Does Art Define Our Nation's Soul? For That Matter, Do We Have One?

Or do we think about having one? Do we think we should have one?

The Soul of a Nation appears in the journal Descant's blog. Descant is Canadian, as you'll notice when you read the post. But much of Soul of a Nation describes how other countries "seem to define themselves by their writers." Canada doesn't, according to the blogger, identified as "litguru."

Do we? If so, which writers define us?