What literary influences shaped the Montreal Literary School?

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Canadian literature Canadian writer Alice Munro was lauded as a “master of the contemporary short story” by the Swedish Academy when it awarded her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.

The Montreal Literary School (École littéraire de Montréal), founded in 1895 by Jean Charbonneau and Louvigny de Montigny, maintained an eclectic literary doctrine. Its primary influences were the Parnassian and Symbolist movements originating in France and Belgium.1

By adopting these European influences, the school’s members—who were largely aesthetes—actively reacted against traditional Canadian literary themes, such as local color and patriotism. Instead, they embraced the principle of art for art’s sake, prioritizing aesthetic expression over the regionalist focus that would later become dominant in the movement's later years.21