By Vanessa Lent Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Dalhousie Universi

“I am not I”: Late Modernism and Metafiction in Canadian Prose by Vanessa Lent Submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Dalhousie University Halifax, Nova Scotia May 2012 © Copyright by Vanessa Lent, 2012 DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DEPARTMENT OF ENGLISH The undersigned hereby certify that they have read and recommend to the Faculty of Graduate Studies for acceptance a thesis entitled “‘I am not I’: Late Modernism and Metafiction in Canadian Prose” by Vanessa Lent in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy. Dated: May 17, 2012 External Examiner: _________________________________ Research Supervisor: _________________________________ Examining Committee: _________________________________ _________________________________ _________________________________ Departmental Representative: _________________________________ ii DALHOUSIE UNIVERSITY DATE: May 17, 2012 AUTHOR: Vanessa Lent TITLE: “I am not I”: Late Modernism and Metafiction in Canadian Prose DEPARTMENT OR SCHOOL: Department of English DEGREE: PhD CONVOCATION: October YEAR: 2012 Permission is herewith granted to Dalhousie University to circulate and to have copied for non-commercial purposes, at its discretion, the above title upon the request of individuals or institutions. I understand that my thesis will be electronically available to the public. The author reserves other publication rights, and neither the thesis nor extensive extracts from it may be printed or otherwise reproduced without the author’s written permission. The author attests that permission has been obtained for the use of any copyrighted material appearing in the thesis (other than the brief excerpts requiring only proper acknowledgement in scholarly writing), and that all such use is clearly acknowledged. _______________________________ Signature of Author iii TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT vi ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS vii CHAPTER ONE: INTRODUCTION 1 I. LATE MODERNISM 3 II. CANADIAN CONTEXT 14 III. LATE MODERNISM IN CANADA 30 CHAPTER TWO: SHEILA WATSON’S ALLEGORIES OF MODERNISM 39 I. CRITICAL WORK 42 II. DEEP HOLLOW CREEK 54 III. THE DOUBLE HOOK 72 CHAPTER THREE: “ONLY THE VERB WORKS”: LANGUAGE AS ARTILLERY IN ELIZABETH SMART’S LYRICAL MODERNISM 95 I. CRITICISM 99 II. BY GRAND CENTRAL STATION I SAT DOWN AND WEPT 108 III. THE ASSUMPTION OF THE ROGUES AND RASCALS 119 CHAPTER FOUR: “AUTHORING THEIR DOOM”: DISSOCIATION AND NARRATION IN MALCOLM LOWRY’S FICTION 133 I. ULTRAMARINE AND LUNAR CAUSTIC 138 II. UNDER THE VOLCANO, DARK AS THE GRAVE WHEREIN MY FRIEND IS LAID AND “THROUGH THE PANAMA” 150 III. “THE FOREST PATH TO THE SPRING” 171 CHAPTER FIVE: PORTRAIT OF THE ARTIST AS AN INSPIRED LIAR: JOHN GLASSCO’S AUTHORIAL VENTRILOQUISMS 180 I. EROTIC FICTION 183 iv II. TRANSLATION 200 III. MEMOIRS OF MONTPARNASSE 206 CHAPTER SIX: CONCLUSION: CANADIAN MODERNISM’S BEAUTIFUL LOSERS 227 BIBLIOGRAPHY 236 v ABSTRACT This dissertation argues that a number of works of Canadian fiction usually designated as modernist fit more properly into the category of “late modernism”: a category that has only recently begun to emerge as a bridge between post-war modernism and emergent postmodernism. These works are aligned by their use of abstract, absurdist, or surrealist narrative structures and consequently by their refusal to adhere to conventional strictures of social realism. Because of this refusal, literary critics have identified the late-modernist emphasis on narrative form as necessarily ahistorical or apolitical. Conversely, I argue, these works are socially and politically engaged with the historical contexts and material conditions of their inception, composition, and consequent reception. I argue herein that the works of Sheila Watson, Elizabeth Smart, Malcolm Lowry, and John Glassco tend towards non-representational narrative forms, and in doing so, they engage in modes of cultural critique. These critiques are focused by a negotiation of what has been multiply identified as a “contradiction” in modernist art: while on the one hand the texts break with traditional forms of social-realist narrative out of a need to find new forms of expression in an effort to rebel against conservative, bourgeois sensibilities, on the other hand they are always produced from within the self-same socio-political economy that they critique. Whether this position is identified as a “modernist double bind” (following Willmott) or a “central paradox” of modernism (following Eysteinsson), I have argued that each author negotiates these internal contradictions through the integration of autobiographical material into their writing. In reading these works as part of a unified late- modernist narrative tradition, this dissertation aims to