So this is a relatively new obsession for me. Actually, I think it’s the latest. As if I needed another.
It erupted nearly twenty years ago, when I read Phyllis Brett Young’s The Torontonians, which I read in a pretty reissue from McGill-Queen’s University Press.
I was suddenly struck by the fact that I just haven’t been aware of so many classic Canadian works (beyond the canon, which one might say is represented in a list like this one).
I pulled an old copy of Roger Lemelin’s The Town Below off my shelf (it’s No. 26 in the NCL) and I made — you probably know what I’m going to say — a spreadsheet. Of course I did.
And then, thanks to New Canadian Library Collecting (see I.I.’s comments below waves), I was able to update the not-so-fancy-at-all spreadsheet (check I.I.’s page for a bee-yoo-tee-full spread) to include more titles.
| Grove, Philip Frederick | ✔Over Prairie Trails |
| Callaghan, Morley | ✔Such Is My Beloved |
| Leacock, Stephen | Literary Lapses |
| Ross, Sinclair | ✔As For Me and My House |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔The Tin Flute |
| Haliburton, Thomas Chandler | The Clockmaker |
| Roberts, Charles G.D. | The Last Barrier and Other Stories |
| MacLennan, Hugh | Barometer Rising |
| Raddall, Thomas H. | At the Tide’s Turn and Other Stories |
| Leacock, Stephen | Arcadian Adventures with the Idle Rich |
| Drummond, William Henry | Habitant Poems |
| Ringuet | Thirty Acres |
| Graham, Gwethalyn | ✔Earth and High Heaven |
| Connor, Ralph | The Man from Glengarry |
| Leacock, Stephen | ✔Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town |
| McCulloch, Thomas | The Stepsure Letters |
| Callaghan, Morley | More Joy in Heaven |
| Ostenso, Martha | ✔Wild Geese |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | The Master of the Mill |
| Duncan, Sara Jeannette | The Imperialist |
| de la Roche, Mazo | Delight |
| Klein, A.M. | The Second Scroll |
| Buckler, Ernest | ✔The Mountain and the Valley |
| Kreisel, Henry | The Rich Man |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔Where Nests the Water Hen |
| Lemelin, Roger | ✔The Town Below |
| Brooke, Frances | ✔The History of Emily Montague |
| Leacock, Stephen | My Discovery of England |
| Wilson, Ethel | ✔Swamp Angel |
| MacLennan, Hugh | Each Man’s Son |
| Moodie, Susanna | Roughing It In the Bush |
| Knister, Raymond | White Narcissus |
| Callaghan, Morley | They Shall Inherit the Earth |
| Birney, Earle | Turvey |
| Leacock, Stephen | Nonsense Novels |
| Stead, R.J.C. | Grain |
| Bodsworth, Fred | ✔Last of the Curlews |
| Raddall, Thomas H. | ✔The Nymph and the Lamp |
| Moore, Brian | Judith Hearne |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔The Cashier |
| Marlyn, John | ✔Under the Ribs of Death |
| Grainger, M. Allerdale | Woodsmen of the West |
| Leacock, Stephen | Moonbeams from the Larger Lunacy |
| Hiebert, Paul | Sarah Binks |
| Richler, Mordecai | Son of a Smaller Hero |
| Jameson, Anna Brownell | Winter Studies and Summer Rambles in Canada |
| Meade, Eward | Remember Me |
| Leacock, Stephen | Frenzied Fiction |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | Fruits of the Earth |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | Settlers of the Marsh |
| Traill, Catharine Parr | The Backwoods of Canada |
| McCourt, Edward | Music at the Close |
| Leacock, Stephen | My Remarkable Uncle |
