From Writer to Reader: Canadian Novels Most Frequently Taught in Post-Secondary Institutions

Todd Wong, a friend of mine, recently drew my attention to another attempt to highlight important Canadian books. It seems a survey conducted by Quill and Quire in 2000/2001 found the following results concerning the teaching of Canadian fiction in Canadian universities:

A novel by Professor Thomas King. . . has the distinction of being taught in more undergraduate literature courses across the country than any other work.

Green Grass, Running Water [was] taught in 15 Canadian literature courses, according to a survey by Quill & Quire magazine published in its November 2001 issue. The magazine examined the reading lists for the 2000/2001 academic year from 29 Canadian universities. . . . The next runner-up was Joy Kogawa’s Obasan, taught in 13 courses.

King ranked fourth behind Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and Margaret Laurence in total number of works taught in Canadian literature courses.

Ten Atwood novels [appeared] on reading lists in a total of 37 courses. Her novel Alias Grace, studied in nine courses, was the one most frequently taught. Seven Ondaatje novels [were] studied in 29 courses and five Laurence works [were] studied in 26 courses.

A total of 24 Canadian literature courses featured works by King, including his novels Medicine River, Truth & Bright Water and [ his short story collection] One Good Story, That One.

The rest of the list of twenty authors whose works appear most frequently on undergraduate reading lists includes Alice Munro, Carol Shields, Tomson Highway, Mordecai Richler, Robertson Davies and Timothy Findley.