Avant-Garde Canadian Literature

Gregory Betts is a professor in the Faculty of Humanities at Brock University.

• Table of Contents Introduction Chapter One: Theory of the Avant-Gardes in Canada Chapter Two: The Cosmic Canadians Chapter Three: Canadian Surrealism: The Automatists Chapter Four: Canadian Vorticism L'Envoi: The Future of the Avant Endnotes Works Cited Acknowledgments

‘Betts’ weaving of past and present, theory and literary practice, aesthetics and politics is carried out in a brilliant way.’- Alessandra Capperdoni (Canadian Literature Autumn 2014) ‘A fascinating work of scholarship, the book is an affront to the persistent belief that Canadian literature of the early twentieth century is a dreary subject. Betts has shown that in fact it is hardly comprehended….Avant-Garde Canadian Literature is an admirable and welcome contribution to the history and interpretation of literature in this country.’- Nicholas Bradley (The Bull Calf: Reviews in Fiction, Poetry, and Literary Criticism December 2015) ‘This book greatly advances our understanding of the experimental élan of Canada’s avant-garde throughout the century, and provides insight into collaborative authorship, radical networks, and surrealist and automatist writing and painting.’- Irene Gammel (The Journal of Canadian Studies, vol 50:01:2016)