CICAS Talk Series – (Re)Creating the Child in Canadian Literature

Drs. Laurie Kruk, Sarah Winters, and Roger Nash (Professor Emeritus, Laurentian University) present "(Re)Creating the Child in Canadian Literature" on February 7 at 9 am in A226.Abstract of Dr. Sarah Winters’ presentation: Lee's "The Hockey Game" is both a pastiche and a parody of A.A. Milne's "The Four Friends." I compare them in order to demonstrate that Lee's nonsense poetry, while owing much to Edward Lear and Lewis Carroll, seeks to construct the Canadian child as a perfect audience for the gentle Horatian satire of Milne.
Abstract of Dr. Laurie Kruk’s presentation: Dennis Lee was a part of the “centennial wave” of Canadian Literature. In Alligator Pie, (1974), Lee the nationalist “decolonizes” Mother Goose by giving the young Canadian child a sense of “home ground” through rhymes and poems that incorporate Canadian geography and politics. Discussing some selections from Alligator Pie. I will explore how Lee “re-creates” the child in a playfully Canadian literary context.
Roger Nash, poet and Professor Emeritus (Philosophy, Laurentian) will read from his newest book of poems, Zigzags (Black Moss, 2016). Roger Nash’s latest poetry explores how virtually none of our thoughts, actions or feelings go very far without becoming paradoxes and contradictions. Some paradoxes are humourous, but some are deadly. The poems debunk an intellectualism that pretends we can strategize straight lines of progress to our goals. Rather, “Life’s walking a straight zigzag, while standing upright in a somersault” (Irish saying). Roger will read some poems and share his own observations on his poetic process as play(ful). As he told Laurie Kruk, “in my head, I’m only ten years old.”All are welcome. Light refreshments will be served.