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Rudy Wiebe As Novelist: Witness and Critic, Without Apology

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Rudy Wiebe As Novelist: Witness and Critic, Without Apology RUDY WIEBE AS NOVELIST: WITNESS AND CRITIC, WITHOUT APOLOGY T.W. Smyth A thesis subrniited in conformity with the requirements for the Ph.D. degree Centre for the Study of Religion University of Toronto @ Copyright by T.W. Smyth 1997 National Library Bibliothèque nationale of Canada du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitions et Bibliographic Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington WwaON K1AON4 OttawaON K1A ON4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive permettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distribute or sell reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/a, de reproduction sur papier ou sur format électronique. The author retains ownership of the L'auteur conserve la propriété du copyright in this thesis. Neither the droit d'auteur qui protège cette thèse. thesis nor substantial extracts fkom it Ni la thèse ni des extraits substantiels may be printed or otherwise de celle-ci ne doivent être imprimés reproduced without the author' s ou autrement reproduits sans son permission. autorisation. ABSTRACT RUDY WIEBE AS NOVELIST: WITNESS AND CRITIC, WITHOUT APOLOGY SMYTH, T.W. (PhB. 1997) CENTRE FOR THE STUDY OF RELIGION, UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO A typological reading of Rudy Wiebe's MJ Lovelv Enemy and A Discovery cf Stranaers reveals an implicit witness to the Christ of the Incarnation and a sustained critique of both church and state. His method of indirection favours parabolic fom in a promotion of meaning. The dissertation begins with an exploration of the influence of John Howard Yoder. as spokesperson for an Anabaptist theology that, while emphasizing discipleship over faith. is founded solidly on a Christocentric orthodoxy as articulated by the Swiss theologian Karl Barth. The cornplex interna] dynamics of Wiebe's texts are examined in the light of the theoretical pnnciples articulated by the Russian Mikhail Bakhtin. Afier a brief discussion of the complexity of typology, and its role in The Blue Mountains of China, the continuity of Wiebe's writing is explored in a typological reading of -The Tern~tations of Big Bear, The Scorched-Wood People, and The Mad Trao~er. MY Lovel~Enernv is understood as a complex intertextual labyrinth (reflecting a sustained Kroetschian playfulness) seemingly focussed on a contemporary banal affair. In an exploration of a Christian understanding of love, the parabolic witness of the prophet Hosea's unfailing forgiveness of the unfaithfül Gomar to the promise of divine forgiveness of a wayward Israel becomes the hermeneutic due to the Incarnation as the typological mesure of Wiebe's text. -A Discovew Stranaers, an imaginative retelling of the meeting of the Yellowknife Indians and the 18 19-22 Franklin expedition on Canada's arctic tundra, founded on extensive use of the officers' joumals and Dene Indian stories, explores western civilization's propensity to impose order on an inherently strange world and to reduce the other to the sarne. Wiebe's adaptation of the White documents leads to a metaphonzation of the narrative. Through the parable of the Good Samantan, the sacrifice of the incarnated Christ is revealed as intrinsic to a reading of this discovery of strangers. iii CONTENTS Preface Abbreviations Chapter 1: Theological Context Chapter II: Literary Con text Chapter III: Typological Reading Chapter IV: " Where Is The Voice Coming Frorn?" Chapter V: Earlier Novels (1973-1980) The Tcrnptations of Big Bcar The Scorchcd-Wood Pcoplc Thc Mad Tnppcr Chapter VI: My Lovely Enerny Thc Band Afhir Largcr Meanings "île Black Rridgc" Indircction and the Parabic Dcsccnt and Rtsurrcclion Chapter VII: A Discovery Of Strangers The Picturesque and Strangcncss Documcnt and Art The Nmtivc as Parable Afterword No tes Appendix 1: The Repudiation Of Neo-Kantianism Appendix 2: Free Indirect Speech In "Over The Red Line" Appendir 3: Cornparison Of A Discovery Of Strangers With Patrick White's Voss Works Cited PREFACE This study amse fiom an appreciation of the density and challenge of Wiebe's -ly Lovelv Enemy. His willingness in that novel to put himself at risk, particularly as a confessing Mennonite, by tackling subjects often considered taboo, and to measure hem creatively against his Christian faith, had immense personal appeai. That appreciation has been heightened, first, by reading his rnost recent novel, & Discovery Strangers, and then by reading both novels in the context of the theological writings of John Howard Yoder, his confessed theological mentor. These and other diverse secondary works, especiaily those of Yoder's own theological teacher, Karl Barth, of Graham Ward and Jean-Luc Marion, and the reflections on novelistic discourse by Mikhail