Before the Country: Native Renaissance, Canadian Mythology

248 Pages·2007·1.832 MB·English

by  Stephanie McKenzie

BEFORE THE COUNTRY:
NATIVE RENAISSANCE, CANADIAN MYTHOLOGY
In the late 1960s and early 1970s, Canada witnessed an explosion in
the production of literary works by Aboriginal writers, a development
that some critics have called the Native Renaissance. Before the Country
explores the extent to which this body of literature exposed the falla-
cies of one specific story, or non-Native national myth, that had been
developed at an early date in Canada.
In the context of Northrop Frye’s theories of myth, and in light of the
attempts of social critics and early anthologists to define Canada and
Canadian literature, Stephanie McKenzie suggests ways in which sto-
ries react to one another. She examines anew the aesthetics of Native
literature and, in a style that is as creative as it is scholarly, incorporates
the principles of storytelling into the unfolding of her argument. This
strategy not only enlivens her narrative, but also underscores the need
for new theoretical strategies in the criticism of Aboriginal literatures.
Before the Country invites us to engage in one such endeavour.
STEPHANIEMCKENZIE teaches in the Department of English at Sir Wilfred
Grenfell College, Corner Brook.
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STEPHANIE MCKENZIE
Before the Country:
Native Renaissance,
Canadian Mythology
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
©University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2007
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 978-0-8020-9208-3 (cloth)
ISBN 978-0-8020-9446-9 (paper)
Printed on acid-free paper
Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication
McKenzie, Stephanie
Before the country: native renaissance, Canadian mythology / Stephanie
McKenzie.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 978-0-8020-9208-3 (bound)
ISBN 978-0-8020-9446-9 (pbk.)
1.Canadian literature (English – Native authors – History and criticism.
2.Canadian literature – 20th century – History and criticism. 3. Nationalism
and literature – Canada – History – 20th century. I. Title.
PS8089.5.I6M44 2007 C810.9'897 C2007-901140-3
Cover image from
the permanent
collection of Yukon Arts
Centre Public Art Gallery.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its publish-
ing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the Ontario Arts Council.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its publish-
ing activities of the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing
Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the publication subvention given to
this book by the School of Humanities, Waterford Institute of Technology,
Waterford, Ireland.
For Doug Beardsley, who introduced me to Canadian literature, and
Nang Kiingiaay Laas (Bearer of Good News), Thomas Reginald Kelly,
who shared with me some stories and showed me there were different
ways of looking at the world.
As I write, the centennial of Confederation in 1967 looms up before the
country with the moral urgency of a Day of Atonement.
– Northrop Frye, ‘Conclusion to a Literary History
of Canada’ (1965) in The Bush Garden, 224
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Abbreviations xiii
Introduction 3
1 The Headwaters of Design 12
2 The Seventh Generation 33
3 Native Literature of the 1960s and 1970s in Canada 54
4 Day of Atonement 114
5 Searching for Sun-Gods: Robert Kroestch’s Badlands
and Sky Lee’s Disappearing Moon Cafe 136
6 Admitting the Possibility of Transitional Texts
in Canadian Literature 161
Conclusion 180
Notes 191
Works Cited 199
Permissions 215
Index 217
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Acknowledgments
Warmest thanks and appreciation go to the Head of the School
ofHumanities, John Ennis, at Waterford Institute of Technology,
Waterford, Ireland, whose school provided publication subvention for
this work.
Thanks also to friends in Corner Brook, Newfoundland: Elizabeth Beh-
rens, Beverley Greene, Brenda Lomond-Carey, Pam Parsons, Pauline
Hayes, Darcy Andrews, Allison Stamp, and Louise McGillis, who helped
me access information and research and provided valuable help with
communication and information technology; Doreen Klassen, Matt
Janes, David Freeman, and Martin Ware, who perused late drafts of the
manuscript and offered valuable comments; Marc Thackray and Jim
Greenlee, who read and offered comments on early drafts of this work;
Rainer Baehre, who shared with me certain perspectives as a historian;
Rex Brown and Rebekah Robbins, who provided support and help;
Adrian Fowler, who lent me the services of a research assistant; and,
especially, Nick Novakowski, who provided a writing space and home
for me at a crucial stage. A special thank you to Adam Baker, who, as a
brilliant undergraduate student, assisted me with two drafts of this book.
Thanks, as well, to professional mentors who worked with me when
I began shaping ideas as a PhD candidate at the University of Toronto:
in particular, thanks to Chelva Kanaganayakam, who was my disserta-
tion supervisor and who never let his own interests or agenda control
my work; Diana Brydon, who was my external examiner and who
offered valuable and intelligent feedback; Heather Murray and Keren
Rice, who were committee members, always operating with the utmost
integrity. A big thanks, too, to J.E. Chamberlin, under whom I had the