Am I a Canadian Writer by M.G. Vassanji
What is Canadian literature? What is a Canadian novel? I am not going to be so foolhardy as to attempt to define these terms; many have wandered into this wilderness—and returned, what else but bewildered if they were honest, or with simplistic or outdated notions if they were naive; this is hardly surprising—the country is changing around us even as we speak, stirring up a host of conflicting ideas and interests, and to look for an essence, a core, a central notion within that whirlwind is surely an illusion. To define this country or its literature seems like putting a finger on Zeno’s arrow: no sooner do you think you have done it than it has moved on. But I think I can still ask, Am I a Canadian writer? Why, you may ask. Whence this perversity? (Has anyone been calling you names, at least recently? Has anyone said you are not a Canadian writer? Well, the issue did arise several years ago, I believe, but this time the question is my own. Why, you ask?) Because an author o...