Regionalism, Nationalism and Internationalism in Canadian Politics, Literary Criticism and the Writing of Gary Geddes

Abstract

In this century, but particularly in the past thirty-five years, Canada’s politicians have been trying to find a way to define the country, which would be acceptable to its seven economically, ethnically and topographically disparate regions. The political battles which threaten the country’s continued existence are echoed in its literary criticism, with various commentators arguing that Canadian literature is or should be regional, national or cosmopolitan/multicultural/international. This paper argues that Canadian literature, like that of all other countries, incorporates all of the above positions and illustrates that position by examining the literature produced by Geddes over the past twenty-five years.