Event and Archive: Remapping the Poetry Reading Series in Canada, 1957–1974

Deanna Fong and Janey Dodd

Journal of Borderlands Studies, 2020, vol. 35, issue 1, 1-18

Abstract: Most contemporary critical accounts of the development of the poetic avant-garde in Canada focus on a combination of monographs and little magazines, and subjective, first-person testimony. We argue that these accounts exclude event-based materials in favor of constructing a cohesive, linear narrative of tradition. This paper provides a historical overview and empirical description of the poetry reading series as a burgeoning sociocultural phenomenon during an active period in Canadian literary history: 1957–1974. It discusses three prominent series of events as case studies: the Contact Poetry Reading Series (Toronto, 1957–1963), the Vancouver 1963 Poetry Conference and surrounding events (1959–1963), and the Sir George Williams University Reading Series (Montreal, 1966–1974). It identifies and interprets trends, assumptions, and antagonisms in what we term “first wave” or “traditional” criticism about the poetic avant-garde in Canada, and introduces quantitative and materialist methodologies to reframe the standard narratives of influence and tradition. The paper traces a more nuanced network of cultural exchange that accounts for local, regional, and longitudinal currents, rather than merely latitudinal ones.

Date: 2020
References: Add references at CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
http://hdl.handle.net/10.1080/08865655.2016.1249903 (text/html)
Access to full text is restricted to subscribers.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:taf:rjbsxx:v:35:y:2020:i:1:p:1-18

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.tandfonline.com/pricing/journal/rjbs20

DOI: 10.1080/08865655.2016.1249903

Access Statistics for this article

Journal of Borderlands Studies is currently edited by Emmanuel Brunet-Jailly, Henk van Houtum and Martin van der Velde

More articles in Journal of Borderlands Studies from Taylor & Francis Journals
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Chris Longhurst ().