Canadian Postcolonial Literature Flashcards
French and English culture
- split into two regions
- throughout history influenced by french/english and indigenous culture
- cultural mosaic
- seen as progressive, diverse, multicultural
History of Canada
when Europeans arrived all regions already occupied
large numbers died due to diseases
colonialists formed strong economic bonds with the Indigenous
were confronted with harsh climate
First Nations
- term to describe Indigenous who were not Inuit or Metis
- first to encounter sustained European contact
- their interactions were less combatitive than the american counterparts
closeness and difference to the US
cultural, economical and historical ties
C. disagrees on foreign policies
they are less materialistic
Geography
despite its size, sparsely populated
huge wealth of natural ressources
very regional/divided provinces
Colonial Literature
- explorers reported experiences in charts, journals, and diaries
- basis of a documentary tradition
- geography, history, and exploration represent the quest for national identity
Decolonising Literature
famous for a group called the 'Confederation Poets' -romantic praise of Canadian landscape -reconstruction of Canadian history -popular poetry based on mohawk culture -
Influence on multiculturalism
- influenced by Massey Commision
- warning against Americanization
- cultural expansion
Diversification of Literature
- regions (unity in diversity)
- gender (womens writing)
- indigenity (First Nations/ Inuit)
- ethnicity (transcultural perspectives)
Margaret Atwood (themes)
- conventions that try to enforce order (gender codes)
- nature/culture
- enviromentalism
Alice Munroe
short stories:
- explore the complexities of human relationships
- extraordinary behind the ordinary
Indigenous Culture and Literature
-themes-
- used to be spread orally
- now: restauration of Indig. Culture and history
- damage of colonization
- resistance to Eurocentrism
Jenette Armstrong
- Indig. writer
- writes about Indig. rights
- preservation of history through people who experienced it
Alice Munroe
-The Photographer-
story of teenager reaching adulthood, hating small town life
learns to find extraordinary things in the ordinary
features of Alice Munroe writing
tendency to move forward and backward in time
explores human complexities
strong regional focus with omnipresent narrator to make sense of world
deep rooted traditions and customs
Jenette Armstrong
biased historical lenses
talks about artifacts and historians:
- they do not consider whole story look at it through biased historical lenses
- tell a story that is not completely truthful or accurate
elders have to preserve history
Survival: Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
Margaret Atwood
argues that C. have always been alienated from their surroundings
-continuuing sense of exile
-dominance of nature
CENTRAL THESIS: C. L. is about survival (hanging on, staying alive)
-C. L. demonstrates collective victim mentality
The Age of Lead
historical event recorded on TV
an image of modern Canadian consumer desiring freedom from social obligations while threatened by toxic dumps and radioactive waste
The Handmaids Tale
dystopian Novel
- situation of an individual caught in a world of collective force
- hostile nature (no babies, pollution)
- strict conventions and meaninglessness of life
- potrait of future american society under rule of dictator
Surfacing (1972)
unnamed narrator reaches wilderness to search for father
- retreat into the wilderness= retreat into a geographical and psychological place
- narrators feeling powerless is coupled with inability to speak language
- feels alienated from search party and runs away
- falsely thinks she can reject the whole of human society
Surfacing
Alienation of women
narrators near constanted alienation comments on alienation of all women
- finds men especially alienatiing because of their control over women
- narrator says alienation is structured– gender roles taught to kids
narrator is unnamed— stands for all universal women
Progressive Insanities of a pioneer
chronicles failure of a pioneer to impose order on wilderness
Oryx and Crake
post apocalpytic world destroyed by ambition of scientists
genetic splycing
