Canadian Postmodernism & Postcolonialism

1. Canadian Postmodernism & Postcolonialism Introduction – Overview Canadian Postmodernism and Postcolonialism Margaret Atwood

2. General Questions • What do you know about • The Canadian • The Postmodern • The Postcolonial • Globalization • Margaret Atwood and • The Chinese-Canadian Writers?

3. Overview • The Canadian – 2nd largest nation with high tech development; settler-invader (post)colonialism leading to split identity and “unity in disunity.” • The Postmodern – cultural dominant (parody, pastiche, constructivism, challenge of metanarrative) in the conditions of high-tech telecommunication and international capitalism. • The Postcolonial –issues of identity in relation to marginality, power, alterity, resistance, and historical revisionism

4. Overview (2) • Globalization –growing intensification of global interactions and restructuring on the economic, political and cultural levels. • Margaret Atwood – a major Canadian writer concerned with women’s positions both on the personal and political/national levels

5. Overview (3) • SKY Lee – metafictional constructions of five generations of Chinese-Canadians • Larissa Lai – Reconstruction of Chinese myths (fox, Nu Wa) in order to re-write (Chinese-) Canadians’ post-national identities in contemporary society or near future • Please see course description for common issues

6. “Canadian” Postmodern & Postcolonial Identities General Views Postmodernism Definitions Definitions and Issues Postcolonialism Settlement Colonies Postcolonialism ‘s Three Fronts From Two Solitudes to Many: National Myths & Realities 4. Debate and Controversies

7. Which of the following are Canadians? Saturday Night Life: Dan Aykroyd Jim Carrey MICHAEL J. FOX Keanu Reeve Captain Kirk Megan Follow asAnne of Green Gables Paul Anka, Neil Young,Peter Jennings Pamela Ander-son Lee k.d. Lang ALANIS MORISSETTE Celine Dion

8. Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences • Aussies: Dislike being mistaken for Pommies (Brits) when abroad. • Canadians: Are rather indignant about being mistaken for Americans when abroad. • Americans: Encourage being mistaken for Canadians when abroad. • Brits: Can't possibly be mistaken for anyone else when abroad. Uncertain Identity

9. Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences • Americans: Spell words differently, but still call it "English". • Brits: Pronounce their words differently, but still call it "English". • Canadians: Spell like the Brits, pronounce like Americans. • Aussies: Add "G'day", "mate" and a heavy accent to everything they say. In-Between Identity

10. Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences • Aussies: Are extremely patriotic to their beer. • Americans: Are flag-waving,anthem-singing, and obsessively patriotic to the point of blindness. • Canadians: Can't agree on the words to their anthem, when they can be bothered to sing them. • Brits: Do not sing at all but prefer a large brass band to perform the anthem. Uncertain Identity

11. Canadian Identity: Self-Assertion • Who Are We? • Molson “I am Canadian”; (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzn0UiiOYLs ) (William Shatner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1CwZgb_iAI&feature=related ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt596dfzYq8&feature=related ) • Hey,I'm not a lumber jackOr a fur traderAnd I don’t live in an iglooOr eat blubberOr own a dog sled And I don't know Jimmy, Jally or Suzie from CanadaAlthough I'm sure they're really really nice Stereotypes –e.g. “Do you know Jimmy?”

12. The More Positive Distinction from the American… • I have a Prime Minister not a President I speak English and French not American And I pronounce it about not "a-boot" I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack I believe in peace-keeping not policing Diversity not assimilation And that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal A toque is a hat a chesterfield is a couchAnd it is pronounced "zed" not "zee" "zed"!Canada is the 2nd largest landmass!The 1st nation in hockey!And the best part of North America!My name is Joe and I am Canadian! Politics, national symbols, language and identity

13. Postmodernism (0): Definitions --後現代主義(Postmodernism)︰cultures which challenge language and the other types of “Truth,” foundation and tradition. (Poststructuralism as one example.) -- 後結構主義(Poststructuralism)︰theories whichchallenge the stable structure of language (binaries) and traditional value systems; sees their meanings as slippery, multiple and contingent (因時而定的). --後現代狀況(Postmodernity)︰The socio-economic and intellectual conditions which make postmodernism possible.

