Visions of Canada Visions du Canada Edited and with a foreword by / Rédaction et avant-propos par Catherine Bates Graham Huggan Milena Marinkova Jeffrey Orr Canadian Studies in Europe Études Canadiennes en Europe Volume 6 Published by The Central European Association for Canadian Studies in collaboration with Masaryk University, Brno 2007 ISBN 978-80-210-4243-8 ISSN 1214-0562 © 2007, The Central European Association for Canadian Studies Editor Catherine Bates Graham Huggan Milena Marinkova Jeffrey Orr Technical editing Catherine Bates Jeffrey Orr Petr Vurm 1st edition, 2007 All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or means, electronic, mechanical, recording or otherwise, without prior permission of the publisher and appropriate contributors. This publication was made possible thanks to a grant from the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade of Canada. Printed and bound by Masaryk University Press, Areál VUT Kraví Hora, 602 00 Brno, Czech Republic 55-958-2007 02/58 2/FF Contents Table des matiéres ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS v INTRODUCTION ix States of Violence Jan Wechmann • The Great Canadian Myth Exposed: The 1972 Summit Series in Diplomatic and Domestic Perspective 1 Alex Ramon • Domestic Violence? A Reassessment of the Fiction of Carol Shields 19 Anna Szczepaniak • The place of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police in the perception of Canada as a ‘safe place’ 35 Elena Clemente • Place and Resistance in Canadian Speculative Fiction: Castaways in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and Nalo Hopkinson’s Midnight Robber 51 Intersections of Canadian Identity Patrick Farges • In between the cracks of the Canadian Mosaic: Culture and Identity of German-speaking Exiles in Canada, 1933-2003 67 Cristina Petras • Alternance des marqueurs discursifs but et mais dans un corpus acadien de la Nouvelle-Ecosse : double emploi ou spécialisation sémantique / pragmatique? 87 Yvonne Völkl • Solitude entraînée par la guerre dans Un amour maladroit et La femme de Loth de Monique Bosco 103 Fanny Macé • Identité(s) métisse(s) canadienne(s): cadre 119 Delphine Jeanroy • Atanarjuat : représentation cinématographique d’une identité inuit contemporaine 135 Chloé Collin • Dis-covering the Arctic: Revisions of the Arctic Landscape in Postmodern Canadian Literature 149 Bodies of Knowledge/Places of Resistance Sabine Schlüter • Bodies, Bowels and B-Movies: The Grotesque Depiction of Violence in Two Plays by George F. Walker 163 Krzysztof Majer • Birth by Fire: Violent Reshaping in Mark Anthony Jarman’s Short Story, “Burn Man on a Texas Porch” 175 Natalie Diebschlag • Reading Michael Ondaatje’s The English Patient in light of “The Death of the Author” 189 Justyna Kucharska • Diasporic Cinema as a Double- Palimpsest. Bollywood/Hollywood by Deepa Mehta 207 Reading beyond identity Niina Holm • Performative Gender Identity in Margaret Atwood’s Cat’s Eye 223 Donna McCormack • A Queer Postcolonial Space: Forging Ethical Practices Out of Violence in Shani Mootoo’s Literary Works 237 Emma Smith • “Can you listen before you hear?”: Responsible Reading and the Politics of Second-Person Narration in Hiromi Goto’s Chorus of Mushrooms 251 NOTES ON CONTRIBUTORS 269 iv Acknowledgements As the essays in this collection testify, Canadian Studies in Europe is as rich and diverse as it has ever been. The commitment and talent of young graduate Canadianists are integral to the continuing scholarly interest in Canada, and so it is important for these students to be given the opportunity to share ideas and feel part of a larger academic community. Consequently, the European Seminar for Graduate Students in Canadian Studies has been set up as an annual event which is hosted by a different European Canadian Studies Centre each year, providing young Canadianists with the chance to present their work to others in their field. From 8-11 September 2005 the 14th European Seminar for Graduate Students in Canadian Studies was held at York St John College, organised by the School of English at the University of Leeds, the British Association of Canadian Studies (BACS) and the European Network for Canadian Studies (ENCS/REEC). Additional and much needed financial support was provided by the University of Leeds Centre for Canadian Studies, the AHRC Centre for Cultural Analysis Theory and History, the University of Leeds Institute for Colonial and Postcolonial Studies and the Canadian High Commission. To give the conference a focus the theme ‘Visualising Violence’ was suggested, which some speakers engaged with, whilst others chose to present on Canadian Studies more generally. Twenty-five students gave papers; the relatively small number allowed for an intimate and supportive atmosphere, enabling