Modern Literature & Culture Research Centre & Gallery

Letter to the Prime Minister sent May 16th

Dear Prime Minister Harper and Minister Baird,
 
I am writing on behalf of the Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre at Ryerson University to express my concern regarding the funding cuts to the "Understanding Canada" program. Ending this program will diminish the presence of Canada's arts and culture on the international stage, a presence that is crucial to the strength and quality of Canada's international relationships.
 
I wish to emphasize the positive collaborations and cultural synergies that result from the international study and propagation of Canadian cultural treasures. My research on Lucy Maud Montgomery has yielded five books, a collection that reflects the significance of a Canadian author whose most famous work, Anne of Green Gables, has been translated into 35 languages. In an effort to share the work of this much-loved author on an international scale, I have given talks in Finland, Iceland, Ireland, Sweden and the United States, and I have held visiting professorships at two universities in Germany teaching Canadian literature. This kind of cultural outreach helps to put Canadian literary icons on the world map.
 
The Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre has been critical to this and other projects in the dissemination of Canadian literature and culture. Involving a team of 17 Research Associates, 1 International Research Fellow, and 15 undergraduate and graduate students and interns, our Centre is active in the promotion of Canadian cultural products. One of our current projects explores the work of Canadian World War I artist Mary Riter Hamilton, whose paintings of battlefields involving Canadian soldiers once earned her acclaim, but later faded from our cultural memory. The reinvigoration of interest in Hamilton's contribution to Canadian World War I history is also a recognition that Hamilton's work stands as an important repository of international wartime memory. The Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre depends on funds like those provided by the "Understanding Canada" program to take Canada to the world stage.
 
Canada's cultural exports are rich and varied, and form the basis of Canada's international image as a vibrant, diverse and dynamic country—and this is the direct result of the efforts of Canadian scholars and artists whose vision extends beyond our borders. Please continue funding these important efforts, which benefit Canadians and our international reputation.

Yours sincerely,

Irene Gammel, PhD, FRSC
Director, Modern Literature and Culture Research Centre
Professor of English
Ryerson University

Reply from the Office of the Prime Minister May 17th

Dear Professor Gammel:

I would like to acknowledge receipt of your e-mail.

You may be assured that your comments have been carefully reviewed. As a copy of your message has already been sent to the Honourable John Baird, Minister of Foreign Affairs, I am certain that he also will have appreciated being made aware of your views on this matter.

Thank you for writing to the Prime Minister.

M. Bredeson
Executive Correspondence Officer
for the Prime Minister's Office
Agent de correspondance
de la haute direction pour le Cabinet du Premier ministre

Recent News

Payton Knox joins MLC

Payton Knox joins MLC

Payton is involved in providing grading support for the course ENG 240: Contours of Creativity.

MLC Annual Impact Report 2023 - 2024

MLC Annual Impact Report 2023 - 2024

The MLC Research Centre is proud to present a summary of its annual achievements.

Call for Papers for Routledge Book: Life Writing in a Pandemic

Call for Papers for Routledge Book: Life Writing in a ...

We welcome papers that engage with any aspect of life writing during the pandemic.

Julia Perus joins MLC

Julia Perus joins MLC

Julia is involved in exploring the modernist avantgarde, with a special focus on Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven.

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

MLC Themes

The Great War in Literature and Visual Culture

Amid the unprecedented social change of World War I, women renegotiated their identities by dramatically changing the way they engaged with the arts. But how did they do so? And how did everyday citizens engage with the war?

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

MLC Themes

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven

Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, considered by many to be the mother of Dada, was a daringly innovative poet and an early creator of junk sculpture. “The Baroness” was best known for her sexually charged, often controversial performances.

Modernism in the World

MLC Themes

Modernism in the World

Recent research has departed from the Euro-centric and national view of Modernism to include approaches and methods studying Modernism across national boundaries and across different art forms to include fashion, dance, performance, technology, and visual culture.

Lucy Maud Montgomery

MLC Themes

Lucy Maud Montgomery

L.M. Montgomery is perhaps Canada's most important literary export. She was prolific writer of over 500 short stories and poems, and twenty novels, including the beloved Anne of Green Gables.

Canadian Modernism

MLC Themes

Canadian Modernism

The works of numerous Canadian authors who lived during the modernist era may well constitute the most central and experimental articulation of Canadian modernism in prose, allowing authors to stage cross-cultural, controversial, and even conflicted identities.

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

MLC Themes

Modernist Biography and Life Writing

Life writing, including autobiographical accounts, diaries, letters and testimonials written or told by women and men whose political, literary or philosophical purposes are central to their lives, has become a standard tool for communication and the dissemination of information.