Issue archives

#206 (Autumn 2010)

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Editorial

Margery Fee

• Beyond Boomer Nationalism (p. 6 - 11)
• Subjects: Media & Communications, Twenty-First Century

Articles

Kevin Flynn

• The Colony of Unrequited Dreams: Wayne Johnston's Newfoundland Conversion Narrative (p. 13 - 28)
• Abstract: Show/hide

  The Colony of Unrequited Dreams is not merely the tale of Joey Smallwood’s rise to power in Newfoundland. It is also about the power of a single book—D.W. Prowse’s A History of Newfoundland—to influence the destiny of an individual and the people he came to represent. The influence of Prowse’s History extends also to Colony itself, because the novel’s use of the conversion theme to depict the ways that Smallwood and Newfoundland transformed themselves in the twentieth century may be grounded in that book’s popularization of the myth of a flourishing Puritanism in 17th-century Newfoundland. A number of Johnston’s critics have complained that his book is not true enough to the historical record. Ironically, although the novel’s conversion theme may have been suggested by an historical inaccuracy promulgated by Prowse, it provides an ideal means of representing Newfoundland’s partial transformation from a colonial outpost to a Canadian one.

   

• Subjects: Historical Fiction, Historiography

Katja Lee

• Goddard v. Mowat: F***ing the Facts Fifteen Years Later (p. 30 - 44)
• Abstract: Show/hide

  It has been fifteen years since John Goddard’s infamous exposé of Farley Mowat’s compromised truth-telling ignited a flurry of media activity and prompted a large scale re-evaluation of this national icon and his texts. Taking stock of the responses to this scandal, this paper will demonstrate that Mowat swiftly recovered from this blow to his authority and authenticity and could continue to publish autobiographies untroubled by questions of truth-telling because of the nature of the celebrity crafted by Mowat and the Canadian media. However, there still remains some resistance to teaching Mowat or taking him up in our research: this paper seeks to undo some of that critical hesitation by unpacking the scandal--its roots, its effects and the issues it raises--in order to suggest that rather than rendering Mowat a persona non grata, Goddard’s article opens up possible avenues for taking Mowat, his celebrity, and his texts seriously.

   

• Subjects: Autobiography, Media & Communications

François Ouellet

• Tayaout ou la réfutation d'Agaguk (p. 48 - 59)
• Abstract: Show/hide

  Cet article fait l’hypothèse que le roman Tayaout, fils d’Agaguk, a été essentiellement écrit par Yves Thériault pour déconstruire la réussite paternelle que donnait à lire Agaguk. Si cette déconstruction table dans un premier temps sur le parricide commis par Tayaout, elle se déploie surtout à travers l’interdit qui marque la relation de Tayaout à la mère, Iriook, de manière à bloquer pour celui-ci toute possibilité d’accès à l’âge d’homme. 

   

• Subjects: Quebec

Lee Rozelle

• Liminal Ecologies in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (p. 61 - 72)
• Subjects: Ecocriticism

den Toonder Jeannette

• Aaron d'Yves Thériault ou comment transgresser l'entre-deux (p. 74 - 87)
• Abstract: Show/hide

  Cet article propose une analyse de l’orientation spatiale dans le seul véritable roman urbain d’Yves Thériault, Aaron. Les deux protagonistes, le grand-père Moishe et le petit-fils Aaron, vivent dans des mondes de plus en plus différents. L’espace clos de son appartement dans le ghetto juif de Montréal est le domaine du grand-père, tandis que le petit-fils s’enfuit de la maison pour aller chercher dans la montagne, nature sauvage en plein centre de la métropole canadienne, son identité. Ce contraste est examiné à l’aide de métaphores d’orientation déterminées par le linguiste George Lakoff et le philosophe Mark Johnson, qui montrent que les sentiments humains par exemple sont appréhendés en termes de verticalité et que cette expérience humaine s’exprime dans notre langage quotidien sous forme de métaphores. Cette analyse montre comment la spatialité exprime l’écart de plus en plus grand et inévitable entre deux générations, et de quelle façon les deux protagonistes réagissent à cet éloignement. 

