This essay revisits Duncan's 1904 novel The Imperialist to discuss the implications of the rarely noted antecedents of Mother Beggarlegs in the African diaspora of slavery. Mother Beggarlegs’ presence points to a history of free trade debates in transatlantic slavery and puts into question a nationalist pedagogy of Canada's moral superiority over the United States on its record of racism against Black people. Embedded in the novel’s election debates on British-Canadian-US economic relations, in its account of Canada’s shift from mercantile to industrial capitalism, and in the temporality of narration of the Murchison family’s rise into middle-class stability, the figurative language tied to the diaspora of slavery in North America provides a new understanding of the novel's much-studied irony and ambivalence.
To read the full article online, visit our OJS site.
Please note that works on the Canadian Literature website may not be the final versions as they appear in the journal, as additional editing may take place between the web and print versions. If you are quoting reviews, articles, and/or poems from the Canadian Literature website, please indicate the date of access.