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Innovation Within the Modern Short Story Through the Interaction of Gender, Nationality, and Genre: Margaret Atwood's Wilderness Tips and Alice Munro's Open Secrets

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Innovation Within the Modern Short Story Through the Interaction of Gender, Nationality, and Genre: Margaret Atwood's Wilderness Tips and Alice Munro's Open Secrets INNOVATION WITHIN THE MODERN SHORT STORY THROUGH THE INTERACTION OF GENDER, NATIONALITY, AND GENRE: MARGARET ATWOOD'S WILDERNESS TIPS AND ALICE MUNRO'S OPEN SECRETS ROSALIE MARY WEAVER A Thesis Submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree of DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Department of English University of Manitoba Winnipeg, Manitoba (c) June, 1996 National Library Bibliothéque nationale du Canada Acquisaiins and Acquisitions et BibliographicServices servicesbibliographiques 395 Wellington Street 395, nie Weilington O!tawaON K1AW WONK1AûN4 Canada Canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive licence allowing the exclusive mettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, distriiute or seli reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microficheInIm, 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 fiom 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. THE fTNIVERSm OF MANITOBA F'ACULTY OF GRADUATE STUDIES **a** COPYRIGHï PERMISSION PAGE A Thesidfracticum submittcd to the Facolty of Graduate Studies of The University of Manitoba in partial fiilfiUment ifthe rrguiremenb of the degree of Rosalie Mary Weaver 1997 (c) Permission bas been granted to the Library of The University of Manitoba to lend or sel1 copies of this thesis/practicum, to the National Library of Canada to microfilm this thesis and to lend or sel1 copies of the film, and to Dissertations Abstracts International to publish an abstract of this tbesidpracticum. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither thW thesis/practicum nor extensive extracb from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author's writtea permission. Weaver 1 TABLE OF CONTENTS Page ABSTRACT 2 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 3 INTRODUCTION: Critical Perspectives and Theoretical Approaches 4 CHAPTER ONE: Overview of the Short Story 24 CHAPTER TWO: Part 1: "An Inescapable Doubleness of Visionn: Margaret Atwood's Views on the Colonizing Effects of Gender and Nationality 53 Part II: Wildemess Ti~s:"Only. the Beginning of Something Elsen 70 CHAPTER THREE: Part 1: "Who Do You Think You Are?": Alice Munro's Views on Gender and Nationality 122 Part Il: Open Secrets: "Sudden Holes and Impromptu Tricks and Radiant Vanishing Consolationsn 135 CHAPTER FOUR: The Narrative of Community: Strategies for Survival 199 CONCLUSION 258 WORKS ClTED 264 Weaver 2 ABSTRACT INNOVATION WlTHlN THE MODERN SHORT STORY THROUGH THE INTERACTION OF GENDER, NATIONALITY, AND GENRE: MARGARET ATWOOD'S WILDERNESS TIPS AND ALlCE MUNRO'S OPEN SECRETS Through its review of the evolution of the short story and its application of feminist, postmodemist, Reader-response theory, and New Historicism to the recent short-story collections of Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, this thesis assetts that both late twentieth-century writers are innovaton within the short- story genre. Short-story critics' continuous disagreement over definition due to the hybrid nature of the short story is seen as analogous to Canadian women writen' ongoing concerns with issues of identity related specifically to gender and nationality. In Wildemess Tips and Open Secrets, Atwood's and Munro's problematization of gender and national identity correlates with their choice of genre. In their hands, the ensuing interaction of gender, nationality, and genre becomes a transfomative force for innovation within the modem short story. Furtherrnore, Atwood's and Munro's innovations within the modem short story build upon Sandra Zagarell's description of the narrative of community, a genre which flourished in the late nineteenth and early twentieth century, was written mostly by women, and focused on "expanding the story of human connection and continuity." Atwood and Munro use the communal narrative strategies of folktale, legend, and gossip, as well as the traditional narrative patterns of the Romance with its masculine concept of idenity, as departure points to the production of intemal innovations that energize the short-story genre as it enters a new millenium. Weaver 3 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS I would like to thank my family for its support and encouragement of rny long-terni commitment to this project: my parents, Vincent and Rosalie Nonnemacher, who encouraged my delight in reading and dreaming; my husband, William Weaver, whose dedication to this work was as great as mine; my children, Caitlin and Owen, who believed in me. I am grateful for the nuiture and advice