| This course is designed to develop, tease out, and challenge notions of innovative poetics in English Canada. We will explore some relevant critical contexts in an attempt to address such theoretical questions as: how do we define the “innovative”? What are the ideological implications of attempting such a definition? What are the relationships among the innovative, the experimental, and the avant-garde? How have Canadian writers been influenced by specific schools, political movements, publications, presses, and writing communities, within Canada and internationally? How do questions of genre, form, and theoretical approach—as well as issues of identity politics—affect our readings of an innovative text? Is the idea of innovative poetics limited to poetry? Starting with Elizabeth Smart’s lyrical narrative By Grand Central Station I Sat Down and Wept (1945), we will follow a primarily chronological approach in order to consider how the idea of the innovative might have shifted over time. Students will actively participate in class discussions by preparing response papers, giving seminar presentations, and leading question periods; they will also produce a final term paper on an original topic of their choice—anything from a single author study to a history of a particular small press or literary magazine. Prerequisites: Must have permission of Director of Graduate Studies. |
