Where Are the Voices Coming From?: Canadian Culture and the Legacies of History(73 Cross/Cultures)

This collection of essays focuses on Canadian history and its legacies as represented in novels and films in English and French, produced in Canada mainly in the 1980s and 1990s. The approach is both cross-cultural and interdisciplinary, aiming at articulating Canadian differences through a comparison of anglophone and francophone cultures, illustrated by works treating some of the different groups which make up Canadian society – English-Canadian, Québecois, Acadian, Native, and ethnic minorities. The emphasis is on the problematic representation of Canadianness, which is closely bound up with constructions of history and its legacies – dispossession, criminality, nomadism, Gothicism, the Maritime. The English/French language difference is emblematic of Canadian difference; the two-part arrangement, with one section on Literature and the other on Film, sets up the pattern of relationships between the two forms of cultural representation that these essays explore. Essays in the Literature section are on single texts by such writers as: Margaret Atwood, Tomson Highway, Ann-Marie MacDonald, Anne Michaels, and Alice Munro; Gabrielle Roy, Anne Hébert, Antonine Maillet, Bernard Assiniwi, and Régine Robin. The Film section with its mirror structure both supplements and amplifies this dialogue, extending notions of Canadianness with its emphasis on voices from Quebec and Acadia traditionally ‘othered’ in Canadian history. Filmmakers treated include: Phillip Borsos, Atom Egoyan, Ted Kotcheff, Mort Ransen, and Vincent Ward; Denys Arcand, Gilles Carle, Alanis Obomsawin, Léa Pool, and Jacques Savoie.

Table of Contents:
Preface and Acknowledgements Introduction PART I: LITERATURE 1 Stories of Wilderness and Settlement Alice Munro’s Heritage Narratives — Coral Ann Howells Gabrielle Roy: La Petite Poule d’Eau — Peter Noble 2 History and Its Secrets: Criminality and Violence Margaret Atwood: Alias Grace — Coral Ann Howells Anne Hébert: Kamouraska and Les Fous de Bassan — Peter Noble 3 Maritime Gothic Ann–Marie MacDonald: Fall On Your Knees —Coral Ann Howells Antonine Maillet: Crache à pic and Mariaagélas —Peter Noble 4 History and Dispossession: First Nations Writers Bernard Assiniwi: Le Bras-Coupé —Peter Noble Tomson Highway: Kiss of the Fur Queen —Coral Ann Howells 5 Nomadism and History Régine Robin: La Québécoite —Peter Noble Anne Michaels: Fugitive Pieces —Coral Ann Howells PART II: FILM 6 Stories of Wilderness and Settlement Gilles Carle: Maria Chapdelaine —Tony Simons Atom Egoyan: The Sweet Hereafter —David Hutchison 7 History and Its Secrets: Criminality and Violence Denys Arcand: Jésus de Montréal —Tony Simons Phillip Borsos: The Grey Fox —David Hutchison 8 Maritime Gothic Mort Ransen: Margaret’s Museum —Scott Henderson Jacques Savoie: Massabielle —Tony Simons 9 History and Dispossession: First Nations Themes Alanis Obomsawin: Kanehsatake —Tony Simons Vincent Ward: Map of the Human Heart —Scott Henderson 10 Nomadism and History Léa Pool: Anne Trister —Tony Simons Ted Kotcheff: The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz — Scott Henderson Conclusion Notes on Contributors

About the Author :
CORAL ANN HOWELLS is Professor of English and Canadian Literature at the University of Reading, UK. She has written and lectured extensively on Canadian writing in English.

Review :
"…a well-edited book…a notable contribution to the continuing discussion on the importance of Canada’s past and its dialogic representation in literature and film." - in: Anglistik, Vol. 18, No. 1 (2007) "…welcome addition […] to the international scholarship on Canadian literature…." - in: English Studies in Canada, Vol. 31, No. 4 (2005)