the students to receive ample feedback and make contacts which will undoubtedly enhance their future research. Our priority when choosing the participants was to ensure the seminar would address a number of disciplines in an interrogative and thoughtful way, whilst also ensuring students from the whole of Europe would be represented. In addition, we were happy to continue the tradition of having a student from the Latin American Seminar for Canadian Studies (SEMINECAL) present a paper, helping European students build connections with Canadian associations beyond Europe. There are many people whose help made this conference as productive and stimulating as it was. The chairs, Conny Steenman- Marcuse, Keith Battarbee, Michelle Gadpaille, Rachel Killick and Donna McCormack provided invaluable support to the delegates contributing to the success of the conference. In addition, thanks are v due to the two keynote speakers: Paul Kennedy, host of the IDEAS programme for Canadian Broadcasting Corporation Radio, and Valerie Alia, Running Stream Professor of Ethics and Identity at Leeds Metropolitan University. In addition to giving fascinating talks and readings, both speakers participated in the conference discussions, attending and responding to papers. Further support was given to the conference by Gareth Jackson, Jodie Robson, Administrator of BACS; Itesh Sachdev, President of BACS; and Vivien Hughes and William Lawton of the Canadian High Commission. Furthermore, Stuart Murray, Sue Baker and Sharon Kyriacou from the School of English at the University of Leeds provided logistical support, whilst the friendly professionalism of the staff at York St John College ensured the smooth running of the event. Finally, we must acknowledge those who have helped to put together these conference proceedings. Rachel Killick, Patrick Farges and Natalie Diebschlag provided much needed expertise when it came to proofreading and translating the French articles and abstracts, whilst Don Sparling, of the European Network for Canadian Studies, supplied the final guidelines needed to complete the book and Marasyk Press contributed the time, expertise and facilities for producing the publication. And, of course, without the conference delegates who gave and submitted papers this event could not have happened. So our biggest thanks go to them for their enthusiastic and scholarly commitment to Canadian Studies. Catherine Bates, Graham Huggan, Milena Marinkova, Jeffrey Orr Conference Organising Committee Leeds, 2006 vi Remerciements Comme le montrent les articles de cette collection, les Études Canadiennes en Europe sont plus riches et variées que jamais. L’attachement et le talent des jeunes canadianistes diplômés sont constitutifs d’un intérêt intellectuel constant pour le Canada, et il est donc important de donner aux étudiants l’occasion de partager leurs idées et de se sentir membres d’une communauté académique étendue. Par conséquent, le Séminaire Européen des Étudiant(e)s Diplômé(e)s en Études Canadiennes a été créé en tant qu’évènement annuel, organisé par un centre d’Études Canadiennes Européen différent chaque année, ce qui donne aux jeunes canadianistes l’occasion de présenter leur travail à leurs co-disciplinaires. Du 8 au 11 septembre 2005, le 14ème Séminaire Européen des Étudiant(e)s Diplômé(e)s en Études Canadiennes à eu lieu au York St John College, organisé par le département d’anglais de l’Université de Leeds, l’Association Britannique d’Études Canadiennes (BACS) et le Réseau Européen d’Études Canadiennes (ENCS/REEC). Un soutien financier supplémentaire et très bienvenu a été apporté par le Centre des Études Canadiennes de l’Université de Leeds, le Centre AHRC de Théorie et Histoire de l’Analyse Culturelle, l’Institut d’Études Coloniales et Postcoloniales de l’Université de Leeds et le Haut-commissariat du Canada. Un thème a été suggéré pour la conférence, ‘Visualising Violence’ (‘s’imaginer la violence’), auquel se sont attelés quelques conférenciers, les autres préférant parler des Études Canadiennes plus généralement. Vingt-cinq étudiants ont présenté des articles ; leur nombre assez réduit a créé une ambiance intime et bienveillante, permettant aux étudiants de recevoir d’abondantes réactions et de faire des rencontres qui amélioreront sans doute leurs recherches à venir. Notre priorité, lors du choix des participants, était d’assurer que le séminaire traiterait un grand nombre de disciplines d’une manière interrogatrice et réfléchie, en assurant également la participation d’étudiants de tous les pays d’Europe. Nous avons de plus eu la joie de perpétuer la tradition d’entendre un étudiant du Séminaire Latino-américain d’Études Canadiennes (SEMINECAL), ce qui aide les étudiants européens à créer des liens avec les associations