A Medieval New World: Nation-Making in Early Canadian Literature, 1789-1870
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A Medieval New World: Nation-Making in Early Canadian Literature, 1789-1870 by Elana Laurel Aislinn Ryan A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of English University of Toronto © Copyright by Elana Laurel Aislinn Ryan 2015 A Medieval New World: Nation-Making in Early Canadian Literature, 1789-1870 Elana Laurel Aislinn Ryan Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Toronto 2015 Abstract This thesis examines how medievalist narratives of nationhood developed in the early days of English Canadian literature, from 1789-1870. Early Canadian authors imagined a past for Canada tied not to the land but to cultural memory; they created a medieval history for Canada by adapting European medieval myth and legend. Adaptation was a powerful tool in the hands of authors struggling to negotiate North America’s multiple colonial relationships: it allowed them to embrace European cultural histories, to stake a claim to those Old World cultural inheritances, while simultaneously appropriating those histories into new narratives for the New World. This project, as the first large-scale study of medievalism in Canada, involved finding and cataloguing instances of medievalism in Canadian literature. The trends explored in this thesis are based on 443 works of Canadian medievalism published between 1789 and 1870. Chapter One analyzes Canada’s first literary magazines in the late eighteenth century. Responding to revolutions on both sides of the Atlantic, these magazines advocated a revolution not of arms but of manners, with medieval chivalric codes as the exemplar. ii Chapter Two turns to the literary aftermath of the Napoleonic Wars and the War of 1812. These wars instilled in many Canadian authors anxieties not only about France and the United States, but also about the role of empire in the modern world. In this new world order, medievalism became a source of validation, a keystone that held together a nation or empire’s history from antiquity to the modern day. Chapter Three examines the reemergence of French-oriented medievalism after the failed rebellions of 1837-1838 and the ensuing unification of the Canadas. In the hands of English Canadian authors, even sympathetic French characters were stuck in the past, thus relegating their roles in Canada to those of cultural progenitors but not modern political participants. Chapter Four, on the period leading up to and immediately following Confederation, examines the expansion of racialized narratives of Canadianness to include pan-British and pan- northern conceptions of Canadianness. This northern identity particularly embraced Canada’s history of Viking contact as integral to the nation’s hardy northern character. iii Acknowledgments This thesis was generously funded by a Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada Joseph-Armand Bombardier Canada Graduate Scholarship, a Dr. Ranbir Singh Khanna Ontario Graduate Scholarship in Canadian Studies, a Kathleen Coburn Graduate Admission Award at the University of Toronto, and a University of Toronto Doctoral Completion Award. Sincere thanks to my supervisory committee for their help throughout the project. Heather Murray’s thoughtful guidance has shaped not only my scholarship but also my approach to academia in many ways: thank you for modeling the type of scholar I hope to become. Nick Mount’s knowledge of Canadian literary society helped buttress the project’s literary foundations. Thanks to Will Robins for believing in the success of the project from the beginning, and for helping me share it with the world of medieval studies. The feedback of my examining committee, including Colin Hill and Lynne Magnusson, has helped me imagine new directions of research emerging from this project. I particularly appreciate Cynthia Sugars’ thoughtful and thorough report, as well as her enthusiastic support of my other projects in development. Thanks also to Russell Poole for inspiring my love of the medieval world, to Nandi Bhatia for teaching me to think across national boundaries, and to Karis Shearer and Richard Moll for sharing their troves of Canadian medievalism. I am grateful for the assistance of many friends who doubled as study partners and editors. Special thanks to Kailin Wright, Gillian Bright, and Leif Einarson for their keen iv editorial eyes, and to Jenny O’Kell, Melanie East, and Marci Prescott-Brown for sharing this journey with me. Noelle Gadon, Erin Reynolds Webster, Jude Welburn, and Christina Galego made studying for comprehensive exams not only productive but also enjoyable. Thank you to MaryAnne Mason, Laurie Jennings, and Zheng Shao for their constant encouragement and for reminding me that there is a world outside academia. My family deserves recognition for the myriad ways in which they have both directly and indirectly supported this project; the following can express only a small fraction of my gratitude. Thanks to my brother, Colan Ryan, for understanding the process and for bringing the family together on many occasions, to Kish and Gord Kightley for giving me another home, and to Kristin Kightley for helping me transition to the professional side of academia. Finally, my most heartfelt thanks to my husband, Michael Kightley, and my parents, Leonard and Kathleen Ryan. Thank you for eagerly reading all of my work, and for encouraging me every step of the way; most of all, thank you for your love and support. I dedicate this thesis to you. v Table of Contents Acknowledgments .............................................................................................................. iv List of Figures ................................................................................................................... vii List of Appendices ........................................................................................................... viii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 The Database and Some Broad Trends in Early Canadian Medievalism .................................................................................. 19 Chapter 1. Quebec, Nova Scotia, and the New Canada: the Beginnings, 1789-1794 .................................................................. 27 Chapter 2. The Aftermath of War: 1800-1835 .................................................................. 78 Chapter 3. Rebellion, Responsible Government, and the French Question: 1837-1848 ........................................................................ 138 Chapter 4. Defining a Nation: 1848-1870 ....................................................................... 189 Conclusion ...................................................................................................................... 245 Works Cited and Consulted ............................................................................................ 251 Appendix. Bibliography of Canadian Medievalism, 1789-1870 .................................... 278 VITA ............................................................................................................................... 309 vi List of Figures Figure 1. Medievalism Produced in British North America by Time Period ................... 20 Figure 2. Distribution of Medievalist Publications by Region ......................................... 22 Figure 3. Distribution by Literary Genre .......................................................................... 23 Figure 4. Sources of Medieval Traditions used in Canadian Publications ....................... 24 Figure 5. Interest in Regional Celticism ........................................................................... 25 Figure 6. “A Sign of the Times” ..................................................................................... 198 Figure 7. “Humours American” ...................................................................................... 199 vii List of Appendices Bibliography of Canadian Medievalism, 1789-1870 ...................................................... 278 viii 1 Introduction In 1815, Sir Walter Scott’s brother Thomas — a military paymaster in Lower Canada — wrote to him about the “literary child” of “an Indian chief” (346): “What do you think of a man speaking the language of about twelve Indian nations, English, French, German, and Spanish, all well, being in possession of all modern literature — having read with delight your Lady of the Lake, and translated the same, together with the Scriptures, into Mohawk[?]” (345). The “Indian chief” in question was the half- Cherokee, half-Scottish John Norton,1 who had been adopted by Joseph Brant [Thayendanegea] into the Mohawk nation at Onondaga on the Grand River in western Upper Canada (Klinck, “Norton, John”). Norton was an author in his own right as well as a translator: his primary literary focus was ethnographic travel writing. Thomas Scott was suitably in awe of his accomplished acquaintance, and although his letter veers into romantic stereotypes of noble savagery, it nevertheless provides an important window into early Canada’s literary cultures; moreover, the letter reveals three of the key premises that underlie this project. First, it suggests the degree to which the business of literature in British North America was, from its very beginnings, an international affair: British North Americans consumed and responded to literature produced on both sides of the Atlantic, and British