A EULOGY TO CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN LITERATURE OR HOW I STARTED TO TEACH ALICE MUNRO’S SHORT STORIES
A EULOGY TO CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN LITERATURE OR HOW I STARTED TO TEACH ALICE MUNRO’S SHORT STORIES

Summary/Abstract: Literature holds a central place in education and transmission of culture, while shaping human experiences and analyzing skills of learners. The major concern is what pieces of literature and what authors should be included in the curricula of English Literature and what should be left out, and on what account. This paper aims to demonstrate that Canadian literature is both national and international, equally specific and general, taking as example a renowned author: Alice Munro. While doing research in this field you cannot help wondering why we fail to include Canadian literature in the curricula of colleges and universities, since it has proven to be beyond national borders. Munro’s Nobel Prize may bring it more visibility and the rightful place in the world literature and culture. Her collections of short stories reveal all the qualities of good writing worth reading and analyzing. Besides her artfulness or “good art”, Munro’s fiction writing also has social implications such as: family relationships, differences between men and women, coming of age, life in the community. Despite regionalism and specificity of the setting, her characters are typologies that embody the general human characteristics. I will illustrate those particularities of Munro’s work with three short stories from her first volume, Dance of the Happy Shades, namely: Boys and Girls, Day of the Butterfly and The Peace of Utrecht, with a critical approach and from a didactic perspective. This paper is the result of my doctoral research on Canadian literature and my past experience with teaching sophomores Alice Munro’s fiction at the University of Athens.

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