"New has done a marvelous job of detailing the taproots and multiple branches of Canada's English and French literatures, in all their forms. Beginning with Inuit and Indian myths, New charts the development of Canadian literature to early 1987. In the process, he ties many of its themes to the history, politics, and social organization of the emerging nation. A useful chronology links literature and historical events, and a fine bibliography of primarily Canadian sources is also included. New shows clearly that Canada's literature has come of age. Recommended for all academic and most public libraries." Library Journal, Terry Skeats, Bishop's University /// "New ... has written an untraditional book, for it approaches Canadian literature in a novel fashion, includes a whole new aspect of the national written record, places books in a supplementary chronological table ... that relates them to international social and cultural events and movements, and assumes both the general reader and the scholar as its user. New divides his study into such chapters as Mythmakers, Reporters, Tale-tellers, Narrators, and Encoders; in the first one he offers a wealth of authoritative information on Indian, Inuit, and European cultures, mythologies, and texts; in the second he explores such topics as journals of discovery, epistolary literature, satire and speech, and documentary romance ... a challenging, refreshing history, excellent for the neophyte (because of its scope) and for the authority (because of its judgements)." Choice
