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DISPIACEMENT AND SELF-REPRESENTATION: THEORIZLWG CONTEMPORARY CANADIAN BIOTEXTS Joanne Elizabeth Sad A thesis submitted in. conformity with the requirements for the degree of Ph.D. Graduate Department of English University of Toronto O Copyright by Joanne Elizabeth Sad 2000 National Library Bibliothèque ~tionak du Canada Acquisitions and Acquisitbns et Bibliographie Services services bibliographiques 395 Wellinglon Street 395, rue Welmgm OnawaON KIAM OttawaûN K1AOW canada canada The author has granted a non- L'auteur a accordé une licence non exclusive Licence ailowing the exclusive pexmettant à la National Library of Canada to Bibliothèque nationale du Canada de reproduce, loan, disûibute or seIl reproduire, prêter, distribuer ou copies of this thesis in microform, vendre des copies de cette thèse sous paper or electronic formats. la forme de microfiche/nlm, 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. Abstract Displacement and Self-Representation: Theorizing Conternporary Canadian Biotexts Joanne Elizabeth Saul, Department of English, University of Toronto Ph.D. 2000 This study focuses on Canadian writers who choose to frame their questions about cultural difference and national belonging within the context of writing about their own Lives and their own persona1 experiences of displacement. Its particular emphasis is on texts like Midiael Ondaatje's Rumine in the Familv, Daphne Marlatt's Ghost Works, Roy Kiyooka's Mothertalk, and Fred Wah's Diamond Grill that use a range of innovative textual strategies as a way of actively working through these questions, rather than merely seeking to reflet3 or represent them. Although all four writers deal explicitly with minority subjectivity and its representation within a Canadian literary context, it is their self-consciousness about how to parlay this material into texhial form that initially sets them apart as a group. The first chapter looks at where the tenn "biotext" cornes from and how, as a language "event," it is related to the contestatory long poem written in Canada in the 1960s and '70s. This chapter suggests that authors of the biotext combine aspects of autobiography with a cornmitment to a process poetics in order to negotiate what Stuart Hall calls the practice of "cultural recovery." Chapter 2 examines how, by beginning to tease out the various layers of his own displaced self, Ondaatje sets out a number of the challenges that the other three works actively take up. Chapter 3 shows how Marlatt's growing awareness of her own gendered self adds to her feelings of displacement and dienation from language as she documents her travels throughout Ghost Works. The subject of Chapter 4, Roy Kiyooka's Mothertalk, exemplifies, from yet another angle, the complexities of writing cultural memory and exploring self-representation because of the ways the same life stories get filtered through different sets of lenses. Chapter 5 explores how by claiming the space of the hyphen, Wah rejects both the delimiting claims of the ethnic as weil as the claims of the nation. The final chapter suggests that these biotexts facilitate an illuminating examination of the complex relationships between language, place, and self, and the multiple ways that these relationships are manifested in textual forrn. Acknowledgrnents In many ways this thesis has been a communal undertaking. Funding for this dissertation was provided by the Ontario Graduate Scholarship Program, the WalSciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada, and the Department of English at the University of Toronto. A special word of thanks belongs to Linda Hutcheon, whose own passion and energy served as an uispiration throughout my writing process. Her confidence in my work proved infectious at al1 the right moments. 1 am also very grateful to the other memb2rs of my cornmittee who read various drafts of this thesis. Thanks to Russell Brown for being a patient, careful, and interested reader from the begiming and for encouraging me to reconsider settled assumptions. Thanks also to Michael Dixon for asking the big questions and for helping me to listen to my own voice. 1 owe a tremendous debt of gratitude to friends and farnily who have believed in this project from the start and whose unfaltering interest in and encouragement for my work have provided me with a creative and loving context from which to write and think. 1 am especially thankful for my brother Nick's longstanding faith in my abilities, his loyalty, and his love. Much love and many thanks go to David Mills who has been a part of this project from its inception. 1 feel very. lucky to have shared with him the many challenges as well as the moments of insight and joy. Finally, this work is dedicated to my parents. My dad John has always been my first, most insightful, and most generous reader. He knows this work intimately and has been a steadfast guide. My mom Pat is a constant source of wisdom, strength, and cornfort. This work could never have been imagined without their friendship, love, and support. Table of Contents .. Abstract .........................................................................................................................n Acknow Iedgments ..................................................................................................... iv Table of Contents .............................. .. ................................................................... v Chapter 1. Introducing the Biotext ............... ....................................................1 1. The Long Poem and After .................................................................................. 1 II . Autobiographical intention and the Biotext ................................................. 12 III . A Poetics of Differences: Cultural Recovery and the Biotext ................... 20 IV . A Different Poetics ............... .,... ................................................................... -28 Chapter 2 . "The shape of an unknown thing": Writing Displacement in Rumine in the Familv .................................................. 36 1. Introduction ........................................................... .. .......................................36 II . Tracking the Self ................... ............. ... ............................................. 42 III . Tracking the Other ...................................................................................... -52 IV . Tracking the Text ............................................................................................ 59 N . "Getting it Right" ........................ ....... ...................................................... 69 Chapter 3. "A story of listening way badc in the body": Writing Selves in Ghost Works .............................................................................. -74 1. Introduction ......................... .... ........................................................................... 74 II . Body of Writing ................................................................................................ 81 ïïI. Staging Selves *-...........................*......*... ...... ............................................. 89 IV . "this king here" ...................... ... .......................................................... 1 10 Chapter 4 . Ghost Selves: the (Auto)biographical Voices of Mothertalk....... 116 I . Introduction ...................................................................................................... 116 II . Collaboration and the Expanded Text ......................................................... 119 III . Kiyooka's Version, or, the Spirit of Inheritance ....................................... 125 N . The "Arc of a Life" ....................... ... ....................................................... 142 V . Mothertalk as Biotext ..................................................................................... 154 Chapter 5. The Poütics and Poetics of Identity: "Faking it" in Diamond Grill ........................................................................... 159 1. Introduction ......................... .... ..................................................................... 159 II . Breathin' His Name with a Sigh ................................................................... 164 III . Poetics of the Hyphen: Diamond Grill ..................................................... 175 IV . Faking It ......................................................................................................... 192 Chapter 6. Conclusion: Writing the Roaming Subject................................... 197 Works Cited ............................................................................................................. 212 Chapter 1. introducing the Biotext 1. The Long Poem and After This study focuses on writers who choose to frame theu questions about cultural difference and national belonging within the context of writing about their own lives and their own personal experiences of displacement. Its particular emphasis is on texts like Midiael Ondaatje's Runnine in the Familu, Daphne Marlatt's Ghost Works,
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