Articles



Ecstasies of the (Un)Loved: The Lesbian Utopianism of Hiromi Goto’s The Kappa Child
Abstract:

Hiromi Goto’s The Kappa Child tills the fertile ground between Asian Canadian immigrant experience, same-sex desire, and the search for utopian space. The novel’s transformations are catalyzed by the Japanese kappa, an amphibious water sprite and guiding spirit behind the narrator’s journey from Japan to the arid landscape of Southern Alberta. Domestic abuse and a severe lack of self-esteem characterize her troubled childhood.

This article argues for greater awareness of minority lesbian experiences. It analyzes how traditional immigrant families often pose unique struggles for LGBT children and youth. Homophobia, with its fear, shame, and ostracism, is a form of domestic violence felt acutely by many such individuals. The narrator’s reconciliation with her past is a “homotopian” dream, fantastic and yet real; it encompasses alternative kinships with women-lovers, mothers, sisters, and gay-positive friends. The text dissects the changing dynamics of Asian Canadian families and critiques those resistant to negotiation, acceptance, and unconditional love.


Ekphrastic Drag: Temporal Transgressions in John Barton’s West of Darkness: Emily Carr: A Self-Portrait
Abstract: This paper considers how John Barton's poetic "self portrait" of Emily Carr functions as a queer form of Canadian (auto)biography. Barton's collection suggests the implications of drag for nationalist discourse, particularly in the reiterative presence of iconic figures. By inhabiting Carr’s paintings and her voice to tell the story of her struggle for expression as a social and artistic outsider, Barton transforms Carr’s landscapes into a representation of, and respite from, the confines of an interiorized sexual closet.

Emile Nelligan: A Dreamer Passing By
Abstract: THOUGH HIS FLAME OF GENIUS flickered so briefly, the romantic, tragic and mad Emile Nelligan (1879-1941 ) captured the imagination ...

Emile Nelligan: Poete de l’Inquietude
Abstract: IL EST SUPERFLU de rappeler que la littérature canadienne- française est jeune, qu’elle a produit, vers 1850, avec Garneau et ...

Emily Carr’s Tennyson
Abstract: ΕÍMILY CARR’S COPY OF THE POEMS of Tennyson is a small dark blue linen-bound volume, much underlined and occasionally annotated. ...

Emily Carr’s Klee Wyck
Abstract: EMILY GARR’S Klee Wyck was awarded the Governor General’s medal for non-fiction literature in 1941. The Oxford University Press publication ...

Empires of Blood and Sun
Abstract: Travel writing differs from most other kinds of litera- ture in the sense that it inevitably undergoes a metamorphosis, if ...

Enacting the Asian Canadian
Abstract:   Enacting the Asian Canadian     Christopher Lee     I The history of Asian Canadian literature begins, strictly ...

Enantiomorphosis and the Canadian Avant-Garde: Reading Christian Bök, Darren Wershler, and Jeramy Dodds
Abstract:

Enantiomorphosis is one of the dominant forms of experimental translation used by the Canadian avant-garde. My analysis focuses on Christian Bök, Darren Wershler, and Jeramy Dodds and considers their respective poetries in relation to mirrors (enantiomorphosis being an effect of mirroring). I demonstrate that by first considering enantiomorphosis as a modality of the mirror, and subsequently as a modality of translation that it is an essential strategy of Canadian avant-gardist practice.


Encre, son et scribes: des premiers romans Québécois
Abstract: LPASSAGE D’UNE CULTURE oralisante à une culture écrite est le produit d’un ensemble de paramètres, autant nombreux que complexes. Des ...