14. Postmodernism (1): Definitions & Issues • Definition: • “post”modernism -- 什麼是現代？什麼是「後」？ • Period or style: 是斷代還是文體？已經過去了嗎？ • Postmodernism and postmodernity (postmodern conditions 後現代性: 後工業資本主義、跨國企業) － the former reinforcing or critiquing the latter. • Interpretation: against interpretation, difficult wholenss or hybridity • Postmodern Identity: Depthlessness vs. • History, Memory, Capitalist culture and Identity • The role of the author– authority, originality and authenticity • The boundaries of humanity

15. What is Postmodernism? (2)

16. 2. Canadian Postmodernism • The postmodern condition – e.g. Marshall McLuhan) “The medium is the massage” (the influence of print technology and media) • A strong self-conscious (or metafictional) impulse which does not give up on realism (e.g. plot or realistic description) • In Film --Atom Egoyan’s treatment of electric/electronic devices of reproduction and David Cronenberg’s treatments of technologies and dual identity

17. Postmodernism (3): as Boundary-Crossing • Boundaries between – • fact and fiction • disciplines • the private and the public • high art and popular culture • nations • human and non-human • Why? Next week.

18. Postmodernism(3): Cultures • 後現代主義 (postmodernism)－文化表現（音樂、建築、大眾文化、政治、文學、理論） • 特色：無深度(depthless)、拼貼(pastiche)、後設(metafictional)、模擬兩可(ambiguous)、質疑大敘述／真理(de-doxification)、折衷(eclecticism)、跨界(boundary-crossing)、多元(pluralistic), etc.

19. Colonization 2: Settlement Canada: U. K. Metaphor: Miranda Colonization 3 : Internal colonialism = racism against the immigrants; Quebec Colonization 1: invasion, exploitation & cultural imposition India: U.K. (Prospero) the Caribbean: Holland, Spain, France, U.K. Metaphor: Caliban Colonization 4: neo-colonialism U.S. Postcolonial Issues (1): Settlement Colonies

20. Canada’s Miranda Identity Diana Brydon: “Re-writing The Tempest” – • Miranda -- the “dutiful daughter of the empire” (77). • Prospero’s values …”are internalized by Miranda but redefined through her interaction with Caliban” (86). • They show how “Canadians have internalized the process of their colonization: they are themselves Prospero and what he colonized is a vital part of themselves.”  Dennis Lee “Namelessness” “Placelessness.”

21. Canadian History • 1534 --New France • 1670 -- Charles II of England established HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY • 1867 -- Canada become a confederation of former colonies (The British North America Act) • 1947-- the creation of the status of Canadian citizen • 1967-- expo '67 in Montreal • 1982-- The Constitution Act ended British control over amendments to Canada's Constitution. • 1988-- Canadian Multiculturalism Act

22. Summary: Canadian Identity • Compared with the States, it merged quite late, slowly and peacefully in the 20th century. • Defined in contrast with the Americans -- White North (but not the West), Irony (but not Innocence), victim mentality (but not heroism), Mounties but not cowboy, etc. • Charateristics (?): Gentleness + violent hockey, Two solitudes.

23. Postcolonialism: Three Fronts in Canada Brydon: Critics in Canada have contributed to postcolonial theory on these three fronts: • understanding Canada as a settler-invader society; • healing the colonial wounds inflicted on Indigeneity through the development of decolonizing Indigenous research and activist strategies; and • understanding postcolonialism as a global phenomenon. (59 in Moss)

24. From Two Solitudes to MANY: National Myths & Racial Realities e.g. “Who Are We?” "As Canadian as possible, . . ., under the circumstances."

