ENG252Y1 Lecture : January 24th -- The Collected Works of Billy the Kid
Document Summary
This book, though taking place in the 19th century, was written in the 1960s. We can understand, in that context, why this book is so particularly violent. America was a violent place in the 60s: assassination of jfk, robert kennedy, mlk jr, race riots, vietnam, civil rights movements. The western is a story that states that america was founded on violence. While both americans and canadians analyzed the violence of america, at the same time. Context: lester pearson"s nobel peace prize, expo 67. Rise of national pride in canada, sense that things were different in canada than in america. Not only did canada not participate in vietnam, up to 100,000 americans came to canada to avoid the draft in vietnam. It was written by a non-canadian, about an american main character, taking place in america. Thematically canadian: representation of environment, legacy of colonialism, different attitudes towards realism.
