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Canadian Literary Urbanism Canadian Literary Urbanism by Brandon McFarlane A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Toronto © Copyright by Brandon McFarlane 2012 Canadian Literary Urbanism Brandon McFarlane Doctor of Philosophy Department of English University of Toronto 2012 Abstract This dissertation provides the first sustained theorization of Canada’s urban literature. Critics have lamented the seeming absence of urban writing in Canada. A comprehensive reading of Canadian literature and criticism reveals that there is indeed a substantial body of city writing, and that critics have addressed Canada’s history of urbanization. The critical problem that demands reconciliation regards a pervasive geographical illiteracy. By historicizing and close reading Bertrand Sinclair’s North of Fifty-Three, Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town, and Douglas Durkin’s The Magpie, I show that frontier, small town, and country places are effected by urbanization. In doing so, I encourage you to abandon “urban” as a worthwhile generic category and instead consider urbanism as a subject that relates to the building of cities, the amalgamation of populations within dense environments, the imposition of human geometry onto the landscape, and the “citification” of society, culture, and politics. By placing literary studies, geography, and historiography in critical exchange, I demonstrate that the “urban” typically serves as a decoy for a secondary concept. Canonical critics (Lionel Stevenson, Northrop Frye, and Linda Hutcheon) consistently summon a rural/Canadian- urban/American dichotomy to theorize a national identity that resists American imperialism. However, city-set texts are, paradoxically, represented by rural space, hence the urban has not ii been marginalized but misplaced metaphorically. Similarly, “Canadian literary urbanism” offers the first comprehensive analysis of the supposed “urbanization” of Canadian literature that occurred during the millennial years. By analyzing postmodern-hipster fiction, I argue that writers (Andrew Pyper, Russell Smith, Hal Niedzviecki, Lynn Coady, R.M. Vaughan, and Dionne Brand) have been using urban space to transcend the limits of “official” or “boutique” multiculturalism, and to fictionalize the rise of what Charles Landry dubbed the “creative city.” iii Acknowledgments My research would not have been possible without the financial support I received from the University of Toronto’s Doctoral Fellowship. I am thankful for the University of Toronto’s commitment to academic excellence, and the support I received in other forms: the seven research assistantships from Professor Colin Hill and Professor Ato Quayson, and the four course instructorships and nine teaching assistantships in the Department of English and the Centre for Diaspora and Transnational Studies. I would also like to thank the Editing Modernism in Canada project, the Association of Canadian College and University Teachers of English, and the Association for Canadian and Québec Literature for providing funds and forums in which to disseminate my research. I would like to thank Professor George Elliott Clarke for his timely feedback, insightful edits, and inspired knowledge of Canadian history and literature. Professor Colin Hill’s refined comments, demands for precise writing, and mentoring have made me a better scholar. And Professor Ato Quayson’s theoretical insights and enthusiasm for close reading have helped develop my critical approach to literary studies. In addition, I owe Dr. Richard Cavell, Dr. Karina Vernon, and Dr. Heather Murray my gratitude. Their questions at the oral exam and written comments will make the final version of this study better. The intellectual support and comradeship offered by a community of budding and established scholars fueled my research. Colin Loughran read and commented on many of the chapters and suggested numerous theoretical sources. Kai Hainer helped me think through the relationships between geography and nationalism by outlining similar problems in Victorian literature. Dan Harney and Glenn Clifton provided feedback on early drafts of the dissertation, including two aborted chapters. Weekly coffees with Christopher Laxer relieved my anxieties about the discipline and recharged my commitment to academia. Professor Kit Dobson’s dissertation inspired my narrative structure, and his professionalization advice was always welcomed. Professor Smaro Kamboureli’s interrogation of an early draft of the “Hipster Urbanism” chapter led me to fully articulate and historicize the hipsters’ reaction to multiculturalism. Finally, I owe Alexei Halpin and Ceilidh Hart my gratitude. iv This dissertation could not have been completed without the