DEPARTEMENT DES LETTRES ET COMMUNICATIONS Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines Universite de Sherbrooke POSTMODERNISM'S DEFEAT: BEAUTIFUL LOSERS AND PROCHAIN EPISODE AS POSTCOLONIAL WORKS par LESLIE REMPEL Bacheliere es arts (litterature anglaise) de 1'Universite du Manitoba MEMOIRE PRESENTE en vue de 1'obtention de LA MAiTRISE ES ARTS (LITTERATURE CANADIENNE COMPAREE) Sherbrooke MAI 2010 ' 7-pV/tf Library and Archives Biblioth&que et 1*1 Canada Archives Canada Published Heritage Direction du Branch Patrimoine de l'6dition 395 Wellington Street 395, rue Wellington Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Ottawa ON K1A0N4 Canada Canada Your file Votre r6f6rence ISBN: 978-0-494-65633-4 Our file Notre reference ISBN: 978-0-494-65633-4 NOTICE: AVIS: The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accorde une licence non exclusive exclusive license allowing Library and permettant a la Bibliotheque et Archives Archives Canada to reproduce, Canada de reproduire, publier, archiver, publish, archive, preserve, conserve, sauvegarder, conserver, transmettre au public communicate to the public by partelecommunication o u par I'lnternet, preter, telecommunication or on the Internet, distribuer et vendre des theses partout dans ie loan, distribute and sell theses monde, a des fins commerciales ou autres, sur worldwide, for commercial or non- support microforme, papier, electronique et/ou commercial purposes, in microform, autres formats. paper, electronic and/or any other formats. The author retains copyright L'auteur conserve la propriete du droit d'auteur ownership and moral rights in this et des droits moraux qui protege cette these. Ni thesis. Neither the thesis nor la these ni des extraits substantiels de celle-ci substantial extracts from it may be ne doivent §tre imprimis ou autrement printed or otherwise reproduced reproduits sans son autorisation. without the author's permission. In compliance with the Canadian Conformement a la loi canadienne sur la Privacy Act some supporting forms protection de la vie priv6e, quelques may have been removed from this formulaires secondaires ont ete enleves de thesis. cette these. While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. M Canada Composition du Jury POSTMODERNISM'S DEFEAT: BEAUTIFUL LOSERS AND PROCHAIN EPISODE AS POSTCOLONIAL WORKS LESLIE REMPEL Ce memoire a ete evalue par un jury compose des personnes suivantes: Dr. Patricia Godbout, directrice de recherche Departement des lettres et communications, Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines Dr. Winfried Siemerling, lecteur Departement des lettres et communications, Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines Dr. Robert Edwards, lecteur Departement des lettres et communications, Faculte des lettres et sciences humaines iii Acknowledgements For these past few years, I was lucky enough to be able to work on a subject that has intrigued me throughout my university studies and has been something that I knew that I had to work through so that I could better understand the issue. It was my goal to comprehend two of the most difficult novels in Canadian literature alongside some of the most complex theory. I would like to thank everyone who provided their help as well as an ear throughout the process. To begin, Patricia Godbout, my director has always been there by my side whenever I needed her help. She was always patient and ready to provide assistance but allowed me the distance in order to find what I was looking for myself. I would also like to thank my jury members Winfried Siemerling and Robert Edwards for providing thoughtful insights, which greatly helped improve my focus. It is important to thank my parents and my friends for being such an significant part of my life. Melvin Rempel, my father, Phyllis Toews, my mother, Joanna Daxell and Trudi Lorenz were always being there by my side to listen when I needed to rant about my subject matter. I can't forget to thank Mr. George Aitkens, my grade twelve English teacher and Robert Finnegan, my professor at the University of Manitoba. They both had a great influence on my love for English literature. Finally, I would like to thank my students and colleagues at Marcel-Landry high school. They also remind me of why I was writing this thesis in the first place: to better understand the subject matter thus allowing me to have tools to better instruct them. iv Abstract This thesis investigates Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers and Hubert Aquin's Prochain episode in terms of postcolonial and postmodern theory. These novels are often interpreted as being either one or the other. Critics rarely take into consideration that both of these works have features which can be seen to fit both theories. Both of these authors are valued as some of the more difficult novels to comprehend in terms of Canadian novels making this thesis even more complex and a challenge to write. It made