Canada became an independent nation in 1867 and, with several of its earlier writers registering both European and American influence, was still in the process of establishing its own literary voice at the turn of the 20th century. It was not until the 1940s that Canadian literature became more distinctive in its style, themes, and characterizations. Prior to 1920, much Canadian literature focused on nature, taking the form of pastoral romances and realist tales of life in the wild. Many of these works stylistically resonated with the fiction of American writer James Fennimore Cooper, who is well known for his unique brand of 19th-century pastoralism. By the time Callaghan broke onto the literary scene in the late 1920s, many fellow writers and critics agreed that his work ushered in a welcome new era in Canadian letters.

Because Canada was still finding its authorial voice and style in Callaghan’s time, relatively few Canadian fiction writers from the first decades of the 20th century have retained distinction into the 21st century. However, Callaghan was not the only Canadian writer to reach a wide readership during this time. Additional writers of note from the 1920s and 1930s include Duncan Campbell Scott (1862-1947), who was known for fiction influenced by European writers like Flaubert and de Maupassant; Callaghan’s contemporary, Raymond Knister (1899-1932), who was noted for his incisive realism; and another contemporary by the name of Hugh MacLennan (1907-1990) who, like Callaghan, identified his fiction with the Modernist movement.