of my colleagues and friends: Marjorie Anderson, Margaret Shaw-McKinnon, and Carol Shields. Their enthusiasm sustained me. Sharon Miltich's sensible and brilliant comments carried me to the conclusion of this thesis. I would also like to thank Dr. Evelyn Hinz, my advisor, for her exceptional vision, generous patience, and editorial insight. Without her support, this work would not have been possible. Weaver 4 INTRODUCTION Critical Perspectives and Theoretical Approaches This study focuses on two intemationally acclaimed writers, Margaret Atwood and Alice Munro, and their use of the short-story genre to explore issues of identity related to gender and nationality. It is my belief that the intersection of genre, gender and nationality in their wok creates a narrative energy that enables them to transfomi the modem shoit-story form. The result is a new, more flexible framework that challenges the modem short story's preoccupation with the single self caught up in a lonely struggle for survival. I will also argue that Atwood's and Munro's attention to a more open-ended narrative fortn, and a more creative and collective vision of self, yields a 'new" genre that expands the possibilities of the human story, and is better equipped to deal with the complexities of life as we move from the end of the twentieth century into the new millennium. My discussion is divided in four chapters: the first presents an overview of the short story's evolution into the twentieth century; the second and third chapters focus on Atwood and Munro, respectively, and explore the confluence of their critical theories with their short fiction; the fourth chapter looks at both writers together and explores how their use of the "collection" format signifies a new direction in the evolution of the short story. In the remainder of this introduction, I will attempt to provide a theoretical and general context for my subsequent specific discussion of Atwood and Munro, devoting a brief section to each of the three main components on which I will be focusing--i.e., genre, gender, nationality-and showing how they generally interrelate. Following this, is a brief section outlining what various critics have said about the renewal of the short story. The final section atternpts Weaver 5 to describe my methodology. Genre The history of the short story is filled with contradiction, a characteristic which can be seen to have a two-fold effect on the genre, at once irnbuing the short story fonn with a kind of literary energy, while at the same time destabilizing its status in the literaiy canon. For example, one hundred years ago the shoit story rose dramatically in commercial success only to encounter critical resistance to canonical acceptance. The success derived from the way that Poe's theorizing led to a recognition of the short story as a definite literary type at the same time that his identifications of its components were tumed into a formula employed by popular writers like O. Henry. This situation, in tum, led to the critical assessment of the short story as a lesser genre in comparison to poetry, drama, or the novel, just as no sooner did the short story acquire literary status than critics began to bemoan the "decline, the decay, and the senility" of the genre (May 6). Today, a century after the laments of critics and the genre's continued existence in the shadow of the novel, drama and poetry, the shott story is said to be experiencing a renaissance. "Literature has a way of adopting the fons that suit its time best" explains Patricia Hampl, in her preface to a 1989 anthology: "Our time has embraced the short story and found it wonderfully reliable. It is a small fom, but not a minor genre these days" (xlvii). It may be, however, that this wam reception is more indicative of the short story's continuing instability than it is any sign of its easy settling into the canon. Perhaps the short story's real attraction in Our time lies in its continued refusal of generic definition. One such sign of resistance is the short stoty's hybrid quality, which is Weaver 6 apparent, argues Valerie Shaw, through the genre's "affinity with other art fotmsn (vii), such as the more conventional genres of poetry, drama and the novel. This generic shape-shifting contributes an elusiveness to the short stoiy that early critics of the genre recognized and attempted to claim as a distinguishing mark of the "modemn short story. Edgar Allan Poe, for example, was impressed with the short story's ability to cross generic boundaries between lync poetry and prose fiction, and Henry James was fascinated by the short story's pliability and variety: "By doing short things I can do so many. touch so many subjects, break out in so many places, handle so many threads of life" (Shaw 105-06). In their search for a definition of the short story, Poe, James, and others, succeeded in emphasizing the genre's indefinite and mutable qualities.
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