The Current State of Children's Literature in Canada

Even a capsule summary of the Canadian dilemma reveals the precarious state of children's literature in Canada. Because Canada's fortunes have been for so long all too closely linked with those of the United States, the distinctiveness of the country has lingered in eclipse. This shading of the Canadian world may be witnessed in the benign disregard of things Canadian not only within the United States but even in Canada itself, as the inhabitants hire cables to link themselves to American television, adopt textbooks composed in the United States, purchase 90 percent of their books from British and American concerns, and are in general content to be steady beneficiaries of American media. In recent years, however, Canadian writers, artists, and academics have joined a growing number of dissidents in protesting the country's image as the innocuous neighbor to the north, and they have engaged in an effort, often a painfully self-conscious exercise, to isolate and describe salient features of the Canadian national character. While there is general agreement that such an entity does exist, and while there are numerous suggestions as to its composition, the compleat Canadian, or even a recognizable composite, eludes all speculation. It is not even possible to say "as Canadian as the flag," for the Maple Leaf is of quite recent vintage and has yet to achieve universal endorsement. Confederation of the provinces was accomplished slightly more than a century ago, a period too brief to supply a substantial body of indigenous literature which might reflect the national character in a natural, unstrained manner. Paradoxically, however, as it becomes increasingly evident that the Canadian character resists definition, the intuition waxes stronger that there is in fact something there. Certainly there is some logic behind such intuitive processes, for how else could an image or an idea remain unsatisfying if it were not measured against some archetype?

While the search for definition continues, the Canadian writer finds himself in the predicament of determining how and what to write for an audience with a possibly chimerical common denominator. If he chooses to delimit a specific group and to address himself primarily to a single segment of the Canadian population, he further diminishes an already limited readership, since the total number of Canadians barely exceeds the population of California. It is, moreover, economically more feasible to cater to a California market, which is more compact both in character and in area. Consider for example that the distance from Montreal to Vancouver is greater than the mileage from Montreal to Mexico City. The Trans-Canada highway, which spans the breadth but hardly penetrates the length of the country, extends for more than 5,000 miles, and within this vast and generally sparsely settled territory are markedly diverse groups of people. Unlike the melting pot to the south, Canada is a country of insoluble minorities, a circumstance somewhat euphorically labeled a mosaic. Whatever term one wishes to adopt, it is perhaps a telling Canadian characteristic that virtually every group is either a minority or else behaves like one. Even French Canadians conduct themselves as a beleaguered handful right within the Province of Quebec, where they form a hefty 85 percent of the population. Thus to write for Canadians may well be an exercise in futility, since whatever any sustained inquiry into the national character may yield, it is unlikely to uncover any nationwide literary preference. It is more probable that a book directed to Californians would find favor in Connecticut than it is that a work seizing the fancies of Montrealers would find enthusiastic reception in Halifax or in Ontario. In short, Canadian readership for any literary venture is economically insignificant. In publishing circles the Canadian reading public is generally considered little more than a spill-over for an American or a British endeavor, an added profit after the home trade has been exhausted. Faced with such obstacles it should not be surprising to find that most Canadian publishers offer little incentive to native authors, except those whose reputations might generate sales across the border. Viewed realistically, many Canadian publishers might...