25. “The Canadian North”: Its Myths and “Realities” • The Group of Seven

26. National Myth 1: Victim Mentality • “Garrison Mentality” • “Victim Mentality” vs. American individualism e.g. Atwood在Survival中視加人為自然力量的「集體受害者」，主張加拿大文學即是移民文學，哀悼「離家及失落」。換言之，加拿大文學的「後殖民」主題之一即是文化及地理上－－或內在與外在－－的流離失所. But who are the victims? e.g. “Can Lit.” by Earl Birney

27. Myth 2: Two Solitudes • Duality -- caused by settler-colonization and neo-colonialism • French and English; • British, American & “Canadian” • e.g. “Tricks with Mirrors” • The victims are not necessarily powerless. • Interactions between the victimizer and the victimized.

28. Myth 3: Mosaicand MulticulturalismImmigrants to Canada • Early 20th century:Italians and Jews discriminated against • the postwar new-comers: at first mainly British, and then Dutch and German • in the 1960s -- Mediterranean peoples, notably Italians, Greeks and Portuguese, • in the1970s -- a steadily growing number of Asians--from India and China via Hong Kong especially and of people of ultimately African origin via the Caribbean. V e r t i c a l Mosaic Ghettoized?

29. Is Canada “Postcolonial”? • Depends – • focus on Canada as a member of the British Commonwealth; • focus on the vastly different histories of the countries in that Commonwealth; • view Canada as both an invader and settler colony; • view Canada as holding two solitudes and/or other solitudes; • see Canada as a nation of immigrants;

30. Is Canada “Postcolonial”? • see Canada continuing the colonization of First Nations people; • isolate Canada as a member of the G8 and a powerful player in globalization; • isolate Canada as a country with pockets of poverty; • define Canadian primarily as “not American”; • think of a Molson “I am Canadian” identity; • consider multiculturalism in Canada to be more than a series of folklore festivals; and/or • consider Canada to be a nation of writers from widely diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Moss 7-8)

31. Concerned with Canada’s cultural identity and histories; Women’s Positions; Survival (1972) Duality “Tricks with Mirror”; Two-Headed Poems (1978) Victim mentality The Circle Game (1966, poetry) Survival (1972, non-fiction) The Edible Woman (1969, novel) Surfacing (1973, novel) Lady Oracle (1977, novel) Dancing Girls (1977, short) Life Before Man (1979, novel) Dancing Girls and Other Stories (1982, short stories) Bodily Harm (1982, novel) The Handmaid's Tale (1985, novel) Bluebeard's Egg (1987, short stories) Selected Poems: 1965-1975 (1987, poetry) Margaret Atwood

32. 42 books; 13 novels Postmodern, self-reflexive mode mixing poetry and fiction, mixing a lot of genres (Gothic, detective story, fairy tales, family romance, comedy, allegory, etc.) Margaret Atwood (2) Selected Poems II: 1976-1986 (1987, poetry... US) Cat's Eye (1989, novel) Wilderness Tips (1991, short stories) The Robber Bride (1993, novel) Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994, short stories) Alias Grace (1996, novel) A Quiet Game(1997, The Blind Assassins (2000)

33. Poems • Duality and Women’s Self-Preservation: “This is a Photograph of Me” “Tricks with Mirror” • The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970): the experience of a mid-nineteenth-century English settler in Canada,” derived from two books by Moodie, Roughing It in the Bush (1852) and Life in the Clearings (1853).

34. “Tricks with Mirrors” from You Are Happy • Mirror: • Identity narcissism, self-absorption, entrapment, stasis. • Note: Atwood compares writers to trickster. • “The trickster figure embodies contradictions, often using humor, parody, and satire to expose hypocrisy and pretension. “

35. The Handmaid’s Tale: Plot • The simple, constrained life of a handmaid and her memories. • Her life: shopping, eating, bathing, waiting, ceremonies– intercourse, birthing, Salvaging. • “Night” sections – memories, meeting Nick, etc. • In-between the commander and his wife: Commander – meetings in the study, Jazebel, Wife – Nick

36. Reference • Laura Moss, ed. Is Canada Postcolonial? Unsettling Canadian Literature. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003.