Appreciating the Present: Smith, Sutherland, Frye, and Pacey as Historians of English-Canadian Poetry

Type of resource
Author/collaborator
Title
Appreciating the Present: Smith, Sutherland, Frye, and Pacey as Historians of English-Canadian Poetry
Abstract
The author argues that as historians of English-Canadian poetry, Montrealers A. J. M. Smith (1902-1980) and John Sutherland (1919-1956), as well as Northrop Frye (1912-1991), and Desmond Pacey (1917-1975), explicitly promote the value of past conflict reconciled into present harmony. He maintains that they do so by claiming that such reconciliation marks the maturity of English-Canadian culture. The author also argues, however, that the interactive progression of their histories implicitly undermines this value. He claims it does so because each critic appreciates a different group of poets for realizing their shared cultural ideal, thereby establishing contradictory representations of what they all claim to be the culmination of English-Canadian literary history. The author concludes that while their lingering sense of present cultural maturity should now be fully renounced, the value these critics place on reconciliation is well worth preserving and transforming.
Type
PhD dissertation
University
McGill University
Place
Montreal
Date
1992
# of Pages
236p.
Language
en
URL
Citation
Kokotailo, Philip. “Appreciating the Present: Smith, Sutherland, Frye, and Pacey as Historians of English-Canadian Poetry.” PhD dissertation, McGill University, 1992. https://escholarship.mcgill.ca/concern/theses/5425kc26p.
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