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Articles

Volume 01, Number 1 (1976)

Thomas D'Arcy McGee as a Father of Canadian Literature

  • Carl Ballstadt
Submitted
May 22, 2008
Published
1976-01-01

Abstract

Thomas D'Arcy McGee, a Father of Confederation, was a literary as well as a political figure, being not only a poet but a "prophet" of a Canadian literature and a new nationality in the years preceding Confederation. He argued for revisions in the British Copyright Legislation in order to assist Canadian publishers, objecting to the dominance of American and British literature. He realized that the New Dominion could not be satisfied with books produced elsewhere, and recognized the necessity to seek out in other cultures what was most pertinent to a Canadian need to create "a genuine, modest, deep-seated culture" characterized by "northern energy."