Read Ebook: Our Intellectual Strength and Weakness A Short Historical and Critical Review of Literature Art and Education in Canada by Bourinot John George

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Introductory remarks on the overestimate of material success in America; citation from an oration on the subject by James Russell Lowell; application of his remarks to Canadians.

Three well defined eras of development in Canada; the French regime and its heroic aspect; the works of Champlain, Lescarbot, Potherie, Le Clercq, Charlevoix and others; evidences of some culture in Quebec and Montreal; the foundation of the Jesuit College and the Seminaries; Peter Kalm on the study of science; the mental apathy of the colony generally in the days of French supremacy.

The period of political development from 1760-1840, under English government; low state of popular education; growth of the press; influence of the clergy; intellectual contests in legislative halls; publication of "Sam Slick"; development of a historical literature.

An era of intellectual as well as material activity commences in 1840, after the concession of responsible government; political life still claims best intellects; names of prominent politicians and statesmen from 1840-1867; performance in literature and science; gross partisanship of the press; poems of Cr?mazie, Howe, Sangster and others; histories of Christie, Bibaud, Garneau and Ferland.

Historical writers from 1867-1893--Dent, Turcotte, Casgrain, Sulte, Kingsford, etc.; Canadian poets--LeMay, Reade, Mair, Roberts, Carman and others; critical remarks on the character of French and English Canadian poetry; comparison between Canadian and Australian writers; patriotic spirit of Canadian poems.

Essay writing in Canada; weakness of attempts at fiction; Richardson's "Wacousta"; De Gasp?'s "Anciens Canadiens"; Kirby's "Golden Dog"; Marmette's "F. de Bienville," among best works of this class; Professor De Mille and his works; successful efforts of Canadians abroad--Gilbert Parker, Sara Jeannette Duncan and L. Dougall; general remarks on literary progress during half a century; the literature of science in Canada eminently successful.

A short review of the origin and history of the Royal Society of Canada; its aim, the encouragement of the literature of learning and science, and of original ethnographical, archaeological, historic and scientific investigation; desirous of stimulating broad literary criticism; associated with all other Canadian societies engaged in the same work; the wide circulation of its Transactions throughout the world; the need of a magazine of a high class in Canada.

The intellectual standard of our legislative bodies; the literature of biography, law and theology; summary of general results of intellectual development; difficulties in the way of successful literary pursuits in Canada; good work sure of appreciative criticism by the best class of English periodicals like the "Contemporary," "Athenaeum," "English Historical Magazine," "Academy," etc.; Sainte-Beuve's advice to cultivate a good style cited; some colonial conditions antagonistic to literary growth; the necessity of cultivating a higher ideal of literature in these modern times.

The condition of education in Canada; speed and superficiality among the defects of an otherwise admirable system; tendency to make all studies subordinate to a purely utilitarian spirit; the need of cultivating the "humanities," especially Greek; remarks on this point by Matthew Arnold and Goldwin Smith; the state of the press of Canada; the Canadian Pythia and Olympia.

Libraries in Canada; development of art; absence of art galleries in the cities, and of large private collections of paintings; meritorious work of O'Brien, Reed, Peel, Pinhey, Forster and others; establishment of the Canadian Academy by the Princess Louise and the Marquess of Lorne; necessity for greater encouragement of native artists; success of Canadian artists at the World's Fair; architecture in Canada imitative and not creative; the White City at Chicago an illustration of the triumph of intellectual and artistic effort over the spirit of mere materialism; its effect probably the development of a higher culture and creative artistic genius on the continent.

Conclusion: The French language and its probable duration in Canada; the advantages of a friendly rivalry among French and English Canadians, which will best stimulate the genius of their peoples in art and letters; necessity for sympathetic encouragement of the two languages and of the mental efforts of each other; less provincialism or narrowness of mental vision likely to gain larger audiences in other countries; conditions of higher intellectual development largely dependent on a widening of our mental horizon, the creation of wider sympathy for native talent, the disappearance of a tendency to self-depreciation, and greater self-reliance and confidence in our own intellectual resources.

BIBLIOGRAPHICAL, ART AND GENERAL NOTES.

P. 61.--Lowell's remarks on the study of the Liberal Arts.

P. 61.--Jamestown, Va.

P. 61.--Champlain's Works; his character compared with that of Captain John Smith.

P. 62.--Lescarbot's "Histoire de la Nouvelle France."

P. 62.--Charlevoix's "Histoire et Description G?n?rale de la Nouvelle France."

P. 63.--Hutchinson's "History of Massachusetts."

P. 63.--Sagard's "Le Grand Voyage," etc.

P. 63.--P. Boucher's "Moeurs et Productions de la Nouvelle France."

P. 63.--Jesuit Relations.

P. 63.--P?re du Creux, "Historia Canadensis."

P. 63.--La Potherie's "Histoire de l'Am?rique Septentrionale."

P. 63.--The Jesuit Lafitau and his work on Indian customs.

P. 64.--C. le Clercq, "Etablissement de la Foy."

P. 64.--Cotton Mather's "Magnalia."

P. 64.--Dr. Michel Sarrazin.

P. 64,--Peter Kalm and the English colonies.

P. 65.--Education in Canada, 1792-1893.

P. 65.--Upper Canada, 1792-1840.

P. 66.--Canadian Journalism.

P. 66.--Howe's Speeches.

P. 66.--"Sam Slick."

P. 66.--Judge Haliburton's History of Nova Scotia.

P. 66.--W. Smith's History of Canada.

P. 67.--Joseph Bouchette's Topographical Works on Canada.

P. 67.--M. Bibaud's Histories of Canada.

P. 67.--Thompson's Book on the War of 1812-14.

P. 67.--Belknap's History of New Hampshire.

P. 67.--The poet Cr?mazie.

P. 68.--Chauveau as a poet.

P. 69.--Howe's Poems.

P. 69.--The poets Sangster and McLachlan.

P. 69.--Charles Heavysege's Works.

P. 69.--Todd's Parliamentary Government.

P. 69.--Christie's History of Lower Canada.

P. 70.--Garneau's History of Canada.

P. 70.--Ferland and Faillon as Canadian Historians.

P. 70.--Dent's Histories of Canada.

P. 71.--Turcotte's History since Union of 1841.

P. 71.--B. Sulte, "Histoire des Canadiens Fran?ais," etc.

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