Keepers of the Code

English-Canadian Literary Anthologies and the Representation of the Nation

By: Robert Lecker

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Paperback | 7 February 2013 | Edition Number 3

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400 Pages

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22.8 x 15.3 x 2.6

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The first sustained study of English-Canadian literary anthologies, Keepers of the Code explores the complex network of associations and negotiations that have influenced their development from John Simpson's 1837 anthology The Canadian Forget Me Not to the recently published Canadian Literature: Texts and Contexts. Robert Lecker explores the ways in which these anthologies contributed to the formation of a Canadian literary canon, the extent to which this canon was tied to an ideal of English-Canadian nationalism, and the material conditions accounting for the anthologies' production.

Lecker combines biography, history, economics, cultural policy, and literary analysis in his examination of over 275 anthologies. He also pursues the idea that anthologies are narratives that embody the tensions and anxieties of their editors, telling the compelling stories of these people as they responded to the conditions and demands of their day.

Industry Reviews

'Keepers of the Code shines as a work of critically informed literary history, deftly historicizing a surprisingly broad tradition of anthologies, mapping their shifting priorities, and demystifying the forces behind their compilation...It will rightly become a key study for discussion of literary anthologies in Canada.' -- Robert Zacharias Canadian Literature Spring 2014 'This lively study illuminates the history and constitution of Canadian literature... A reward of reading Lecker is the salutary realization that Canadian writing is vaster and stranger than is often acknowledged. -- Nicholas Bradley The Bull Calf: Reviews in Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Criticism December 2015 'Lecker shows admirable objectivity as he guides the reader through the history of the Can Lit anthology... The result is a perfect combination of cannon-questioning and imagining Canada through literature... Fascinating study... Lecker's book is admirable in all regards.' -- Jason Blake Southern Journal of Canadian Studies, vol 6:01:2015 'Keepers of the Code is admirable in its ability to place work in a material context... Particularly impressive are Lecker's personal interventions in the narrative... Lecker also excels at recognizing continuities.' -- Tim McIntyre University of Toronto Quarterly vol 84:03:2015

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