Cultural Circulation

The present volume is based on an international colloquium convened in 2010 to which scholars from North America and Europe contributed papers dealing with the historical, cultural, and literary connections between Canada and the American South. The essays on this broad but under-researched topic are arranged in four sections reflecting the multiple ties and the cultural circulation between the two large North American regions. They illuminate demographic facts and developments, and their literary representations, such as the enforced displacement of the 18th century Acadiens, who later reassembled in Louisiana (Cajun culture), and the flight of thousands of fugitive (African American) slaves to the safe haven of Canada. Special attention is focused on the intertextual links between Southern writers and their Canadian counterparts, with William Faulkner and Eudora Welty especially providing inspiration for Canadian authors such as Alice Munro, Jack Hodgins, and Margaret Atwood. The contributors to the volume approach the lively exchange and dialogue between these cultural spaces from a wide range of critical and theoretical perspectives, covering new ground in cultural and literary history. This also applies to the discussion of related or parallel developments in specific literary genres, especially in short fiction. The more than twenty scholarly essays are enriched by two creative meditations on the topic, framing the volume as “Ouverture” and “Envoi.” (An electronic version of this book is freely available, thanks to the support of libraries working with Knowledge Unlatched. More information about the initiative and links to the Open Access version can be found at www.knowledgeunlatched.org.)