Reconstructing National Identity: The Nation Forged in Fire-Myth and Canadian Literature

286 Pages·2018·4.839 MB·English

by  Karin Ikas, Klaus-Dieter Ertler (editor)

Reconstructing National Identity
CANADIANA

LITERATUREN/KULTUREN – LITERATURES/CULTURES –
LITTÉRATURES/CULTURES
Herausgegeben von Klaus-Dieter Ertler und Wolfgang Klooß
BAND 21

Redaktionskomitee / Editorial Board / Comité de rédaction:
Petr Kylousek (Brno)
Gilles Dupuis (Montréal)
Piotr Sadkowski (Torún),
Hans-Jürgen Lüsebrink (Saarbrücken)
Martin Küster (Marburg an der Lahn)
Helga E. Bories-Sawala (Bremen)
Kerstin Knopf (Bremen)
David Staines (Ottawa)
Jutta Zimmermann (Kiel)
Astrid Fellner (Saarbrücken)
Kirsten Dickhaut (Koblenz/Landau)
Karin Ikas
Reconstructing National Identity

The Nation Forged in Fire-Myth and Canadian Literature
Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek
The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche
Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data is available in the internet at
http://dnb.d-nb.de.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
A CIP catalog record for this book has been applied for at the Library of Congress.

Gedruckt mit Unterstützung der Gesellschaft für Kanada-Studien (GKS).

ISSN 1613-804X
E-ISBN 978-3-631-76588-3 (E-Book)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-76589-0 (EPUB)
E-ISBN 978-3-631-76590-6 (MOBI)
DOI 10.3726/b14581
© Peter Lang GmbH
Internationaler Verlag der Wissenschaften
Berlin 2018
All rights reserved.
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Contents

1 Introduction ................................................................................................... 9
2 What is National Identity? ....................................................................... 27
2.1 What is a Nation? ........................................................................................ 29
2.2 The Construction of National Identity .................................................... 39
3 Inventing the Canadian Nation ............................................................. 51
3.1 The Tradition of Inventing the Canadian Nation .................................. 52
3.2 Inventing the Nation Forged in Fire ........................................................ 79
3.2.1 The Nation Forged in Fire-Myth in
Contemporary Memorial Culture ................................................... 79
3.2.2 The Origin of the Nation Forged in Fire-Myth:
The First World War ......................................................................... 87
3.2.2.1 The World at War: The First World War as
the Great War ....................................................................... 87
3.2.2.2 Canada at War: The First World War as Hotbed for
Inventing the Canadian Nation ......................................... 95
4 The Literary Reconstruction of the Canadian
Nation Forged in Fire ................................................................................. 105
4.1 Concussion and a Translocation of the Nation’s Birthplace:
Hugh MacLennan’s Barometer Rising ...................................................... 107
4.1.1 Introductory Note ............................................................................. 107
4.1.2 Barometer Rising ................................................................................ 109
4.1.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 119
4.2 The Paradoxical Community of Isolated Individuals:
Timothy Findley’s The Wars .................................................................... 120
4.2.1 Introductory Note ............................................................................. 120
4.2.2 The Wars ............................................................................................. 122
4.2.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 140
8 Contents
4.3 The Returned Soldiers’ Need for Community:
Jack Hodgins’ Broken Ground ................................................................... 141
4.3.1 Introductory Note ............................................................................. 141
4.3.2 Broken Ground ................................................................................... 143
4.3.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 160
4.4 The Canadian National Vimy Memorial and a New Epic Tale of
the Birth of the Nation: Jane Urquhart’s The Stone Carvers ................. 160
4.4.1 Introductory Note ............................................................................. 160
4.4.2 The Stone Carvers .............................................................................. 166
4.4.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 185
4.5 The (Dis)Ability Issue: Frances Itani’s Deafening ................................... 186
4.5.1 Introductory Note ............................................................................. 186
4.5.2 Deafening ............................................................................................ 190
4.5.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 212
4.6 The Native Point of View: Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road ............... 214
4.6.1 Introductory Note ............................................................................. 214
4.6.2 Three Day Road .................................................................................. 217
4.6.3 Conclusion ......................................................................................... 236
5 General Conclusion and Outlook ........................................................ 239
Bibliography ........................................................................................................ 245
Primary Works .................................................................................................... 245
Secondary Works ................................................................................................ 246