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The Unknown Soldier in the 21St Century: War Commemoration in Contemporary Canadian Cultural Production

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The Unknown Soldier in the 21St Century: War Commemoration in Contemporary Canadian Cultural Production Western University Scholarship@Western Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository 7-17-2017 12:00 AM The Unknown Soldier in the 21st Century: War Commemoration in Contemporary Canadian Cultural Production Andrew Edward Lubowitz The University of Western Ontario Supervisor Dr. Manina Jones The University of Western Ontario Graduate Program in English A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the equirr ements for the degree in Doctor of Philosophy © Andrew Edward Lubowitz 2017 Follow this and additional works at: https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd Part of the Literature in English, North America Commons Recommended Citation Lubowitz, Andrew Edward, "The Unknown Soldier in the 21st Century: War Commemoration in Contemporary Canadian Cultural Production" (2017). Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository. 4875. https://ir.lib.uwo.ca/etd/4875 This Dissertation/Thesis is brought to you for free and open access by Scholarship@Western. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Repository by an authorized administrator of Scholarship@Western. For more information, please contact [email protected]. Abstract Over the past two decades, expressions of Canadian national identity in cultural production have become increasingly militarized. This is particularly noticeable since the late 1990s in the commemorative works that have been created, renovated, or re-inscribed in Canada or in important Canadian international sites such as the Vimy Memorial in France. An integral component to this militarization is the paradoxical figure of the Unknown Soldier, both a man and a symbol, known and unknown, individualized and universal. Despite its origins in Europe after the First World War, the Unknown Soldier Memorial tradition has been reinvigorated in a Canadian context in the twenty-first century resulting in an elevation of white masculine heroism while curtailing criticism of military praxis. Its contradictory nature provides an informative filter through which to view both recent reflections and commemorations of the First World War and Canada’s recent military role in Afghanistan. In this dissertation, I examine selected works by Jane Urquhart, Jack Hodgins, and Joseph Boyden in relation to their exploration of war commemoration. Each chapter analyzes a novel that addresses war and its commemorative impact in relation to other forms of comparable and relevant cultural production. In Chapter 1 I examine the connections between Urquhart’s The Stone Carvers and the new Canadian War Museum, illustrating how both use the contradiction of the Unknown Soldier to articulate the twenty-first century Canadian experience of war loss. Chapter 2 evaluates Hodgins’s Broken Ground and Paul Gross’s film Passchendaele in terms of the works’ pedagogical focus and interrogation of Canada’s martial founding myths. Chapter 3 addresses Boyden’s Three Day Road and commemorative approaches that are inclusive of Indigenous experiences. Chapter 4 i considers Urquhart’s Sanctuary Line in relation to the Highway of Heroes phenomenon, evaluating the continued relevance of the Unknown Soldier in commemorating those lost in contemporary warfare. Keywords Unknown Soldier, First World War, war in Afghanistan, Canada, nationalism, commemoration, race, gender, education, war writing, Paul Gross, Nichola Goddard, Jane Urquhart, Jack Hodgins, Joseph Boyden. ii Acknowledgments Sincere thanks to the many people who helped me during my time in the PhD program. First and foremost, thank you to my supervisor, Dr. Manina Jones, for working with me and helping me develop into a better scholar and better writer. Your unwavering support and your generosity with both your time and expertise made a considerable difference in my work. Perhaps most importantly, your acceptance and encouragement helped me push through the most difficult aspects of this process. Thank you to my second reader, Dr. Pauline Wakeham. Your enthusiasm for my work and your willingness to share your knowledge helped improve this project and my writing. You both put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to help me see this through and I am grateful for it. My time at Western was enriched by the support of many excellent professionals working in the English Department and greater university community. I would like to thank Leanne Trask and Vivian Foglton for their incredible hard work and friendly, timely reminders. My thanks go out to Lee Ann McKivor, Terri L. Tomchick-Condon, and Debbie Sims who provided invaluable advice, assistance, and much appreciated behind-the-scenes work that allowed my project to progress. I would like to thank the