During one year in the early 1960's, "only five Canadian novels were published," she said, and the country was considered "a kind of hopeless cultural backwater."

In 1982 The Lion's Mouth was the first Canadian novel to combine ethnicity with feminism.

And if inspiration comes from beauty, I should certainly be able to begin my great Canadian novel here.

And--I have no designs on a great Canadian novel," laughed Anne.

My Present Age is the title of a Canadian novel by Guy Vanderhaeghe which was first published in 1984.

What used to be called a Canadian novel was a kind of prairie frontier story, but it was phony.

"I remember one novel years ago, which I won't identify, that was hailed as the great Canadian novel," he continued.

Did he detect any new theme breaking through in the Canadian novel?

There's no central theme in the Canadian novel because there is no unifying Canadian problem.

All three of these 'Canadian' novels "were well reviewed at the time of their first publication in both the English- and French-Canadian press."