Damn nation

I agree with the argument in André Forget’s essay (“The Search for the Great Canadian Novel,” thewalrus. ca) that more Canadian novels should deal with “the breadth of a particular society” and with class more generally. I also agree that predictability is a bad thing when it comes to literary fiction. What struck me most was Forget’s suggestion that English Canadians don’t “see themselves as participating in a national society at all.” To this I would respond, “Fair enough.” Having spent several years writing a dissertation on ideas of “the nation” in Canadian literature, I’d go even further and say that that old, often misunderstood term ( nation) doesn’t meaningfully apply to Canada. And it shouldn’t determine what we expect of our literature.

Carl Watts

Montreal, QC