members of my examination committee, Neta Gordon, Alison Lee, Donna Pennee, and Jonathan Vance, for their participation in the examination process and their sincere engagement with my work. I would like to thank Kent Monkman and Joanne Tod for granting me permission to reproduce their artwork in this dissertation. I would like to thank Marlee Choo for her efforts and Harbourfront Centre for granting me permission to use copyrighted material in this project as well. Many thanks to Susan Ross for her quick responses and timely assistance. iii Thank you to the Canadian War Museum for allowing me to include photos I took at the CWM in this dissertation. My academic adventure began in earnest at the University of Ottawa and my time there nurtured my interest in these topics; especially fruitful were the opportunities I had to learn from Dr. Betsey Baldwin, Dr. Tom Allen, Dr. Victoria Burke, and Dr. Craig Gordon. A most sincere thank you to the friends and colleagues I met have along the way. It is my great fortune to have maintained connections to some truly terrific people I met during my time in Ottawa, especially Brenda Dunn, Holly Warren, Zac Billard, Phil McKnight, and Bryan Rogers. You have been generous with your knowledge, expertise, and time. It has been a lot of fun having you by my side. Another most sincere thank you to those I met during my time in London, especially Andre Cormier, David Drysdale, Phil Glennie, David Hickey, Jenna Hunnef, Raj Kapila, Erica Leighton, Tina Northrup, Stephanie Oliver, Sarah Pesce, Stephanie Rade, Alicia Robinet, and Tara Tobler. I miss our movie nights and hangouts, and continue to appreciate your acceptance, kindness, and hospitality. To the friends I have met through the hockey world, especially Nate Brown, Erika, Zoë Hayden, Clare Hutchinson, Atif Kukaswadia, Christy “Babs” Maggio, Luke Peristy, Peter Raaymakers, James Romanuk, Joanna Rozanski, and Yahong: you have helped me in more ways than I can count and have helped me find my voice. I can’t imagine this process without you. These acknowledgments would be incomplete without mentioning the incredible support I have received from my family. Thank you to my grandparents, Joe and Maria Tavares and John and Irene Lubowitz, and to my extended family. I wish all of you could be here to see this project concluded, but I carry your love and support with me each day. To my aunt, Virginia Mair: your generosity has made an enormous difference in my academic life. iv Thank you to Mom, Dad, and my siblings, Liz, Terry, Audrey, and Giancarlo Irwin, I will be forever grateful for your support and love. You were my first teachers and set me on a course of lifelong learning. You never tried to direct my intellectual curiosity or my studies to a path you preferred and deemed more worthy, choosing instead to let me chart my own course. You have helped me unwind and enjoy my life during the dissertation process, and for that I indebted to you. Simply put, I could not have done this without the six of you. v Table of Contents Abstract ................................................................................................................................ i Acknowledgments.............................................................................................................. iii Table of Contents…………………………………………………………………………vi List of Figures……………………………………………………………………………vii Introduction ......................................................................................................................... 1 Chapter One: Beyond the Monumental: Jane Urquhart’s The Stone Carvers, the Canadian War Museum, and Ottawa’s Contemporary Commemorative Landscape................... 49 Chapter Two: Pedagogy, Mythology, and Commemoration in Jack Hodgins’s Broken Ground and Paul Gross’ Passchendaele .................................................................... 110 Chapter Three: Joseph Boyden’s Three Day Road, The Unknown Soldier, and Indigenous Storytelling ................................................................................................................. 164 Chapter Four: Grievability and Contemporary 'Unknowns': Jane Urquhart's Sanctuary Line, Nichola Goddard, and the Highway of Heroes……………………………..…205 Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………...257 Works Cited…………………………………………………………………………….284 Curriculum Vitae……………………………………………………………………….314 vi List of Figures Introduction Figure I.1: Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, pictured in front of the National War Memorial, Ottawa…………………………………………………………………………………............6 Figure I.2: Members of the public lay poppies and personal mementos on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, Remembrance Day 2016, Ottawa………………………………………...8 Chapter One Figure 1.1: Church of the Immaculate Conception, Formosa, Ontario………………...……51 Figure 1.2: Interior view from nave, looking toward sanctuary/alter, Church of the Immaculate Conception,
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