   

• Subjects: Quebec

Y-Dang Troeung

• Forgetting Loss in Madeleine Thien's Certainty (p. 91 - 108)
• Abstract: Show/hide

  This essay considers the place of forgetting in the context of the debate about the ethics of representing trauma in the aftermath of mass historical atrocity, asking if there is a space left for forgetting in our endeavours to develop a politics of loss? The political stakes of remembering collective loss have been well articulate by scholars of melancholia theory over the past two decades; however, this essay argues that this approach has not been balanced with a consideration of the psychic costs of remembering for the individual traumatized subject. Madeleine Thien’s first novel, Certainty, calls attention to these costs through an emphasis on the theme of return to trauma and on the necessity, sometimes, of forgetting.

   

• Subjects: Asian Canadian, Trauma

Poems

Robert O. Norman

• A Moose (Drowning in The Bay) (p. 12)

Eric Zboya

• IT WAS: born of stars (p. 29)

Roger Farr

• "Hic Rhodus, Hic Salta" (p. 45 - 47)

Kate Braid

• Walking the Labyrinth* Outdoors (p. 60)

Changming Yuan

• The Mouse, A Mouse (p. 73)

Phoebe Wang

• Yard Work (p. 88 - 90)

George Elliott Clarke

• "Fortuna": à la manière de Piero Piccioni (p. 109)

Book Reviews

Hell Will Not Prevail (p. 110 - 111)

by Madelaine Jacobs

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Jacob's Prayer by Lorne Dufour
2. Porcupines and China Dolls by Robert Arthur Alexie

Subjects: First Nations, Novel, Trauma

Les Vies plurielles (p. 111 - 112)

by Maité Snauwaert

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Carnet de désaccords by Natalie Stephens
2. Fenêtre sur vie: Nouvelles et récits by Nicole Balvay-Haillot

Subjects: Francophone, Short Fiction

Collaborative Spirits (p. 112 - 113)

by Susan Holbrook

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Automaton Biographies by Larissa Lai
2. Sybil Unrest by Rita Wong and Larissa Lai
3. Wait Until Late Afternoon by Hiromi Goto and David Bateman

Subjects: Poetry

La Quête (p. 114 - 115)

by Adeline Caute

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Joies by Anne Guilbault
2. La Bohème by François Moreau
3. Ombres d'amours en rêve by Corinne Bayle

Subjects: Francophone, Novel

Damsels in Distress (p. 115 - 116)

by Timothy Dugdale

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Love Minus Zero by Lori Hahnel
2. Silver Salts by Mark Blagrave

Subjects: Novel

Genre Blur (p. 116 - 117)

by John Moss

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Breaking Lorca by Giles Blunt
2. Homicide Related by Nora McClintock
3. Snow Job by William Deverell

Subjects: Novel

Neither an Empty Blank (p. 117 - 118)

by Richard Cassidy

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Blackouts by Craig Boyko
2. Buying Cigarettes for the Dog by Stuart Ross

Subjects: Short Fiction

A Poetics of Listening (p. 119 - 120)

by Paul Watkins

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Selected Poems by Robert Bringhurst

Subjects: Poetry

War's Children (p. 120 - 121)

by Reece Steinberg

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Off to War: Voices of Soldiers' Children by Deborah Ellis
2. Tell No One Who You Are: The Hidden Childhood of Régine Miller by Walter Buchignani

Subjects: Biography, Childhood, War , World War II

Gabrielle Roy's Intercultural Writings (p. 121 - 122)

by Louise Ladouceur

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Between Languages and Cultures: Colonial and Postcolonial Readings of Gabrielle Roy by Rosemary Chapman

Subjects: Literary Criticism, Postcolonialism

Words and the World (p. 122 - 123)

by Stephen Ney

Book(s) reviewed:

1. In Bed With the Word: Reading, Spirituality, and Cultural Politics by Daniel Coleman

Subjects: Cultural Studies, Media & Communications, Religion

Narrating Re-Generation (p. 123 - 124)

by Reilly Yeo

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Generation A by Douglas Coupland

Subjects: Novel

(In)visible Canadian (p. 124 - 126)

by Graham Nicol Forst

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Northrop Frye: Selected Letters, 1934-1991 by Robert D. Denham
2. Northrop Frye's Canadian Literary Criticism and Its Influences by Branko Grojup

