DOCSLIB.ORG

David Adams Richards' Fictional Miramichi Region, Its Inhabitants & the Power Relations Within the Communities Diplomarbeit

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Download full-text PDF Read full-text
David Adams Richards' Fictional Miramichi Region, Its Inhabitants & the Power Relations Within the Communities Diplomarbeit David Adams Richards' Fictional Miramichi Region, Its Inhabitants & the Power Relations within the Communities A Study of The Bay of Love and Sorrows, Mercy Among the Children and River of the Brokenhearted Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Ines SCHILCHER am Institut für Anglistik Begutachter Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Martin Löschnigg Graz, 2010 Table of Contents I. INTRODUCTION..............................................................................................1 II. DAVID ADAMS RICHARDS..........................................................................2 II.1 Biographical Note........................................................................................2 II.2 Works by David Adams Richards................................................................2 II.3 The Miramichi Region.................................................................................4 II.4 The Nature of Power....................................................................................9 III. THE BAY OF LOVE AND SORROWS...........................................................12 III.1 Overview ..................................................................................................12 III.2 Giving Love and Causing Sorrow – Inextricably Linked in Richards’ Fiction?.............................................................................................................14 III.3 Tommie Donnerel – the Scapegoat ..........................................................15 III.4 Richards’ Social Outsiders .......................................................................17 III.5 The Exertion of Power – And the Question of Who Proves to Be the Most Powerful Character...........................................................................................22 III.6 Richards’ Female Characters – Saintly or Sinister?.................................23 III.7 Heroism as a Romanticized Concept, or: Madonna – the Heroine?........28 IV. MERCY AMONG THE CHILDREN ..............................................................31 IV.1 Overview ..................................................................................................31 IV.2 The Importance of Mercy and the Perspective of the Child ....................34 IV. 3 Father and Son or: Sydney’s “Pain of being a man”...............................36 IV.4 Passive Resistance and Physical Violence – The Case of Lyle................39 IV.5 The Henderson Women versus the Pits ....................................................44 IV.6 Richards’ Women of Power......................................................................48 V. RIVER OF THE BROKENHEARTED ............................................................54 V.1 Overview....................................................................................................54 V.2 The Miramichi – A River of Broken-hearted People?...............................57 V.3 Janie McLeary – the Insane Matriarch?.....................................................58 V.4 Institutional Power – Rebecca Druken alias Dr Abigail Mahoney ...........63 V.5 Escapism – Fleeing into Alcoholism to Forget the Unpleasant Past and the Unbearable Present...........................................................................................70 V.6 Richards’ Silenced Women ........................................................................72 VI. A COMPARISON OF THE BAY OF LOVE AND SORROWS, MERCY AMONG THE CHILDREN AND RIVER OF THE BROKENHEARTED AND THE TREATMENT OF POWER........................................................................75 VII. CONCLUSION............................................................................................79 VIII. REFERENCES ...........................................................................................80 IX. APPENDIX....................................................................................................83 I. INTRODUCTION This thesis will focus on David Adams Richards, a prolific writer from the Maritimes, who has often been regarded as a 'regional' writer because he deals with a specific locale in his novels, namely the Miramichi river valley in New Brunswick. Richards has written a number of novels that largely concentrate on the psychology of the characters, the exertion of power, and humanity. Special emphasis will be given to Richards' fictional Miramichi region and its inhabitants and to the power-relations within the communities in his books. Three novels in particular will be discussed in detail to portray the aforementioned themes, namely The Bay of Love and Sorrows (1998), Mercy Among the Children (2000) and River of the Brokenhearted (2003). After giving a brief biography of David Adams Richards and an overview of his works, this study examines the role of Richards as a 'regional' writer in Canada and his Miramichi region. Furthermore, the importance of power in his works will be discussed and given attention. In his works, Richards poses many questions dealing with power and its courses. Why do certain people have power while others do not? Where does it come from and how do they acquire power? How is power used and why? The main part will be the in-depth discussions of the three chosen novels, starting with an overview of each book. Each discussion concentrates on certain themes and topics that come to mind when reading the books. Since it is often stressed that Richards’ characters are conspicuously central to every novel, the major characters will be discussed in detail in order to provide a thorough analysis of the books’ main themes accurately. Among them, close attention will be given to the power-relations within the communities. Thus, one topic in each discussion will illustrate the characters that are most concerned with the exertion of power. The paper will conclude on a chapter which compares the three novels with special reference to the treatment of power. It will take a closer look at the female characters who gain power, how they use it and to what extent. In addition, this comparative approach will be used to connect the single books and characters and to establish parallels or identify differences between them. 1 II. DAVID ADAMS RICHARDS II.1 Biographical Note David Adams Richards was born in 1950 in Newcastle, New Brunswick. His father was the owner of a local movie theatre - a detail in his life that has been dealt with in Richards' novel River of the Brokenhearted. Richards joined an informal writers' workshop called the 'Ice House Gang' while he was a student at St. Thomas University in Fredericton. Its name stemmed from the former ice house at McCord Hall where the group had its meetings. One of the members of the group was Alden Nowlan, who has been an important literary influence on Richards (Bennett and Brown 2002:1036). Along with Nowlan, Richards also names other great authors who have influenced his writing, such as Faulkner, Pushkin, Dostoyevsky, Tolstoy and Emily Brontë. His first novel, The Coming of Winter, published in 1974, was written during his time at university. Only two years later, his second novel, Blood Ties (1976), followed. In 1978, a short story collection entitled Dancers at Night was published and another novel called Lives of Short Duration in 1981. Richards has been a full-time writer since then, and very prolific indeed. He has spent some time abroad, moved to Toronto in 1997 with his family, where he stayed until 2009 (anon. 2008:39). He is now living in New Brunswick again. II.2 Works by David Adams Richards Throughout his literary career, Richards has been appointed writer-in-residence at universities in New Brunswick, Ontario, Alberta, and in the United States. He also has Honorary Doctorates from St. Thomas University and the University of New Brunswick at Saint John. Moreover, he has won several literary awards, among them the Governor General's Award for fiction, the Canadian Authors Association Award and the Thomas Head Raddall Atlantic Fiction Prize (anon. 2008:40). Novels 1974: The Coming of Winter. Ottawa: Oberon Press. 1976: Blood Ties. Ottawa: Oberon Press. 1981: Lives of Short Duration. Ottawa: Oberon Press. 2 1985: Road to the Stilt House. Ottawa: Oberon Press. 1988: Nights Below Station Street. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 1990: Evening Snow will Bring Such Peace. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 1993: For Those Who Hunt the Wounded Down. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 1996: Hope in the Desperate Hour. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 1998: The Bay of Love and Sorrows. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 2000: Mercy Among the Children. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. 2003: River of the Brokenhearted. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. 2006: The Friends of Meager Fortune. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. 2007: The Lost Highway. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. Poetry 1972: One Step Inside. [privately printed] – poetry and short stories 1972: Small Heroics. New Brunswick Chapbooks. Short Stories 1978: Dancers at Night. Ottawa: Oberon Press. Non-Fiction 1994: A Lad from Brantford and Other Essays. Fredericton: Broken Jaw Press. 1997: Hockey Dreams: Memories of a Man Who Couldn't Play. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. 1998: Lines on the Water: A Fisherman's Life on the Miramichi. Toronto: Doubleday Canada. 2008: Lord Beaverbrook. Toronto: Penguin Canada. 2008: Playing the Inside Out. Fredericton: Goose Land Editions. 3 II.3 The Miramichi Region “David Adams Richards' fiction, like the Miramichi river, is large, moody
Load more

