23. LITERATURE. In any discussion of Canadian literature the first point one must set tle is, What is Canadian literature? What are its essential characteristics? Is it the work of men and women living in Canada, whether born there or not; or Must we confine it to the writings of native Canadians; is its essential characteristic to be that its matter. relates m some way to Canada, whether the author be native or otherwise; or is it to be restricted to work that is in its distinctive manner Canadian? And, in any of these cases, is it to be under stood as including the quite respectable body of French-Canadian literature? In one of the older countries, the first definition would of course be rejected at once as inadmissible; but the conditions are somewhat different in a young country such as Canada, where one must come down to comparatively recent times to find anything like a large proportion of its writers native born. Yet even in Canada it would be undesirable to accept the first defini tion without reservations. The second would obviously give but a very limited and inade quate view of the literary product of the coun try. The third both includes too much and excludes too much. The fourth definition has much to recommend it, but would be exceed ingly difficult to apply, and if strictly adhered to would necessarily exclude many important books written by Canadians. Probably the safer plan to adopt here, as in so many other cases, is a compromise, to include the best of what is distinctively Canadian in tone, whether by native Canadian or by adopted Canadian, without excluding that which, otherwise meri torious, is not peculiarly Canadian either in manner or matter. Finally, one can not justly or logically confine a survey of Canadian litera ture to that which has been written in English. Quebec is as much a part of the Dominion as Ontario, and the literature of the French-speak ing province cannot be ignored unless one is prepared to set aside a large and important part of the intellectual product of the country.
Canadian literature, both English and French, has the weaknesses, as well as some of the elements of strength, of a young country. Much of it is crude, particularly that produced in the early pioneer days of the colony. At the same time one finds evidence of a broader out look, a tone and treatment less trammelled by artificial conventions, than is always noticeable in the literatures of older countries. As the country has developed, the crudity has largely disappeared, and at the same time much of the best of what has been produced in Canada since confederation, that is, within the last 50 years, retains the freshness, the atmosphere of youth, the virility, that helped to redeem the literary product of pioneer days from hopeless mediocrity. With a few exceptions, this sketch of Canadian literature will be confined to the confederation period. No attempt will be made to include all the writers, or even all the meri torious writers, of the last half century; the object the writer has in view is rather to con sider briefly the work of a few, whose achieve ment may be taken as fairly representative of the quality and development of Canadian lit erature.
Of Canadian writers whose work was pro duced in the years before confederation, one stands preeminently first — Thomas Chandler Haliburton (q.v.). Indeed, it would be equally true to say that Haliburton stands head and shoulders above any other writer that Canada has produced up to the present time. He ap proached more nearly to the rank of true genius than any other Canadian. He was born in Windsor, Nova Scotia, in 1796; was educated at King's College, in his native town; practiced law in the ancient town of Annapolis; for some years sat on the Supreme Court bench of his province; removed to England in 1856, and be came a member of the British House of Com mons. He died at his beautiful home on the banks of the Thames in 1865.