| Watson, Sheila | ✔The Double Hook |
| Dunlop, William | Tiger Dunlop’s Upper Canada |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔Street of Riches |
| Leacock, Stephen | Short Circuits |
| Richardson, John | Wacousta |
| Laurence, Margaret | ✔The Stone Angel |
| Leacock, Stephen | Further Foolishness |
| Davies, Robertson | Marchbanks’ Almanack |
| Ross, Sinclair | ✔The Lamp at Noon and Other Stories |
| Roberts, Theodore Goodridge | The Harbor Master |
| Traill, Catharine Parr | The Canadian Settler’s Guide |
| Kirby, William | The Golden Dog |
| Richler, Mordecai | ✔The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz |
| Leacock, Stephen | Behind the Beyond |
| De Mille, James | A Strange Manuscript Found in a Copper Cylinder |
| Leacock, Stephen | Last Leaves |
| Laurence, Margaret | ✔The Tomorrow-Tamer |
| Woodcock, George | Odysseus Ever Returning |
| Grey, Francis William | The Cure of St. Philippe |
| Cohen, Leonard | The Favourite Game |
| Leacock, Stephen | Winnowed Wisdom |
| Parker, Gilbert | The Seats of the Mighty |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | A Search for America |
| Kreisel, Henry | The Betrayal |
| Blais Marie-Claire | ✔Mad Shadows |
| Richler, Mordecai | The Incomparable Atuk |
| Moore, Brian | ✔The Luck of Ginger Coffey |
| Waddington, Miriam | John Sutherland: Essays, Controversies and Poems |
| Wiebe, Rudy Henry | Peace Shall Destroy Many |
| Davies, Robertson | A Voice from the Attic |
| Aquin, Hubert | ✔Prochain Episode |
| Raddall, Thomas H. | Roger Sudden |
| Evans, Hubert | Mist on the River |
| Laurence, Margaret | ✔The Fire-Dwellers |
| LePan, Douglas | The Deserter |
| Lephrohon, rosanna | Antoinette de Mirecourt |
| Leclerc, Felix | Allegro |
| Gallant, Mavis | ✔The End of the World & Other Stories |
| Scott, Duncan Campbell | In the Village of Viger & Other Stories |
| Atwood, Margaret | ✔The Edible Woman |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | In Search of Myself |
| Davies, Robertson | Feast of Stephen |
| Laurence, Margaret | ✔A Bird in the House |
| McCourt, Edward | The Wooden Sword |
| Raddall, Thomas H. | Pride’s Fancy |
| Buckler, Ernest | Ox Bells and Fireflies |
| Ludwig, Jack | Above Ground |
| Lowell, Robert Traill Spence | New Priest in Conception Bay |
| Niven, Frederick | The Flying Years |
| Dewdney, Selwyn | Wind Without Rain |
| Blais Marie-Claire | Tete Blanche |
| O’Hagan, Howard | ✔Tay John |
| de Gaspe, Philippe Aubert | Canadians of Old (Trans. G.D. Roberts |
| MacMechan, Archibald | Headwaters of Canadian Literature |
| Wiebe, Rudy Henry | The Blue Mountains of China |
| Roy, Gabrielle | The Hidden Mountain |
| Roberts, Charles G.D. | The Heart of the Ancient Wood |
| Laurence, Margaret | ✔Jest of God |
| Lewis, Wyndham | Self Condemned |
| Langevin, Andre | Dust Over the City |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | Our Daily Bread |
| Woodcock, George, ed. | The Canadian Novel in the 20th Century |
| Salverson, Laura Goodman | The Viking Heart |
| Birney, Earle | Down the Long Table |
| Connor, Ralph | Glengarry School Days |
| Lemelin, Roger | ✔The Plouffe Family |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔Windflower |
| Cohen, Matt | The Disinherited |
| Wiebe, Rudy Henry | ✔The Temptations of Big Bear |
| Fraser, Sylvia | ✔Pandora |
| Janes, Percy | House of Hate |
| Blondl, Patricia | A Candle to Light the Sun |
