Avant Canada presents a rich collection of original essays and
creative works on a representative array of avant-garde literary
movements in Canada from the past fifty years. From the work of Leonard
Cohen and bpNichol to that of Jordan Abel and Liz Howard, Avant Canada
features twenty-eight of the best writers and critics in the field.
The book proposes four dominant modes of avant-garde production:
"Concrete Poetics," which accentuates the visual and material aspects of
language; "Language Writing," which challenges the interconnection
between words and things; "Identity Writing," which interrogates the
self and its sociopolitical position; and "Copyleft Poetics," which
undermines our habitual assumptions about the ownership of expression. A
fifth section commemorates the importance of the Centennial in the 1960s
at a time when avant-garde cultures in Canada began to emerge.
Readers of this book will become familiar with some of the most
challenging works of literature--and their creators--that this country
has ever produced. From Concrete Poetry in the 1960s through to
Indigenous Literature in the 2010s, Avant Canada offers the most
sweeping study of the literary avant-garde in Canada to date.