It used to be, in the 1960s and ’70s, that the arts were considered good for national unity, for our sense of collective purpose and identity. We were seen then as a youngish, emerging country with an identity that needed forging.

Then, in the 1980s and ’90s, the message changed. We began hearing that the creative arts were good for the economy. [. . .]

That argument continues today but with a bit of a twist: On the Globe’s op-ed page, we read: “Want a culture of innovation? Fund our artists.”

Innovation is the new buzzword for the so-called value-added economy: Wealth is now created primarily through intellectual capital, not natural resources. Japan and Microsoft taught us that we don’t need coal and wood and mounds of potash: We need smarts.

What might be even more interesting than this slight shift from economics to innovation (leading back to economics, of course) is the new “arts are good for you” push:

I quote from the Toronto Star, Aug 10: “Read Novels, be Smarter:”

“For the first time in history there is now scientific evidence that reading fiction has psychological benefits” says Keith Oatley, University of Toronto psychologist and an award winning novelist (The Case of Emily V.)

In a series of experiments using people who liked and disliked fiction, professor Oatley apparently discovered that fiction readers demonstrated “substantially greater empathy” than their counterparts.

The 10th annual edition of the Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival will take place April 30–May 4, 2008 at the Delta-Centre-Ville Hotel as over 350 writers, literary translators, cartoonists, storytellers, and publishers from around the world will gather in Montreal for five days of literary events held in English, French, Spanish and other languages.

They have a really great list of authors lined up this year (including one of Open Letter’s!):

Sealtiel Alatriste (Mexico), André Alexis (Canada), Donald Antrim (USA), Anouar Benmalek (Algeria), Geoffrey Brock (USA), Ricardo Castillo (Mexico), Karen Connelly (Canada), Lindsey Davis (UK), Sanja Domazet (Serbia), Sylvie Durbet-Giono (France), Alaa El Aswany (Egypt), Alina Fernandez (USA/Cuba), Anke Feuchtenberger (Germany), Gary Geddes (Canada), Nancy Huston (Canada), Etgar Keret (Israel), Alice Kuipers (Canada), Gilles Lapouge (France), Adam LeBor (UK/Hungary), Alexander Livergant (Russia), Alain Mabanckou (Congo), K. Madavane (India), James Meek (UK), Ameen Merchant (India/Canada), Diane Meur (Belgium), Jacques Neirynck (Switzerland), Josip Novakovich (USA/Croatia), Andrew O’Hagan (Scotland), Glenn Patterson (Northern Ireland), Anna Porter (Canada), Roberto Saviano (Italy), Yu Shi (China), Adriaan van Dis (Netherlands), Padma Viswanathan (Canada), Jorge Volpi (Mexico), Binyavanga Wainaina (Kenya), Ruth R. Wisse (USA), and Dulce Maria Zúñiga (Mexico) and Tang Ying (China).

The full program for the festival should be up sometime today.

And now for the bad news. The Blue Metropolis Montreal International Literary Festival takes place April 30 – May 4, which is the exact same weekend as the PEN World Voices Festival in New York. So, we’re going to miss out on it (again) this year, but at least we’re informed.

Now we just have to figure out a way to get them to invite us to the Festival for 2009…

One U.S. textbook dismisses NAFTA with a photograph of a harried-looking Mexican woman leaning over a sewing machine, accompanied by the caption: “This woman is happy because she owes her job to NAFTA.”

Aside from Michael Ondaatje—who won for English fiction—most of the other recipients haven’t received much play here in the States. (Go figure.)

Here are some of the winnners:

French Fiction: Sylvain Trudel, Quebec City, for La mer de la Tranquillité (Les éditions Les Allusifs)

This collection burns with the brilliant flame of Sylvain Trudel’s language as he conjures terrible, unforgettable worlds. To read him is an unforgettable and stunning journey from which we do not emerge unscathed.

French Drama: Daniel Danis, St-David-de-Falardeau (QC), for Le chant du Dire-Dire (Leméac Éditeur)

Revealing the language of a great contemporary poet, this fable by Daniel Danis – terrifying and magnificent, violent and sensual, with a deviant oral character – connects with the great mythological tales.

French Poetry: Serge Patrice Thibodeau, Moncton (NB), Seul on est (Les Éditions Perce-Neige)

This is a long poem on the solitary being, imagined, then written like a motif that has been worked in myriad ways in a polished style. The poet’s mastery of language is apparent, with a conciseness that never gives in to facileness. Serge Patrice Thibodeau avoids all the potential traps of literary constraints. The verses give and take meaning in a rhythm and voice that are sustained from the start.

And in translation:

Nigel Spencer, Montreal, for Augustino and the Choir of Destruction
(House of Anansi Press)

English translation of Augustino et le choeur de la destruction by Marie-Claire Blais (Les Éditions du Boréal)

Nigel Spencer has performed a tour de force in Augustino and the Choir of Destruction, his translation of the third volume in Marie-Claire Blais’ trilogy. The poignant and intricate stories of the novel’s astonishing constellation of characters are sensitively conveyed through his moving and innovative use of language. Spencer has risen to the extraordinary challenge of rendering Blais’ uninterrupted stream of hallucinatory prose into an accomplished and lyrical translation.

Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné, Montreal, for Dernières notes
(Les éditions Les Allusifs)

French translation of Last Notes and Other Stories by Tamas Dobozy (Phyllis Bruce Book)

Translators Lori Saint-Martin and Paul Gagné have successfully transposed the diversity of narrative registers (journalism, introspection, recollection) and styles, going from the ironic all the way to the grotesque. They have thus recreated the distancing effect of exile, where the bizarre and the familiar are inseparable.

Congratulations to for publishing two of the award winners. This is one of the hottest new presses I’ve heard about, and it’s good to see that they’re getting the recognition they deserve.