캐나다 아동문학 속 여성 작가의 목소리

Women Authors’ Voices in Canadian Children’s Literature: Women, Home, and Canadian Environment in Traill, Montgomery, and Burnford

This article focuses on three representative women authors of Canadian children’s literature to discuss their contribution in the genre. Catharine Parr Traill, known as the first writer of children’s literature in Canada, describes the wild yet bountiful Canadian nature and the diligent optimism of the three children in Canadian Crusoes. In the process, the role of women in promoting the pioneering and colonizing powers becomes important. L. M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables describes the heroine realizing her desires for a home. Anne is an outsider that is ultimately taught to conform to the society. However, she also recreates her surrounding environment and voices out opinions that criticize the status quo. Sheila Burnford’s The Incredible Journey presents the Canadian wilderness as a vast, dangerous place for the three animals. Human domestic spaces and women’s caretaking labor allow the three animals to maintain their identities as pets and reach their goals. The three authors describe femininity, nature, and domesticity in varying ways, enriching the scope of children’s literature in Canada.