1st Edition
The Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Short Story
This volume aims to introduce undergraduates, graduates, and general readers to the diversity and richness of Canadian short story writing and to the narrative potential of short fiction in general. Addressing a wide spectrum of forms and themes, the book will familiarise readers with the development and cultural significance of Canadian short fiction from the early 19th century to the present. A strong focus will be on the rich reservoir of short fiction produced in the past four decades and the way in which it has responded to the anxieties and crises of our time. Drawing on current critical debates, each chapter will highlight the interrelations between Canadian short fiction and historical and socio-cultural developments. Case studies will zoom in on specific thematic or aesthetic issues in an exemplary manner. The Routledge Introduction to the Canadian Short Story will provide an accessible and comprehensive overview ideal for students and general readers interested in the multifaceted and thriving medium of the short story in Canada.
Introduction to the Volume
Part 1: The Genre of the Short Story and Its Emergence and Development in Canada
1. The Genre of Short Fiction and Its Position in the Canadian Literary Landscape
2. Sketchy Beginnings and "Becoming Canadian": From the Early 19th Century to Confederation Literature
3. From the Dawn of Modernism to the "Bursting Dam of the Sixties"
4. From the 1960s to the Mid-1980s: A Genre Establishes Itself
Part 2: The Canadian Short Story from the Mid-1980s to the Present
5. Metafiction and "Unnatural" Narrative Voices
6. Fragmentation in the "Era of the Vulnerable"
7. Gender Scripts and Queer Identities
8. Indigenous Short Fiction in English
9. Migration and Diaspora
10. Narratives of Loss – Domestic and Environmental Contexts
Afterword
Index
Biography
Maria Löschnigg received her Ph.D. at the University of Graz, where she is currently Associate Professor. Dr Löschnigg’s previous publications include The Epistolary Renaissance: A Critical Approach to Contemporary Letter Narratives in Anglophone Fiction, Green Matters: Ecocultural Functions of Literature, and The Anglo-Canadian Novel in the Twenty-First Century: Interpretations.
