Off-Topic Oh, Canada! - A place to post about Timbits, hockey, moose, and maple syrup.

[Jetpack Himmler]

Canadians are one of the most over represented groups in literature and publishing, but little is written about Canada itself.

Take Margret Atwood for example. Her most famous work, the Handmaid's Tale, is about a post-apocalyptic United States.

When you look at the core of Canadian identity it usually seems to center around how unlike the Americans we are. For example, how tightly Canada clung to the British Empire until it crumbled then went whole hog for multiculturalism starting with Pierre Trudeau. It not much to build an identity around and as an Albertan, I often feel closer to the United States than I do Ottawa due to geography

I don’t know if they’er would be considered epics but Robert Service’s "The Cremation of Sam McGee" and Roch Carrier’s “The Hockey Sweater” come to mind.

I would say "The Cremation of Sam McGee" would be the closest thing we have to an epic poem.

 

[CKC]

Take Margret Atwood for example. Her most famous work, the Handmaid's Tale, is about a post-apocalyptic United States.

When you look at the core of Canadian identity it usually seems to center around how unlike the Americans we are. For example, how tightly Canada clung to the British Empire until it crumbled then went whole hog for multiculturalism starting with Pierre Trudeau. It not much to build an identity around and as an Albertan, I often feel closer to the United States than I do Ottawa due to geography

I would say "The Cremation of Sam McGee" would be the closest thing we have to an epic poem.

I would recommend the writings of Farley Mowat.

 

[Allakazam223]

Take Margret Atwood for example. Her most famous work, the Handmaid's Tale, is about a post-apocalyptic United States.

When you look at the core of Canadian identity it usually seems to center around how unlike the Americans we are. For example, how tightly Canada clung to the British Empire until it crumbled then went whole hog for multiculturalism starting with Pierre Trudeau. It not much to build an identity around and as an Albertan, I often feel closer to the United States than I do Ottawa due to geography

I would say "The Cremation of Sam McGee" would be the closest thing we have to an epic poem.

In Flander's Fields, perhaps? Not sure.

 

[Rafal Gan Ganowicz]

I would recommend the writings of Farley Mowat.

Farfarers i by Mowat is amazing!!! As for Atwood, she is just horrid.

That degenerate POS Turdo today, who will not submit to an accounting, gave us a "snapshot on the economy" today stating he's run up the debt to about a trillion bucks. You can guarantee the real number is closer to 3 trillion. I wish a horrible death by cancer on him, something quick and painful, like what Rob Ford got

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

In Flander's Fields, perhaps? Not sure.

Flanders Fields is certainly one of the most well known poems of our time. But it's not one of those long and lofty stories like the Illiad. When I say "national epic" I mean one of those civilization founding stories that will be remembered by the shared collective conscientious of the country for generations. Another form of a national epic would be a long collection of poetry that embodies the nation.

 

[CKC]

Farfarers i by Mowat is amazing!!! As for Atwood, she is just horrid.

Read his stories about serving in WW2. And camping out in haystacks in the middle of winter on the Prairie. He also manage to get the Soviets to stop killing wolves on sight. He was a good man.

Flanders Fields is certainly one of the most well known poems of our time. But it's not one of those long and lofty stories like the Illiad. When I say "national epic" I mean one of those civilization founding stories that will be remembered by the shared collective conscientious of the country for generations. Another form of a national epic would be a long collection of poetry that embodies the nation.

Look up Farley Mowat

 

[Sweetpeaa]

You won't make any money in Canada unless you get a government job. The standard of living has actually been reduced since the aughts. People are taking their degree's and working for U.S tech companies and most of us know it. It's easy to supplement the brain drain with people from third world countries and Chinese investors that just want to buy investment properties though. Immigrants will put up with the low standard of living and crap wages, citizens won't.

 

[muh_moobs]

Does Canada have a national epic like other countries? England has Beowulf (and by extension shakspear, although his works aren't really considered epics), America has the Columbiad, France has Henriade, and the rest of world has their epic literature. After looking around for a while the best Canadian literature that I could come up with is Anne of Green Gables, which is a children's book, far from anything that can be considered a national epic. I want something that uniquely embodies our history, and what can be vaguely called "the Canadian spirit" (although there's huge doubt as to whether a unique spirit exists at all, except for supreme smugness when referring to Americans.)

What history?

Farfarers i by Mowat is amazing!!! As for Atwood, she is just horrid.

That degenerate POS Turdo today, who will not submit to an accounting, gave us a "snapshot on the economy" today stating he's run up the debt to about a trillion bucks. You can guarantee the real number is closer to 3 trillion. I wish a horrible death by cancer on him, something quick and painful, like what Rob Ford got

No. Brain cancer like McCain.

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

What history?

The conquest of Quebec and the battle of the plains of Abraham, the war of 1812, the upper and lower Canada rebellions, Louis and the Metis rebellion, the trans Canada railway, settlement of the west, the Great War and Canadian involvement in it, the King-Byng scandal in the 1920s, cold war history, and more recent history like the Quebec referendum.

There's lots of history when you start looking for it, and I only scratched the surface by naming the biggest events

 

[muh_moobs]

The conquest of Quebec and the battle of the plains of Abraham, the war of 1812, the upper and lower Canada rebellions, Louis and the Metis rebellion, the trans Canada railway, settlement of the west, the Great War and Canadian involvement in it, the King-Byng scandal in the 1920s, cold war history, and more recent history like the Quebec referendum.