destabilize critical and popular understandings of mid-century Canadian prose and argue for an alternate reading of artistic interpretation of the twentieth-century Canadian condition. Such a reading challenges current canon formation because it destabilizes traditional critical accounts of these texts as instances of eccentric expression or singular moments of genius. Instead, we are asked to consider seriously the tendency for play with subjectivity and autobiographical material as an interpretive strategy to express the mid-century, post-war condition. vi ACKNOWLEDGMENTS Heartfelt thanks and appreciation go out to my supervisor and mentor Dr. Dean Irvine whose careful eye and mind have championed me through doubts and encouraged me to take the theoretical leaps necessary for the success of such an endeavour. Dr. Carrie Dawson’s guidance and support has been a constant presence over the years and her intelligence, humour, and keen critical judgements have been integral to the completion of this dissertation. The generous addition of Dr. Jerry White late in the process has added an invaluable voice to the project. I have had the honour of meeting and working with a host of talented peers over the past seven years. A special thanks goes out to my dear friend and colleague Dr. Bart Vautour who is always willing to collaborate or listen or simply nod in agreement. In addition I’d like to acknowledge and give thanks for the support and friendship of Kim Johnson, Hayley Poole, Geordie Miller, Emily Ballantyne, Dr. Matt Huckulak, and Dr. Erin Wunker. Finally, the ever-present support of my parents Deborah and Frank, my siblings Joel and Stephanie, and my husband Nathan has made this process possible and pleasurable. v ii CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Is it true, then, that we are a people without a literature? —Massey Report (222) My dissertation argues that the works of Sheila Watson, Elizabeth Smart, Malcolm Lowry, and John Glassco form a coherent pattern in mid-twentieth-century Canadian prose that challenges current configurations and theorizations about modernist literature. I contend that the use of non-realist narrative forms and integration of metafictional material result in works that critique the conservative social-cultural milieu of Canada and inaugurate a sophisticated play with narrative subjectivity that continues to reverberate as a dominant narrative mode in Canadian literature. My argument depends upon the confluence of three shifts within modernism and the interpretative repercussions of each. First, it considers the movement of high modernism into late modernism. In the last fifteen years scholars have argued for the establishment of late modernism as a bridge between post-war modernism and emergent postmodernism. The late modernist moment responds to shifting attitudes toward the avant-garde inaugurated between the wars and continuing past World War II. The avant-garde’s abstract, absurdist, or surrealist narrative aesthetics were associated with counter-cultural social rebellion. Further, these aesthetics, because of their non-adherence to narrative strictures of realism, were criticized as dehumanizing and were consequently considered ahistorical or apolitical. This study contends, conversely, that the works studied herein are socially and politically engaged with the historical contexts and material conditions of their inception, composition, and consequent reception. Such engagement and critique manifests both covertly in the authors’ choice to work with non-realist aesthetics within a milieu that was highly resistant to them as well as overtly in vocalized critiques that have been overlooked for a number of reasons that I will investigate. 1 This leads to the second shift within modernism: the intersection of fiction and metafiction in modernist literature. Recent modernist scholarship has called for a broadening of the field to allow for a multiplicity of modernisms to co-exist1. One such call is for a reinvestigation of the relationship between fiction and life-writing.2 This call coincides with a broader tendency in theorizations of life-writing to accommodate the nuanced relationship between the two modes.3 This study interrogates the tendency to play with the content and form of metafiction and life-writing in late-modernist Canadian fiction. Authors of late- modernist fiction destabilize the realism of their texts through the use of abstract narrative techniques. Although the extent to which such integration leads to metafictional play varies from text to text, ultimately each text ends up meditating self-consciously on the role of the artist-figure in post-war Canada. Further, the use of metafiction in these texts deflects from possible charges of being ahistorical or apolitical – the presence of a self-conscious

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