Subjects: Correspondence, Literary Criticism

Canadian Idealists? (p. 126 - 128)

by Valerie Raoul

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Pale Blue Hope: Death and Life in Asian Peacekeeping by Ronald Poulton
2. Transformations: The Life of Margaret Fulton, Canadian Feminist, Educator and Social Activist by James Doyle

Subjects: Biography, Feminism

Seeking New Caledonia (p. 128 - 130)

by Mark Diotte

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Fort St. James and New Caledonia: Where British Columbia Began by Marie Elliott
2. Simon Fraser: In Search of Modern British Columbia by Stephen Hume

Subjects: British Columbia, History

Women's Pages: Reconfiguring Canadian Women in Print Culture (p. 130 - 131)

by Cecily Devereux

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Editing Modernity: Women and Little-Magazine Cultures in Canada, 1916-1956 by Dean J. Irvine
2. The Woman's Page: Journalism and Rhetoric in Early Canada by Janice Fiamengo

Subjects: Media & Communications, Publishing, Women's Studies

Staying Power (p. 132 - 133)

by Jennifer Bowering Delisle

Book(s) reviewed:

1. A Little Distillery in Nowgong by Ashok Mathur
2. The March Hare Anthology by Adrian Fowler

Subjects: Anthologies, Atlantic Canada, Indian/South Asian, Novel

Embranchements (p. 133 - 134)

by Farah Leplat

Book(s) reviewed:

1. La cathédrale sur l'océan by Vittorio Frigerio

Subjects: Novel

New Multiculturalisms (p. 134 - 135)

by Sam Knowles

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Texture of Identity: The Fiction of MG Vassanji, Neil Bissoondath, and Rohinton Mistry by Martin Genetsch

Subjects: Literary Criticism, Memory & Identity

Lieu et réalité de l'imaginaire (p. 135 - 136)

by Sylvano Santini

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Le maître du Château rouge by Bertrand Gervais
2. Le mort de J. R. Berger by Bertrand Gervais

Subjects: Novel

Writing to Defy Death (p. 136 - 138)

by Maria Noëlle Ng

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Not Yet: A Memoir of Living and Almost Dying by Wayson Choy
2. The Evergreen Country: A Memoir of Vietnam by Thuong Vuong-Riddick
3. The Sleeping Buddha by Hamida Ghafour

Subjects: Life Writing, Middle Eastern

Insights from Memory's Sites (p. 138 - 139)

by Paul Dubé

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Entre lieux et mémoire: L'inscription de la francophonie canadienne dans la durée by Anne Gilbert, Michel Bock, and Joseph-Yvon Thériault

Subjects: Cultural Studies, Francophone, Quebec

Brain Food for Youth (p. 139)

by M. Sean Saunders

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Uninvited by Tim Wynne-Jones
2. Watching Jimmy by Nancy Hartry

Subjects: Children's Literature

Vancouver's Chickamin (p. 140 - 141)

by Duffy Roberts

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Man Game by Lee Henderson

Subjects: Novel

A Truly Public Discourse (p. 141 - 142)

by Margo Gouley

Book(s) reviewed:

1. An English Canadian Poetics: Vol. 1: The Confederation Period by Robert Hogg

Subjects: Essays, Nineteenth Century, Poetry

Post-Communist Power Plays (p. 142 - 144)

by Reece Steinberg

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Anna's Shadow by David Manicom
2. The Culprits by Robert Hough

Subjects: Novel

A Cambridge History of Distinction (p. 144 - 146)

by Claire Omhovère

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Cambridge History of Canadian Literature by Eva-Marie Kröller and Coral Ann Howell

Subjects: History

Living with the Land (p. 146 - 147)

by Saleema Nawaz

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Revenant by Tristan Hughes
2. The Order of Good Cheer by Bill Gaston

Subjects: British, Novel

Beastly Trade (p. 147 - 149)

by Nicholas Bradley

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Romantic Ecologies and Colonial Cultures in the British-Atlantic World, 1770-1850 by Kevin Hutchings
2. The Bedside Book of Beasts: A Wildlife Miscellany by Graeme Gibson

Subjects: Ecocriticism, Nature Writing

One Good Step (p. 149 - 150)

by Alison Calder

Book(s) reviewed:

