TRA N S N AT ION A L C A N ADA S This page intentionally left blank T R A N S N A T I O N A L C A N A D A S Anglo-Canadian Literature and Globalization KIT DOBSON This book has been published with the help ofa grant from the Canadian Federationfor the Humanities and Social Sciences,through the Aid to Scholarly Publications Programme,using funds provided by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council ofCanada.We acknowledge the support ofthe Canada Council for the Arts for our publishing program.We acknowledge the finan- cial support ofthe GovernmentofCanada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program for our publishing activities. Library and Archives Canada Cataloguing in Publication Dobson,Kit,1979– Transnational Canadas :Anglo-Canadian literature and globalization / Kit Dobson. (TransCanada series) Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-55458-063-7 (paper) ISBN 978-1-55458-165-8 (e-book) 1. Canadian literature (English)––20th century––History and criticism. 2. Canadian litera- ture (English)––21st century––History and criticism. 3. Literature and globalization––Canada. 4. Transnationalism in literature. 5. Canadian literature (English)––Minority authors––History and criticism. I. Title. II. Series: TransCanada series PS8071.D62 2009 C810.9’0054 C2009-900709-6 © 2009 Wilfrid Laurier University Press Waterloo,Ontario,Canada www.wlupress.wlu.ca Cover photograph by Kit Dobson.Cover design by David Drummond.Text design by Daiva Villa, Chris Rowat Design. This book is printed on FSC recycled paper and is certified Ecologo.It is made from 100% post- consumer fibre,processed chlorine free,and manufactured using biogas energy. Printed in Canada No part ofthis publication may be reproduced,stored in a retrieval system or transmitted,in any form or by any means,without the prior written consent ofthe publisher or a licence from The Canadian Copyright Licensing Agency (Access Copyright).For an Access Copyright licence,visit www.accesscopyright.ca or call toll free to 1-800-893-5777. contents acknowledgements vii introduction Globalization and Canadian Literature ix part one reconstructing the politics of canadian nationalism 1 introduction to part one 3 chapter one Spectres of Derrida and Theory’s Legacy 9 chapter two Ambiguous Resistance in Margaret Atwood’s Surfacing 27 chapter three Nationalism and the Void in Dennis Lee’s Civil Elegies 41 chapter four Leonard Cohen’s Beautiful Losersand the Crisis of Canadian Modernity 55 conclusion to part one 67 part two indigeneity and the rise of canadian multiculturalism 69 introduction to part two 71 chapter five Critique of Spivakian Reason and Canadian Postcolonialisms 79 v CONTENTS chapter six Multiculturalism and Reconciliation in Joy Kogawa’s Obasan 91 chapter seven Multicultural Postmodernities in Michael Ondaatje’s In the Skin of a Lion 105 chapter eight Dismissing Canada in Jeannette Armstrong’s Slash 113 conclusion to part two 135 part three canada in the world 137 introduction to part three 139 chapter nine Transnational Multitudes 143 chapter ten Mainstreaming Multiculturalism? The Giller Prize 157 chapter eleven Global Subjectivities in Roy Miki’s Surrender 169 chapter twelve Writing Past Belonging in Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For 179 conclusion to part three 201 conclusion Transnational Canadas 203 bibliography 211 index 225 vi acknowledgements A book is a collaborative, even communal effort. This book would not exist without the communities that have contributed to it.Thanks are due to everyone who read all or part of this project since its humble begin- nings in my doctoral work,my supervisor,Linda Hutcheon,and commit- tee members Heather Murray and Daniel Heath Justice foremost among them.My gratitude goes out to those who have helped me work with this material in other ways:Len Findlay served as the external examiner ofthe original dissertation, and Smaro Kamboureli continues to be a hugely important supporter.They gave me invaluable feedback on aspects ofmy thinking and writing,as did (alphabetically speaking) David Chariandy, Chantal Fiola,Manina Jones,Maia Joseph,Lindy Ledohowski,Jody Mason, Ashok Mathur, Katherine McKittrick, Andrea Medovarski, Roy Miki, Caroline Rueckert,Jessica Schagerl,Rinaldo Walcott,and Kristen Warder. I am grateful,moreover,for the communities in which I have lived and worked while completing this project,and have nothing but gratitude for Melina Baum Singer, Allison Burgess, Sean Carrie, Anthony Collins, Rohanna Green,Em Harding,Krysta Harding,Anna Lidstone,Eli Mac- Laren,Elysha Mawji,Arti Mehta,and Archana Rampure.All ofthese peo- ple have helped my thinking and writing in one way or another,although any flaws that remain here are necessarily mine. Earlier versions ofportions ofPart Three appeared in two installments inStudies for Canadian Literature;many thanks are due to the editors and readers ofthe journal.I am further indebted to my colleagues and mentors vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS past and present in the Department ofEnglish at the University ofToronto, in the School ofEnglish and Theatre Studies at the University ofGuelph, and in the Department ofEnglish at Dalhousie University,as wellas to the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada and the Killam Trusts.Wilfrid Laurier University Press deserves a great deal of gratitude for taking me on as a first-time,upstart author,Lisa Quinn in particular,and the feedback from my two anonymous readers at the press was invaluable. Thanks are also very much due to my ever-supportive parents,Debbie and Keith,my sister,Beth,and my daughters,Alexandra and Clementine, both ofwhom arrived during the writing ofthis book.This book is dedi- cated to my indefatigable partner,Aubrey Hanson,who remains my most thorough and thoughtful critic,and a constant source ofinspiration and conspiration. viii introduction Globalization and Canadian Literature InDavid Chariandy’s2007novel,Soucouyant,the protagonist silences his black Caribbean mother’s conversation with her own memories by insist- ing that “there are no ghosts”in the Scarborough,Ontario,neighbourhood in which they live.1In a sense,he is right:there have not been any ghosts in that mostly white society that they can recognize for themselves.The ghosts there are those of the white families and the Indigenous people who came before them.At the same time,the protagonist’s mother,Adele, in her creeping dementia,is letting ghosts from her past in both Canada and Trinidad take on a life oftheir own.Trinidadian spirits like the vam- piric soucouyant of the book’s title are becoming,in Chariandy’s narra- tive,part ofthe Canadian psychosocial landscape. Chariandy’s protagonist’s words are a direct echo of ones spoken by the character Mr.D–– in Susanna Moodie’s 1852 Roughing It in the Bush. Mr.D––states famously that “there are no ghosts in Canada”because “the country is too new for ghosts.”2Mr.D–– means,of course,white ghosts, those of the settler community that is beginning to clear the lands through which Moodie travels.In a dialogue that David Chariandy was generous enough to conduct with me about his novel,he acknowledged ix