sense to choose to investigate these two works side by side because they have a lot of similarities. Some of these resemblances range from aspects as basic as the time period when the novels were written to the author's methods of using history to make social commentary. It was also important to use two writers from Montreal, each from one of the two solitudes, in order to explore how their novels fit postmodern and postcolonial theories. This theoretical thesis attempts to show how both Leonard Cohen and Hubert Aquin do not use their writing for a nihilistic purpose. Each author uses historical situations to display a hope for new beginnings in the future. Despite all of the literature that exists on both Leonard Cohen and Hubert Aquin, this study tries to show a different interpretation then what has already been done. Mots cles: postmodernism, postcolonialism, Cohen, Aquin, history V Resume La presente these se propose d'etudier les romans Beautiful Losers de Leonard Cohen et Prochain episode d'Hubert Aquin a la lumiere des theories postcoloniales et postmodernes. On interprete souvent ces romans selon l'un ou 1'autre de ces angles d'approche. Les critiques prennent rarement en compte le fait que ces deux ceuvres ont des caracteristiques qui peuvent convenir aux deux cadres theoriques. On estime generalement qu'il s'agit de deux romans tres complexes du corpus litteraire canadien et quebecois, ce qui rend d'autant plus ardu le travail d'analyse de ces ceuvres. L'etude comparative des deux romans se justifie entre autres par les elements qu'ils ont en commun. Ces points de ressemblance incluent la date de publication de ces livres, mais aussi l'utilisation qui est faite par chaque romancier de l'histoire comme outil de commentaire social. II est aussi opportun d'etudier cote a cote l'oeuvre de deux ecrivains montrealais, appartenant a l'une et l'autre des « deux solitudes », afin d'explorer de quelle maniere leur roman s'insere dans les approches theoriques postmodernes et postcoloniales. La presente these se penche done sur des elements theoriques afin de tenter de demontrer que tant Leonard Cohen qu'Hubert Aquin ne se servent pas de leur ecriture a des fins nihilistes. Chaque auteur a recours a des evenements historiques afin de laisser entrevoir un certain espoir en de nouveaux lendemains. Le present memoire tente ainsi de proposer une interpretation differente de Beautiful Losers et de Prochain episode tout en prenant appui sur les etudes anterieures faites sur Leonard Cohen et Hubert Aquin. Mots cles : postmodernism, postcolonialism, Cohen, Aquin, history vi Table of Contents Acknowledgements iii Abstract iv Resume v Introduction: On postmodernism and postcolonialism 1 Postmodernism and postcolonialism's differences 3 Postmodernism and postcolonialism in a Canadian context 5 Some postmodern aspects of Cohen and Aquin's work 7 Chapter one: Beautiful Losers as postcolonial 14 Towards defining postmodernism and postcolonialism 16 How Leonard Cohen's Beautiful Losers is considered 26 Cohen's Form of Religion and his Belief in Love 40 Chapter two: Aquin: Not just another postmodern author... 49 Understanding the postmodern interpretation of Aquin 50 Towards a postcolonial definition of Prochain episode 62 Postmodern and postcolonial structures within Prochain episode 65 The development of the two protagonists 68 Aquin's symbolism and metaphors 76 Prochain episode as postcolonial 80 Conclusion 81 Cohen's belief in history and hope for the future 90 INTRODUCTION: ON POSTMODERNISM AND POSTCOLONIALISM 1 Through my research, I am proposing to analyze the differences between the postmodernist and postcolonialist perspectives on the novels Beautiful Losers by Leonard Cohen and Prochain episode by Hubert Aquin to suggest that these works are postcolonial. Ever since postmodernism arrived on the scene in the late sixties and early seventies, it has consumed and overtaken the intellectual fraction of society in most fields of thought. Postmodernism influences both the arts as well as the social sciences in disciplines such as politics, economics, art, architecture and literature. This change in the way people think has transformed the world into what it has become and continues to be today. While the nineteen sixties brought rebellion and new inventive methods of fighting the system, postmodernist theory became a method to silence it. It was easy for theorists to hide their true intentions behind this new philosophy by glorifying its attempt at inclusiveness as well as other pluralistic benefits. In many contexts, postmodernism prioritizes the features of capitalism rather than those of humanity. It is no longer the meaning or innovation that is important but rather the popularization and selling of ideas in order to eliminate the power behind certain symbols and events. Postcolonialism can be seen to have grown out of postmodernism. Some of the postcolonial discourses and methods of approach are comparable.