Esc : English Studies in Canada and All-Inclusiveness

Abstract

esc: English Studies in Canada and All-Inclusiveness Juliet McMaster, Professor Emeritus I too was “in on the creation” of English Studies in Canada, although at second hand, being married to Rowland McMaster: he chaired the accute committee that set up esc in 1972, invited Lauriat Lane to take on the job as first editor, and became editor himself in 1985. So inevitably I look at esc historically, and to some extent through Rowland’s eyes. What single aspect of esc has had the greatest impact over its forty years? I follow Rowland in believing that the great strength of accute’s journal is its all-inclusiveness. It still provides “a forum where the Canadian scholarly community working in English can be identified, can become conscious of itself, recognize its newcomers, its stars, trends, and compartments, and therefore develop its own scholarly discourse” (R. D. McMaster, esc 15:1, 7). If anything, it has become more inclusive, as our literary discipline embraces interdisciplinarity and cultural studies. [End Page 4] Juliet McMaster, Professor Emeritus English University of Alberta Copyright © 2015 Association of Canadian College and University Teachers