Bakhtin, have served to reveal the eminence of Wiebe's crafi, bis commitment to the Other, and his remarkable sensitivity to the problems and possibilities of literary witness. (See "Appendix 1'3 I cannot adequately thank Charles Lock and W.J. Keith for their supervisoiy de,each in his own way, in the preparation of this thesis, particularly for their patience throughout the whole process. While I am ultimately responsible for the text as it stands, those conversant with the work of these scholars will recognize their individual marks upon it; its strengths reflect their influence. Others to whom 1 owe a major debt of gratitude include Dennis Duw, John Howard Yoder, Leslie Lewis, Robert Hulse, Ken Hewitt, Scott Couling, beWright and, of course, rny wife and family. ACW 'The Artist as a Critic and a Witness" BMC --The Blue Mountains of China DOS -A Discoverv of Strangers MLE My Lovely Enemy PDM --Peace Shall Destroy Many SWP -The Scorched-Wood People ---- ---- -------- TBB 'The Temutations of Big Bear UL "Unearthi;ig Language: An Interview with Rudy Wiebe and Robert Kroetsch" WVCF Where is the Voice Coming From?" INTRODUCTION As John Howard Yoder has infonned mei, Rudy Wiebe expressed chagrin upon the appearance of some early reviews of MY Lovel~Enemy - many voicing bafflement, disenchantment, and even shock. In one of the first assessments, Mark Abley, writing for Maclean's, accuses Wiebe of "los[uig] control of his language," of "vacillations of subject and tone," views the novel as "tom between the realistic and the visionary," and concludes with the dismissive judgment - "It is difficult to take seriously a novel whose central revelation is 'A man was made to love woman on al1 fours7'' (56). In another magazine review, this one Ui Chatelaine, Judith Timson is equally unenthusiastic, citing "an irritating Stream of consciousness style," as she dismisses it as "an eamest but not particularly enjoyable novel" that "meanders, none too successfully, back and forth between the present ... and the past" (6). As far as Wiebe was concemed, MY Lovely Enemv contains çufficient dues to prornote a carefirl elucidation of the text; clearly, these had not been grasped. The scathing comments by David Lyle Jeffiey in a literary journal late in 1983 would have been particularly disappoin~g- Lovelv Enem~lseems, indeed, to be as unfnendly as any book could be to its author's hard-eamed reputation ....[it] is cliché-ridden, hackneyed, and trite in its ultirnate statement" - since Jeffrey himself was arnong those who "only recently celebrated... that reputation" ("Lost Voice" 1 L 1). Earlier, he had assessed Wiebe's The Blue Mountains of China as "by any standard a remarkable novel, one of the best in this country in our time ...probably the most dernanding novel English speaking Canada has yet produced" ("Search" 185- 186). This thesis contends that such misRadings of MJ Lovely Enemv - misreadings that continue - attest to the critics' failure to read carefully and perceptively. This novel is not a tentative early effort but the product of an established author. His previous writings should have provided some intimations, particularly to criticdl y- infomed readexs, as to how t hi s text rnight be read. 1t is no aberration; along with its successor, A Discoverv of Stranrrers, it continues to challenge a limited perception of reality, encouraging "a whole new way of seeing" the world. As a critic of both church and society, Wiebe continues to witness to a radical Christian faith, without apology, in either the popular sense of 'confessing fault' or the technical sense of explaining his position. In his early essay "The Artist as a Critic and a Witness" (1965) written while at the Mennonite college at Goshen in Indiana, Wiebe articulates the nature of that roie, stating explicitly that his faith in Jesus Christ is "the foundation Stone of al1 my thought patterns" (41). His readers have been given no reason to think he has since changed his mind. The 'radicality' of Wiebe's position is such that, as Susan Whaley claims, his Christiauity "informs" (Whaley 3 16) his work in that it permeates his writing and is its raison d'être. Further, W. J. Keith is nght in claiming that "the emphasis [in his aovels] is always on the individual believer rather than on the articles of faith in which he believes" (Intro BMC n.pag.), but only in so far as Wiebe is concemed more with what the believer does than with what he confesses. One cannot, or should not, assume, however, that at any tirne Christ, the object of faith, is not both the ultimate focus and the measure of his writing. One cannot, for exarnple, see hirn in one instance as interested in general social or ethical issues, and at another as espousing specifically Christian concem. Whether he is wrïting about Big Bear, Almighty Voice, James Dyck, or Greenstockings, what he understands of Chnst is always the controlling paradigm.
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