love and support of my family: Craig, Hilary, John, Peggie, Decoy, and Isis. v Table of Contents Table of Contents Abstract ii Introduction: Notes Towards a Canadian Literary Urbanism 1 Chapter 1 The Rural/Canadian-Urban/American Dialectic: Cultural Nationalism and the Legacy of Literary Urbanism 23 Chapter 2 The Frontier-Metropolitan Dialectic: Allegorical Geography and Bertrand Sinclair’s North of Fifty-Three 52 Chapter 3 The Town-City Dialectic: Ironic Geography and Stephen Leacock’s Sunshine Sketches of a Little Town 73 Chapter 4 The National-Municipal Dialectic: The Crisis of Economic-Nationalism and Douglas Durkin’s The Magpie 90 Chapter 5 The Rural/Central-Urban/Marginal Dialectic: Hipster Urbanism and the New Allegorical Geography of Canadian Identity Politics 112 Chapter 6 Bobo Urbanism: The Creative City and Russell Smith’s Noise 145 Chapter 7 Hipster Cosmopolitanism: Dionne Brand’s What We All Long For 167 Conclusion to “Canadian Literary Urbanism” 185 Works Consulted Error! Bookmark not defined. vi 1 Introduction: Notes Towards a Canadian Literary Urbanism “Canadian Literary Urbanism” encourages you to alter radically your thinking about the urban, urbanization, and cities. It will change your understanding of what urban literature is and its historical relationship to Canadian literary discourse and national development. I The millennial years will surely be remembered as Canada’s urban awakening. During the two decades bracketing 2000, the city became the focal point of national development and culture. Recovering from the constitutional hangovers of the 1980s and mid-1990s, pundits, politicians, and artists transited downtown to discover new national narratives, new national projects. Russell Smith, and other Toronto journalists/authors, demanded a revolutionary, urban literature that would, like the skyscrapers surrounding their homes, reflect the glass-and-cement realities of everyday Canadians. Paul Martin’s 2004 “new deal for cities,” the central plank of his election campaign, brought the problems facing Canadian municipalities to the forefront of political debate, and the aspects of the platform he did manage to institutionalize have helped cities tackle their chronic deficits.1 He decreed, “Our great cities are our global signature. With 1 Martin explains that many cities do not have the legal authority to collect enough taxes to fund the programs they are now responsible for. He argues, “The challenges you face were intensified after the federal belt-tightening that has taken place in recent years by provincial and federal governments alike. Let’s just take two examples: housing and urban transit. Both present daunting challenges that simply must be tackled in order to secure the quality of life we all desire for the future. But the solutions—that is to say, the development of affordable rental accommodation 2 the capacity to move capital with a click of a mouse and the freedom of the world’s best and brightest to locate where they choose, global competition, increasingly, is not between countries—it’s between cities” (“Speech”). A year later, Dionne Brand published What We All Long For (2005)—a text that critics have been hailing due to her use of urban space as a new allegory for transnational belonging. In 2008, Quebec City marked its birthday with 400 candles. Richard Florida, the successor of Jane Jacobs as the world’s “urban guru,” migrated to Toronto—a move that local and national media celebrated as an affirmation of Canada and Toronto as premier “creative class” destinations.2 David Miller (2003, 2006) and Naheed Nenshi (2010) swept to victory promising to revitalize Toronto and Calgary respectively by improving their cities’ transit and culture. In 2010, Vancouver hosted the Winter Olympics, and Toronto—which for years had been masquerading as New York City, Boston, Chicago, and even London—finally got to play itself in the blockbuster Scott Pilgrim vs. the World—a fanboy epic based upon a comic book series set in the Annex. These events, and others, inspired an urban euphoria in Canada. Perhaps sensing the national mood, the city also drew the attention of literary critics. Eva-Maria Kröller, in a 2001 Canadian Literature editorial, declared that, “the urbanization of Canadian literature is well underway” and called upon Canadianists to redraw their literary maps to reflect the nation’s millennial, urban reality. A decade later, Kröller’s comments seem prophetic, as several monographs have answered her call. David Arnason and Mhari and the required investment in new transit infrastructure—are simply beyond the capacities of local governments acting alone” (“Speech”). 2 Toronto Life declared Richard Florida the “Man of the Year” for 2008. See Miner. 3 Mackintosh’s
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