1. One Step Over the Line: Toward a History of Women in the North American Wests by Elizabeth Jameson and Sheila McManus

Subjects: Essays, Women's Studies

Love, Familiar and Fractious (p. 151)

by Mike Borkent

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Lean-To by Tonja Gunvaldsen Klaassen
2. Love Outlandish by Barry Dempster

Subjects: Poetry

English Canada in Translation (p. 152 - 153)

by Natasha Dagenais

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Les Belles é‰trangères: Canadians in Paris by Janes Koustas

Subjects: Canadian Studies, Language/Linguistics

Poèmes de l'Origine (p. 153 - 154)

by Stéphane Girard

Book(s) reviewed:

1. La Lumière et L'heure by Andrée Lacelle
2. Tant de vie s'égare by Andrée Lacelle

Subjects: Poetry

Le retour d'exil de Windsor Laferrière (p. 154 - 155)

by Jimmy Thibeault

Book(s) reviewed:

1. L'Énigme du retour: Roman by Dany Laferrière

Subjects: Caribbean-Canadian , Francophone, Novel

Question d'identité (p. 155 - 157)

by Charles Le Blanc

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Un coeur rouge dans la glace by Robert Lalonde

Subjects: Novel

Ladies First (p. 157 - 158)

by Karen Crossley

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Factory Voice by Jeanette Lynes
2. The Wife's Tale by Lori Lansens

Subjects: Novel

La poésie dans tous ses états (p. 158 - 160)

by René LaFleur

Book(s) reviewed:

1. La lune n'aura pas de chandelier by Daniel LeBlanc-Poirier
2. Miettes de moi by Joanne Morency
3. Sombre d'ailleurs by Frédérick Durand

Subjects: Poetry

Le Dur désir de durer (p. 160 - 161)

by Pierre-Paul Ferland

Book(s) reviewed:

1. C'était écrit by Eileen Lohka
2. Roman 41 by Monique Le Maner

Subjects: Novel

Gone But Not Forgotten (p. 161 - 162)

by Robert Thacker

Book(s) reviewed:

1. When She's Gone by Steve Lundin

Subjects: Novel

National Anxiety in a New Age (p. 162 - 163)

by Damon Barta

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Border Songs by Jim Lynch

Subjects: Novel

An Exorcist's Tale (p. 163 - 164)

by Pamela Owen

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Bishop's Man by Linden MacIntyre

Subjects: Novel, Religion

Réalités conflictuelles (p. 164 - 165)

by Maria Pentrelli Cotroneo

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Dans la tourmente afghane by Jocelyne Mallet-Parent
2. Uashat by Gérard Bouchard

Subjects: Middle Eastern, Novel

Traces and Spaces, Memory and Stages (p. 165 - 167)

by Scott Duchesne

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Developing Nation: New Play Creation in English-Speaking Canada by Bruce Barton
2. Signatures of the Past: Cultural Memory in Contemporary Anglophone North American Drama by Marc Maufort and Caroline De Wagter

Subjects: Theatre History

Method and Material (p. 167 - 169)

by Bart Vautour

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Reasoning Otherwise: Leftists and the People's Enlightenment in Canada, 1890-1920 by Ian McKay
2. The Wrong World: Selected Stories & Essays of Bertram Brooker by Gregory Betts

Subjects: Canadian Studies, Politics, Short Fiction

Too Much Happiness, Too Much Grief (p. 169 - 170)

by Beverley Haun

Book(s) reviewed:

1. The Winter Vault by Anne Michaels
2. Too Much Happiness by Alice Munro

Subjects: Novel

Studying Canadian Studies (p. 171 - 172)

by Kit Dobson

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Canadian Cultural Studies: A Reader by Sourayan Mookerjea, Imre Szeman, and Gail Faurschou

Subjects: Canadian Studies, Cultural Studies

Travelling Bodies (p. 172 - 174)

by Carolyne Van Der Meer

Book(s) reviewed:

1. No Place Strange by Diana Fitzgerald Bryden
2. Valmiki's Daughter by Shani Mootoo

Subjects: Caribbean-Canadian , Novel

Poésie en trombes, mode majeur (p. 174 - 175)

by Élise Lepage

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Les Verbes Majeurs by Pierre Nepveu
2. Trombes by Pierre Ouellet

Subjects: Poetry

Tasting this Place (p. 175 - 176)

by Emily Wall

Book(s) reviewed:

