classic 1908 novel Anne of Green Gables set?

Prince Edward Island

What is the name of the fictional town setting in Stephen Leacock's Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town (1912)?

Mariposa

Who wrote the 1941 Canadian prairie novel As for Me and My House?

Sinclair Ross

Who narrates Sinclair Ross's As for Me and My House through diary entries?

Mrs. Bentley, a Protestant minister's wife

What is the name of the fictional mid-western prairie town in Sinclair Ross's As for Me and My House?

Horizon

What is the name of the fictional Manitoba prairie town featured in Margaret Laurence's series of five novels?

Manawaka

Who is the ninety-year-old protagonist confronting her mortality in Margaret Laurence's The Stone Angel (1964)?

Hagar Shipley

Who is the central forty-seven-year-old novelist protagonist of Margaret Laurence's The Diviners (1974)?

Morag Gunn

In Margaret Laurence's The Diviners, what technique does the character Royland use to find underground water?

Divining using a witching wand

Which Margaret Laurence novel follows schoolteacher Rachel Cameron through a summer affair?

A Jest of God (1966)

What is the title of Margaret Laurence's semi-autobiographical short story sequence centered on Vanessa MacLeod?

A Bird in the House (1970)

Which literary movement is Canadian poet, novelist, and essayist Robert Kroetsch primarily associated with?

Postmodernism

Which historical event forms the backdrop of Robert Kroetsch's 1998 novel The Man From the Creeks?

The Klondike Gold Rush

Alice Munro became the first Canadian to win which prestigious literature award in 2013?

Nobel Prize for Literature

In which region of southwestern Ontario is most of Alice Munro's fiction set?

Huron County

What was the title of Alice Munro's first short story collection, published in 1968?

Dance of the Happy Shades

Under what title was Alice Munro's Who Do You Think You Are? published outside of Canada?

The Beggar Maid: Stories of Flo and Rose

Who is the poor Jewish anti-hero of Mordecai Richler's 1959 novel set in 1940s Montreal?

Duddy Kravitz

In Mordecai Richler's Barney's Version (1997), whose mysterious disappearance forms a core element of the plot?

Boogie (Barney's friend)

In Mordecai Richler's Solomon Gursky Was Here, who is the alcoholic failed writer obsessed with Solomon Gursky?

Moses Berger

What non-fiction essay collection on nationalism and anti-semitism did Mordecai Richler publish in 1992?

Oh Canada! Oh Quebec! Requiem for a Divided Country

To which minority ethnic and religious group with German ancestry does writer Rudy Wiebe belong?

Mennonites

What was the title of Rudy Wiebe's first epic novel presenting a saga of the Mennonite people?

The Blue Mountains of China

Which 1973 historical novel by Rudy Wiebe depicts the relations between First Nations and settlers?

The Temptations of Big Bear

Which novel by Carol Shields won both the Governor General's Award and the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction?

The Stone Diaries (1993)

Who is the central character of Carol Shields' 1993 novel The Stone Diaries?

Daisy Goodwill Flett

At what type of company does Marian McAlpin work at the start of Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman?

A market research company

Why does the unnamed narrator travel to Quebec in Margaret Atwood's 1972 novel Surfacing?

To search for her missing father

What is Rennie Wilford's occupation in Margaret Atwood's 1981 novel Bodily Harm?

Lifestyle journalist

Who are the three principal characters undergoing midlife crises in Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man (1979)?

Nate, Elizabeth, and Lesje

What is the name of the totalitarian theocratic government that replaced the US in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale?

Republic of Gilead

Who is the narrator and central character of Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale?

Offred

Who is the fictional painter protagonist reflecting on her life in Margaret Atwood's Cat's Eye (1988)?

Elaine Risley

In Margaret Atwood's historical fiction Alias Grace, who were the two real-life murder victims?

Thomas Kinnear and Nancy Montgomery

Who is the elderly protagonist writing her life story for her granddaughter in Margaret Atwood's The Blind Assassin?

Iris Chase Griffen

In Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake, what name is given to the innocent, green-eyed humanoid mutants?

Crakers

In Margaret Atwood's dystopian novel The Heart Goes Last, what socio-economic project at Consilience do Stan and Charmaine join?

Positron

Which Shakespeare play is retold in Margaret Atwood's 2016 novel Hag-Seed?

The Tempest

In Margaret Atwood's 2019 novel The Testaments, what is the title given to Aunt Lydia's manuscript?

Ardua Hall Holograph

What central thematic concept in Canadian literature is argued in Margaret Atwood's 1972 handbook Survival?

Survival (against the forces of nature or history, presenting characters as victims)

In Margaret Atwood's novella The Penelopiad, how does Penelope delay making a decision about her suitors?

She promises to decide after weaving a shroud for her father-in-law (which she unweaves secretly at night)

Where was post-modern Canadian writer Michael Ondaatje born?

Colombo, Sri Lanka

Which real-life jazz musician is the focus of Michael Ondaatje's 1976 work Coming Through Slaughter?

Buddy Bolden

From what ancient epic work is the title line of Michael Ondaatje's In the Skin of a Lion taken?

The Epic of Gilgamesh

Where is Michael Ondaatje's Booker Prize-winning novel The English Patient (1992) set?

Tuscany, Italy

Who is the Sri Lankan-American forensic anthropologist protagonist of Michael Ondaatje's Anil's Ghost (2000)?

Anil Tissera

What is the name of the ship in Michael Ondaatje's novel The Cat's Table on which the eleven-year-old narrator travels?

Oronsay

What book project did Yann Martel maintain with Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper from 2007 to 2011?

Sending the Prime Minister a recommended book every two weeks accompanied by an explanatory letter (collected in 101 Letters to a Prime Minister)

Who was Lawrence Hill's father, who served as the first director of the Ontario Human Rights Commission?

Daniel Grafton Hill

What is the title of Métis writer Maria Campbell's influential 1973 memoir detailing her life and political activism?

Halfbreed