Dear fellow CASLL members,
I'm not sure if you've seen the call for "teaching narratives"
that Henry Hubert & I put out some months back. We are looking
for short but engaging personal narratives ("good stories") about
the teaching of Canadian literature--stories to share with
fellow university & school teachers. The narratives will be
included as part of a proposed collection, _Issues in Canadian
Literature_, that ECW Press has expressed interested in publishing.
ECW's interest, however, is contingent on a number of things, including
marketablility--and the quality of the narratives.
We _do_ have some excellent work in hand, but in an effort to ensure
the best possible response from Robert Lecker & ECW, I'm now in the process
of soliciting teaching narratives (6 - 9 ms. pages) from experienced and
influential teachers/scholars. What issues face teachers (and scholars) of
Canadian literature? And how have you addressed those issues in
your own classroom? in your own department?
PLEASE NOTE: WE ARE ESPECIALLY INTERESTED IN RECEIVING CONTRIBUTIONS
FROM (OR ABOUT) THE EXPERIENCE OF TEACHING/STUDYING "CANLIT" IN
HIGH SCHOOLS. IDEALLY WE'D LIKE A NUMBER OF NARRATIVES FROM A
VARIETY OF PROVINCES (OR COUNTRIES) SO THAT WE CAN OFFER A CLEAR
PICTURE OF WHAT'S BEING TAUGHT (OR NOT TAUGHT) AND WHAT THE ISSUES
ARE.
Might you (or someone you know) be interested in contributing? And, if so,
could you write up a draft of such a narrative by early September?
Regards, Will
Dr. W.F. Garrett-Petts
English & Modern Languages
UCC [log in to unmask]
PS. We are in contact with the following folk re: the project,
but if you know of others who might make a strong contribution,
please let us know (email addresses are appreciated): Sherrill Grace,
Margery Fee, Kathy Mezei, Dennis Cooley, Jeanne Perreault, Aruna
Srivastava, Bill New, Laurie Ricou, Roy Miki, Glenn Deer, David
Williams, Jamie Dopp, Fred Wah, Susan Rudy (Dorscht), Paul Hjartarson,
Frank Davey, Ted Blodgett, Heather Murray, Richard Sigurdson, Russell
Brown, John Harker, Cathy Schryer, Norman Ravvin, Barry Cameron,
John Bell, Diana Brydon, Ajay Heble, Linda Warley, Deborah Bowen.
As noted above, we'd be especially interested in hearing from any
voices of those teaching Canadian literature in the high school system.
PPS. I've attached the original "Call for Papers" below.
...........................................................
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CALL FOR PAPERS
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We are soliciting contributions for a book on "Issues in Canadian
Literature." In particular, we are looking for "teaching
narratives," 6 - 9 ms. page narratives that focus on how and
why "key" Canadian texts and issues are taught. Potential contributors
are asked to mail, email, or FAX a one-page proposal outlining
their story of teaching either an issue, or a text, or a genre or an
author. The narratives should offer first-person accounts based on your
classroom experience as a teacher of Canadian literature; and you should
be willing to situate your narrative with reference to the two clusters
of historical/theoretical essays already collected. (Originally, we
were asking authors to write their narratives with the opening articles
in hand--but we have now decided against that procedure: the
narratives were tending to fashion themselves into illustrations
of principles discussed. We are much more interested in reading
"good stories," engaging first-person narratives, about your
experience teaching Canadian literature. The audience is
fellow university and school teachers. Once your narrative has
been accepted, we'll ask you to read a cluster of the opening
articles & reference them (in passing) as appropriate.)
BACKGROUND
The book as a whole (1) outlines the major issues--historical,
theoretical, political --in teaching and studying Canlit; and (2)
offers some concrete suggestions re: what & how one might teach.
The whole field of "Canlit" seems in flux: the articles we have in hand
tell us that support materials for teaching Canadian literature in
the high schools have evaporated--that the
enthusiasm of the 70s & 80s has waned & that postnational
arguments have, ironically, legitimized another silencing of our
national literature. In the universities, Canadian literature
still occupies a marginal position vis a vis the British literature
canon; and recent arguments seem intent on rethinking Canlit studies as a
subset of "Cultural Studies." What gets lost in this shifting
debate is some communal sense of what is actually being taught--and
what (innovative) techniques/approaches are being employed
when Canadian issues and texts are taught.
Since first suggesting the book to ECW Press, we have
secured eight excellent articles--by some of Canada's top
scholars--on the place of literary histories and theory in Canadian
literature. These articles still need one further round of revision
(we are asking each author to revise, noting ideas emerging
from the other contributions--establishing a symposium arrangement
for the articles).
In addition, feedback we've had from others in the field suggests
that what they'd really like to see is a book that _both_
raises the right theoretical questions and then _applies_
them--either through readings of texts or through discussions
of how questions of literary history & theory might be used
in classroom settings.
Thus, for an audience of high school and university teachers of Canadian
Literature, we are collecting a resource text relating
theory to practice.
The first section of the book will include the eight or so theoretical
articles by John Harker, Trevor Gamble, Cathy Schryer,
Frank Davey, Heather Murray, Paul Hjartarson, and E.D. Blodgett--
all discussing some aspect of the role that Canadian Literature plays in
anglo-Canadian education. A second section will then feature twenty to
twenty-five narratives, of about 6 - 9 ms. pages each, on how to
teach Canadian Literature generally, or on how to teach a particular work
of Canadian Literature, or on a particularly significant experience
in teaching Canlit. Here we are looking for "teaching narratives,"
stories of why and how key themes, issues, texts, authors, etc., are taught
(or not taught).
It is our intention to first collect the theoretical articles, which
are already in hand in draft form, and to make these available to
teachers/scholars who respond to our invitation to contribute the teaching
narratives. We believe that this procedure will result in a
synergy between theory and practice, informing first the practical
discussion within the collection, and then, after publication of the book,
the theoretical discussion within the field of Canadian Literature itself.
ECW Press has expressed an interest in reviewing the final manuscript
for publication.
Please send one-page proposals and/or
letters of inquiry to:
W.F. Garrett-Petts and
Henry Hubert
English & Modern Languages
UCC, Box 3010
900 McGill Road
Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3 Canada
Potential contributors are encouraged to contact us as soon as
possible; we will need draft submissions in hand by August 30
1997. [NOTE: submissions need not be in their final form by
the end of the summer, but we will need to begin working with
them by early Sept.]
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| W.F. Garrett-Petts | ._ ___________ English & Mod. Languages |
| [log in to unmask] |._ | + = o | 900 McGill Road |
| fax 250/828-5086 __________________ | UCC, Box 3010 |
| voice 250/828-5248 | | : Kamloops, B.C. V2C 5N3
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