| Laurence, Margaret | This Side Jordan |
| Roberts, Theodore Goodridge | The Red Feathers |
| Moore, Brian | I Am Mary Dunne |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔The Road Past Altamont |
| Godbout, Jacques | Knife on the Table |
| Thomas, Clara | ✔The Manawaka World of Margaret Laurence |
| Grove, Philip Frederick | Consider Her Ways |
| Raddall, Thomas H. | His Majesty’s Yankees |
| Gerin-Lajoie, Antoine | Jean Rivard |
| Galt, John | Bogel Corbet |
| Richler, Mordecai | A Choice of Enemies |
| Brown, E.K. | Responses and Evaluations: Essays on Canada |
| MacPhail, Sir Andrew | The Master’s Wife |
| Buckler, Ernest | The Cruelest Month |
| Bodsworth, Fred | The Atonement of Ashley Morden |
| Seton, Ernest Thompson | ✔Wild Animals I Have Known |
| Harlow, Robert | Scann |
| Smith, A.J.M. | On Poetry and Poets |
| Wiseman, Adele | ✔Crackpot |
| Ross, Sinclair | Sawbones Memorial |
| Laurence, Margaret | ✔The Diviners |
| Creighton, Luella | High Bright Buggy Wheels |
| Bacque, James | Big Lonely |
| Cohen, Matt | Wooden Hunters |
| Child, Philip | God’s Sparrows |
| Guèvremont, Germaine | The Outlander |
| Richler, Mordecai | The Great Comic Book Heroes and Other Essays |
| Cohen, Leonard | ✔Beautiful Losers |
| Moore, Brian | The Emperor of Ice-Cream |
| Roy, Gabrielle | ✔Garden in the Wind |
| Wiebe, Rudy Henry | The Scorched Wood People |
| MacLeod, Alistair | ✔The Lost Salt Gift of Blood |
| Smith, Ray | Lord Nelson Tavern |
| Faessler, Shirley | Everything in the Window |
| Hood, Hugh | The Camera Always Lies |
| Joudry, Patricia | The Selena Tree |
| Russell, Franklin | Watchers at the Pond |
| Thomas, Audrey | Two in the Bush and Other Stories |
| Woods, Grahame | Bloody Harvest |
| Kattan, Naim | The Neighbour and Other Stories |
| Blais Marie-Claire | ✔The Manuscripts of Pauline Archange |
| McFee, Oonah | Sandbars |
| Metcalf, John | Selected Stories |
| Wiebe, Rudy Henry | The Angel of the Tar Sands |
| Wilson, Ethel | ✔The Innocent Traveller |
| Moore, Brian | The Sweet Second Summer of Kitty Malone |
| Engel, Marian | ✔Bear |
| Houston, James | Spirit Wrestler |
| Richards, David Adams | The Coming of Winter |
| Gibson, Graeme | ✔Five Legs and Communion |
| Leacock, Stephen | Laugh with Leacock |
| Beresford-Howe Constance | ✔The Book of Eve |
| Bruce, Charles | The Channel Shore |
| Clarke, Austin C. | Amongst Thistles and Thorns |
| Cohen, Matt | Flowers of Darkness |
| Godfrey, Dave | The New Ancestors |
| van Herk, Aritha | ✔Judith |
| Blais Marie-Claire | St. Lawrence Blues |
| Richards, David Adams | Blood Ties |
| Richler, Mordecai | St. Urbain’s Horseman |
| Sears, Dennis T. Patrick | The Lark in the Clear Air |
| Richards, David Adams | Lives of Short Duration |
| Beresford-Howe Constance | ✔A Population of One |
| Engel, Marian | ✔Lunatic Villas |
| Richler, Mordecai | ✔Cocksure |
| Bruce, Charles | The Township of Time |
| Hall, Chipman | Bayo |
| Bodsworth, Fred | The Sparrow’s Fall |
| Hospital, Janette Turner | The Tiger in the Tiger Pit |
| Moore, Brian | The Mangan Inheritance |
| van Herk, Aritha | ✔The Tent Peg |
| Watson, Sheila | A Father’s Kingdom |
| Mistry, Rohinton | ✔A Fine Balance |
| Blais Marie-Claire | ✔A Season in the Life of Emmanuel |
| Gallant, Mavis | ✔Across the Bridge |
| Callaghan, Morley | Ancient Lineage and Other Stories |
| Montgomery, L.M. | ✔Anne of Green Gables |
