Interview #13: Ryan Quinn Flanagan
Sy Albright interviews Ryan Quinn Flanagan ----- poet & author SA: I noticed a number of Canadian poets have an almost beatnik view of the world. It reminds me of America from the 1960’s. But in this manner, you still retain a sense of social conscience. The combination makes for an interesting artistic result. Is there something in Canadian society or artistic history that fosters this atmosphere? RQF: I think Canadians are always a little behind the times on most things and don’t really have a problem with that. We also tend to be quite timid and courteous so that is probably why a social conscience is still retained. Most of all, there is this strange thing that Canada and Canadians do not define themselves by what they are, but rather what they are not. And what they are not is American. Beyond that, I don’t really think Canadians have a sound fleshed out idea of who they are as I noted in my poem Canadiana: Canadiana is a funny