Chinese Letters: Traduction de Les Lettres Chinoises

Abstract

Travellers, exiles, immigrants have existed in all times and places. Immigration is a world-wide phenomenon as ancient as history itself. People have constantly left their countries of origin to settle down in another, (better?) part of the world. This movement continues in the exile and emigration to Western countries today, propelled by adverse conditions at home and the lure of better prospects abroad. It is often claimed that everybody in Canada is an immigrant and that all Canadian literature is immigrant literature, a mourning of homes left and things lost" (Atwood xxxi). Canada is seen as a safe haven by political refugees, and as a land that offers economic opportunities for a better life by most immigrants. In fact, "the history of Canada ... is the history of immigration" (Hutcheon 10). Not only have most immigrants contributed to the economic prosperity of Canada, but in recent years, to the richness and diversity of its literature as well. The last few years have seen the emergence of the visible minority writer in Canada vis-à-vis a predominantly "white" or "Anglo-Gaelic" literary scene.