Page 88 - Vinkler, Jonatan, Ana Beguš and Marcello Potocco. Eds. 2019. Ideology in the 20th Century: Studies of literary and social discourses and practices. Koper: University of Primorska Press
P. 88
Ideology in the 20th Century: studies of literary and social discourses and practices
Canada whose leading figure was Harold Innis (1894–1952) (Brandt
1997, 138–39).7 Innis’ research in national economic history, and fore-
mostly his promotion of a liberal tradition that would depart from the
models offered by both Britain and the United States of America (Wat-
son 2006; Drache 1969) acted as the conceptual basis for the development
of the Canadian system of cultural institutions, into which Innis occa-
sionally actively interfered.
In 1951, The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts,
Letters and Sciences published the so-called Massey Report, which estab-
lished guidelines for setting up the Canadian cultural market. The key
guideline of the report appealed for the establishment of a governmental
advisory body and platform for financing cultural and humanities pro-
jects, Canada Council. In the appeal put forth by the Massey Report, we
88 can see a reflection of Innis’ endeavours: from 1940 to 1944, Innis set up
two associations in support of Canadian science which strove to form
the Massey Commission, and then to establish Canada Council (Artibise
2011). At the same time, the ambivalences of the Massey Report, which
based the Canadian cultural market on the opposition to the United
States of America and only secondarily as a breakaway from the British
colonising practices, can be ascribed to Innis’ zone of influence, too. Dur-
ing the preparation of the Massey Report, Innis expressed a stronger op-
position against the United States, especially against American consum-
erism as a factor of destabilisation affecting Canadian identity and the
concept of culture in general (Ziraldo 1998, 92). This is why it comes as no
surprise that he promoted the establishment of Canada Council. Christi-
ana Ziraldo, quoting Paul Litto, believes that the creation of the Massey
Report took place in the context of the ideas of the intellectual elite, who
wished to found a new cultural nationalism on their liberal humanist ide-
ology (Ziraldo 1998, 94). The promoters of the nationalism-related ideol-
ogy included, beside Innis, from the nineteen-sixties onwards also Frye
and novelist and poet Margaret Atwood (1939–).
Atwood, who became the central figure of Canadian nationalism
with her later thematic criticism (Potocco 2013), belonged in the nine-
teen-sixties to a group of writers who were based in Toronto and whose
central common denominator was precisely emphasising Canadian iden-
tity. The conceptual foundation of the second wave of literary national-
ism was Innis’ journalism and after 1965 Frye’s topocentric concept of the
Canadian imaginary, while the third impetus was George Grant’s (1918–
7 Laurentian School formed as a counterweight to the then rising nationalism in Que-
becois historiograpy.
Canada whose leading figure was Harold Innis (1894–1952) (Brandt
1997, 138–39).7 Innis’ research in national economic history, and fore-
mostly his promotion of a liberal tradition that would depart from the
models offered by both Britain and the United States of America (Wat-
son 2006; Drache 1969) acted as the conceptual basis for the development
of the Canadian system of cultural institutions, into which Innis occa-
sionally actively interfered.
In 1951, The Royal Commission on National Development in the Arts,
Letters and Sciences published the so-called Massey Report, which estab-
lished guidelines for setting up the Canadian cultural market. The key
guideline of the report appealed for the establishment of a governmental
advisory body and platform for financing cultural and humanities pro-
jects, Canada Council. In the appeal put forth by the Massey Report, we
88 can see a reflection of Innis’ endeavours: from 1940 to 1944, Innis set up
two associations in support of Canadian science which strove to form
the Massey Commission, and then to establish Canada Council (Artibise
2011). At the same time, the ambivalences of the Massey Report, which
based the Canadian cultural market on the opposition to the United
States of America and only secondarily as a breakaway from the British
colonising practices, can be ascribed to Innis’ zone of influence, too. Dur-
ing the preparation of the Massey Report, Innis expressed a stronger op-
position against the United States, especially against American consum-
erism as a factor of destabilisation affecting Canadian identity and the
concept of culture in general (Ziraldo 1998, 92). This is why it comes as no
surprise that he promoted the establishment of Canada Council. Christi-
ana Ziraldo, quoting Paul Litto, believes that the creation of the Massey
Report took place in the context of the ideas of the intellectual elite, who
wished to found a new cultural nationalism on their liberal humanist ide-
ology (Ziraldo 1998, 94). The promoters of the nationalism-related ideol-
ogy included, beside Innis, from the nineteen-sixties onwards also Frye
and novelist and poet Margaret Atwood (1939–).
Atwood, who became the central figure of Canadian nationalism
with her later thematic criticism (Potocco 2013), belonged in the nine-
teen-sixties to a group of writers who were based in Toronto and whose
central common denominator was precisely emphasising Canadian iden-
tity. The conceptual foundation of the second wave of literary national-
ism was Innis’ journalism and after 1965 Frye’s topocentric concept of the
Canadian imaginary, while the third impetus was George Grant’s (1918–
7 Laurentian School formed as a counterweight to the then rising nationalism in Que-
becois historiograpy.