There's lots of history when you start looking for it, and I only scratched the surface by naming the biggest events

That was all the British, m8.

Canada only became a nation in 1982. Looks like you missed the one important piece of "history".

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

That was all the British, m8.

Canada only became a nation in 1982. Looks like you missed the one important piece of "history".

you could make that argument about the war of 1812 and the conquest of Quebec, but starting from the Canadas rebellion all actions were started by Canadians. Irish history includes the bits where they were under the british, just because your country was a dominion of another doesn't mean that it doesn't own its history.

do you actually believe that when 30k Canadians went to fight on the western front that was British history? and moreover if it was British history then why is it taught in Canadian schools?

 

[muh_moobs]

you could make that argument about the war of 1812 and the conquest of Quebec, but starting from the Canadas rebellion all actions were started by Canadians. Irish history includes the bits where they were under the british, just because your country was a dominion of another doesn't mean that it doesn't own its history.

do you actually believe that when 30k Canadians went to fight on the western front that was British history? and moreover if it was British history then why is it taught in Canadian schools?

How many officers were Canadian? Exactly 0.

The colonists didn't accomplish anything substantial in either war. In WWI they were used to generate attrition before British soldiers moved in and actually pressed the enemy back. In WWII Canadians were used largely as fodder for the Germans on the beaches of France. The bulk of them never made it past D-Day.

Why is it taught here? To cover up the fact that Canada has none of it's own history.

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

How many officers were Canadian? Exactly 0.

The colonists didn't accomplish anything substantial in either war. In WWI they were used to generate attrition before British soldiers moved in and actually pressed the enemy back. In WWII Canadians were used largely as fodder for the Germans on the beaches of France. The bulk of them never made it past D-Day.

Why is it taught here? To cover up the fact that Canada has none of it's own history.

Canadian divisions were led by Canadian leaders, in WW1 Arthur Currie was given command of all Canadian divisions on the western front. and Canadian soldiers were famed shock troops, they were the spearhead of many battles on the western front, like tanks before tanks existed

I know this wikipedia, but if you're not satisfied then you can go to the WW1 Canada page and look at the sources yourself.
I don't know much about WW2, but Canadians are famed in the Netherlands for liberating their country.

I have never seen someone just be factually wrong in this way, if you wanna talk about history you should read about it first

 

[muh_moobs]

Canadian divisions were led by Canadian leaders, in WW1 Arthur Currie was given command of all Canadian divisions on the western front. and Canadian soldiers were famed shock troops, they were the spearhead of many battles on the western front, like tanks before tanks existed
View attachment 1445419
I know this wikipedia, but if you're not satisfied then you can go to the WW1 Canada page and look at the sources yourself.
I don't know much about WW2, but Canadians are famed in the Netherlands for liberating their country.

I have never seen someone just be factually wrong in this way, if you wanna talk about history you should read about it first

Ever hear of the word "revisionism". If Canada was so great and so powerful like people like to claim, why were Allied powers losing in BOTH world wars until America came in and propped everybody else up?

That little quote you've got there is the British patting themselves on the back for the brilliance of using colonists as fodder. It sounds great today, but being "marked out as shock troops" meant Canadians were the first lines across no-mans land detonating the landmines and forming bridges across the barbed-wire barricades leading into enemy trenches.

 

[ProtonMailMan]

Canadian divisions were led by Canadian leaders, in WW1 Arthur Currie was given command of all Canadian divisions on the western front. and Canadian soldiers were famed shock troops, they were the spearhead of many battles on the western front, like tanks before tanks existed
View attachment 1445419
I know this wikipedia, but if you're not satisfied then you can go to the WW1 Canada page and look at the sources yourself.
I don't know much about WW2, but Canadians are famed in the Netherlands for liberating their country.

I have never seen someone just be factually wrong in this way, if you wanna talk about history you should read about it first

I don't know. From what I have read the Aussies were real studs on the battlefield--the Canucks not so much.....

 

[Samson Pumpkin Jr.]

I don't know. From what I have read the Aussies were real studs on the battlefield--the Canucks not so much.....

Canadians were among the best soldiers in WW1, the majority of ANZAKs fought in Gallipoli where they weren't of much use to the wider war. It was only much later in the war when Australians made it to the western front, but by then the war was practically over. Read literally anything about Canadians in WW1 and you will see that they were the best. If the quote by the prime minister of the UK, Lloyd George, doesn't do it for you I don't know what will

 

[Cheerlead-in-Chief]

Can't they extradite him?
I would like to try Canadian food there

 

[discombobulate]

As an outsider, the only non-children's books I really associate with Canada is "The Call of the Wild" and then "White Fang," which were written by an American and are considered part of American literature.

The children's books I know, like "Hatchet" and "Touching Spirit Bear," were also written by Americans.

Looking through Wikipedia led me to "Anne of Green Gables," so I guess there's your epic, Canada: a boring children's series.

 

[ProtonMailMan]

Canadians were among the best soldiers in WW1, the majority of ANZAKs fought in Gallipoli where they weren't of much use to the wider war. It was only much later in the war when Australians made it to the western front, but by then the war was practically over. Read literally anything about Canadians in WW1 and you will see that they were the best. If the quote by the prime minister of the UK, Lloyd George, doesn't do it for you I don't know what will
View attachment 1445813

Well you might be right there it's been a long time since I have done much reading on the subject. Just makes the contrast between then and now that much more striking, I suppose.

 

[The Cat From Outer Space]

i've heard good things about their passenger rail.