Early Colonial Literature Early colonial literature in Canada has been described as an era of reporting:telling people back "home" what it was like out there on the edge of civilization. Books published in that era took the form of journals or collections of letters,which often took the "wilderness"or the native peoples as their subject. Early Colonial Literature • Early colonial literature in Canada has been described as an era of reporting: telling people back “home” what it was like out there on the edge of civilization. • Books published in that era took the form of journals or collections of letters, which often took the “wilderness” or the native peoples as their subject