ABSTRACT
The postcolonial paradigm, while widely contested and intensely debated, is one of the dominant modes of the production and reception of contemporary Canadian literature. Postcolonial authors and critics often re-read the Canadian canon – and Canadian history – through this highly critical lens, leading to new interpretations of the past and a transformed notion of present-day society. While postcolonial Canadian literature adopts many of the strategies of postmodern authors (e.g., historiographical metafiction), there is often a more focused target of critique (contact, major colonial historical episodes, oppressive state institutions, and so on). Indigenous authors and critics such as Lee Maracle and Thomas King explicitly reject the postcolonial label, and these and other writers have developed alternative descriptors or theoretical paradigms to understand the agonistic, counter-colonial literature that has emerged in Canada, often from an indigenous or ethnic minority perspective.