| Marshall, Joyce | Any Time at All and Other Stories |
| MacLeod, Alistair | ✔As Birds Bring Forth the Sun and Other Stories |
| Watson, Sheila | Deep Hollow Creek |
| Bissoondath, Neil | Digging up the Mountains |
| Montgomery, L.M. | ✔Emily Climbs |
| Montgomery, L.M. | ✔Emily of New Moon |
| Montgomery, L.M. | ✔Emily’s Quest |
| McDougall, Colin | Execution |
| Richards, David Adams | ✔Evening Snow Will Bring Such Peace |
| Richards, David Adams | For Those That Hunt the Wounded Down |
| Atwood, Margaret | Good Bones |
| Wilson, Ethel | ✔Hetty Dorval |
| Richler, Mordecai | Joshua Then and Now |
| Moodie, Susanna | Life in the Clearings Versus the Bush |
| Hood, Hugh | Light Shining Out of Darkness and Other Stories |
| Wilson, Ethel | ✔Love and Salt Water |
| Vanderhaeghe, Guy | Man Descending |
| Wilson, Ethel | ✔Mrs. Golightly and Other Stories |
| Atwood, Margaret | ✔Murder in the Dark |
| Leacock, Stephen | My Financial Career and Other Stories |
| Richards, David Adams | ✔Nights Below Station Street |
| Munro, Alice | ✔No Love Lost |
| Gibson, Graeme | Perpetual Motion |
| Ondaatje, Michael | ✔Running in the Family |
| Richler, Mordecai | Solomon Gursky was Here |
| Hodgins, Jack | Spit Delaney’s Island |
| Mistry, Rohinton | ✔Such a Long Journey |
| Atwood, Margaret | ✔Surfacing |
| Mistry, Rohinton | ✔Tales from Firozsha Baag |
| Ferron, Jacques | Tales from the Uncertain Country and Other Stories |
| Richler, Mordecai | The Acrobats |
| Steffler, John | ✔The Afterlife of George Steffler |
| Beauchemin, Yves | The Alley Cat |
| Wilson, Ethel | ✔The Equations of Love |
| Hodgins, Jack | The Invention of the World |
| Elliott, George | The Kissing Man |
| Kroetsch, Robert | The Man from the Creeks |
| Gallant, Mavis | ✔The Moslem Wife and Other Stories |
| Laurence, Margaret | The Prophet’s Camel Bell |
| Hodgins, Jack | The Resurrection of Joseph Bourne |
| Wiseman, Adele | The Sacrifice |
| Richler, Mordecai | The Street |
| Urquhart, Jane | ✔The Whirlpool |
| MacLennan, Hugh | ✔Two Solitudes |
| Mitchell, W.O. | ✔Who Has Seen the Wind |
| Ross, Malcolm Ed. | Poets of the Confederation |
| Smith, A.J.M. Ed. | Masks of Fiction |
| Smith, A.J.M. Ed. | Masks of Poetry |
| Wilson, Milton Ed. | Poetry of Mid-Century |
| Wilson, Milton Ed. | Poets Between the Wars |
| Birney, Earle | The Poems of Earle Birney |
| Mandel, Eli Ed. | Poets of Contemporary Canada |
| Sinclair, David Ed. | Nineteenth-Century Narrative Poems |
| Carmen, Bliss | The Poems of Bliss Carmen |
| Purdy, Al | ✔Poems of Al Purdy |
| Birney, Earle | The Damnation of Vancouver |
| Layton, Irving | ✔The Selected Poems of Irving Layton |
| Various | ✔Canadian Poetry: From the Beginnings through the First World War |
| Duffy, Dennis | Marshall McLuhan |
| Wilson, Milton | E.J. Pratt |
| Thomas, Clara | ✔Margaret Laurence |
| Sutherland, Ronald | Frederick Phillip Grove |
| Ondaatje, Michael | Leonard Cohen |
| Woodcock, George | Mordecai Richler |
| Davies, Robertson | Stephen Leacock |
| Lucas, Alec | Hugh MacLennan |
| Robillard, Richard | Earle Birney |
| Bates, Ronald | Northrop Frye |
| New, William H. | Malcolm Lowry |
| Woodman, Ross G. | James Reaney |
| Hughes, Peter | George Woodcock |
| Lucas, Alec | Farley Mowat |
| Young, Alan R. | Ernest Buckler |
| Morley, Patricia | Morley Callaghan |
| Grant, Judith Skelton | Robertson Davies |