1. In a Boston Night by Sasenarine Persaud
2. is a door by Fred Wah
3. Poems for a Small Park by E. D. Blodgett
4. Red Nest by Gillian Jerome

Subjects: Poetry

Souvenirs inédits (p. 176 - 177)

by Natasha Dagenais

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Les plages à la laine de chevreau by Gilles Lacombe
2. Trafiquante de lumière by Gilles Lacombe
3. Une phrase lente de violoncelle by Anthony Phelps

Subjects: Poetry

Enlightening Essays (p. 177 - 178)

by Neil Querengesser

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Mary di Michele: Essays on Her Works by Joseph Pivato
2. The Ivory Thought: Essays on Al Purdy by Gerald Lynch, Shoshannah Ganz, and Josephine Kealey

Subjects: Essays, Literary Criticism

La Nature du roman (p. 179 - 180)

by Daniel Letendre

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Champagne by Monique Proulx
2. L'apprentissage by Madeleine Ouellette-Michalska

Subjects: Francophone, Novel, Short Fiction

Language Movements (p. 180 - 181)

by Aaron Giovannone

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Expressway by Sina Queyras
2. Mosaic Orpheus by Peter Dale Scott
3. Rental Van by Clint Burnham
4. yes / no by Dennis Lee

Subjects: Poetry

Different Directions (p. 182 - 183)

by Graham Nicol Forst

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Northrop Frye: New Directions from Old by David Rampton

Subjects: Literary Theory

La poésie est une bien vilaine manie (p. 183 - 184)

by Ariane Audet

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Mon nom by Normand de Bellefeuille
2. Pas by Diane Régimbald

Subjects: Poetry

Vies précaires (p. 184 - 185)

by Mariloue Sainte-Marie

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Agonie d'André Breton by Jean Yves Collette
2. Le Livre Des Absents by Hugues Corriveau
3. Les espions de Dieu by André Roy

Subjects: Poetry

The Spiritual Subject (p. 185 - 187)

by Amanda Lim

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Duet for Wings and Earth by Barbara Colebrook Peace
2. I Will Ask for Birds by Kelly Parson
3. More to Keep Us Warm by Jacob Scheier
4. Ox by Christopher Patton
5. Riding Backwards on Dragon: A Poet's Journey Through Liuhebafa by Kim Goldberg

Subjects: Poetry

"I'll Teach You Cree" (p. 187 - 189)

by Nicholas Bradley

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Fifth World Drum by Anna Mraie Sewell
2. Gabriel's Beach by Neil McLeod
3. Kipocihkâƒn by Gregory Scofield
4. Little Hunger by Phillip Kevin Paul

Subjects: First Nations, Poetry

Strange Weather (p. 189 - 190)

by JC Peters

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Atmospheric Disturbances by Rivka Galchan
2. Wonderfull by William Neil Scott

Subjects: Novel

Relationships and Recollection (p. 190 - 191)

by Emer Savage

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Ordinary Lives by Josef Skvorecky

Subjects: Novel

Context Is All (p. 191 - 193)

by Coral Ann Howell

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Margaret Atwood: Feminism and Fiction by Fiona Tolan

Subjects: Feminism, Literary Criticism

Pièces détachées (p. 193 - 194)

by Vincent Charles Lambert

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Autoportraits-robots by Thierry Dimanche
2. L'Arbre chorégraphe by Larry Tremblay
3. La Suite informe by Mathieu Bergeron

Subjects: Poetry

Breathless Poetics in Toronto (p. 194 - 195)

by Louise Young

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Holding Still For As Long As Possible by Zoe Whittall

Subjects: Novel

Connect the Strands (p. 195 - 196)

by Monique Tschofen

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Atom Egoyan by Emma Wilson

Subjects: Film

Acts of Survival (p. 196 - 197)

by Coral Ann Howell

Book(s) reviewed:

1. Myth and Fairy Tales in Contemporary Women's Fiction: From Atwood to Morrisson by Sharon R. Wilson

Subjects: Mythology, Women's Literature

Small Transformations (p. 197 - 199)

by Hilary Turner

Book(s) reviewed:

1. A Wizard in Love by Mireille Levert
2. Pounce De Leon by Tim Wynne-Jones
3. The Orphan Boy by Tolowa M. Mollel

Subjects: Children's Literature