Recommended publications
  • The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature Edited by Eva-Marie Kröller Frontmatter More Information
    Cambridge University Press 978-1-107-15962-4 — The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature Edited by Eva-Marie Kröller Frontmatter More Information The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature This fully revised second edition of The Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature offers a comprehensive introduction to major writers, genres, and topics. For this edition several chapters have been completely re-written to relect major developments in Canadian literature since 2004. Surveys of ic- tion, drama, and poetry are complemented by chapters on Aboriginal writ- ing, autobiography, literary criticism, writing by women, and the emergence of urban writing. Areas of research that have expanded since the irst edition include environmental concerns and questions of sexuality which are freshly explored across several different chapters. A substantial chapter on franco- phone writing is included. Authors such as Margaret Atwood, noted for her experiments in multiple literary genres, are given full consideration, as is the work of authors who have achieved major recognition, such as Alice Munro, recipient of the Nobel Prize for literature. Eva-Marie Kröller edited the Cambridge Companion to Canadian Literature (irst edn., 2004) and, with Coral Ann Howells, the Cambridge History of Canadian Literature (2009). She has published widely on travel writing and cultural semiotics, and won a Killam Research Prize as well as the Distin- guished Editor Award of the Council of Editors of Learned Journals for her work as editor of the journal Canadian
    [Show full text]
  • A. Scholarships
    A. Scholarships St. Thomas University recognizes academic excellence through a generous scholarship program. The university offers a wide range of entrance awards to highly qualified students admitted on the basis of their high school records, as well as numerous scholarships-in- course to continuing students who have achieved academic distinction at St. Thomas. Entrance Scholarships The Entrance Scholarship program is competitive and is designed to attract outstand- ing scholars to the St. Thomas University campus. Except when otherwise specified, the entrance awards are open to candidates for full-time admission to the first year of the Bachelor of Arts program who are applying on the basis of their high school records. 1. Selection Criteria In selecting entrance scholarship recipients, the primary criterion considered by the Entrance Scholarship Selection Committee is the academic record. The Committee reviews the following: • admission average • Grade 12 program: courses and levels • rank in graduating class • program and performance in grade 11 Note: The admission average is calculated on the senior-level academic English grade and the grades on four other Grade 12 academic courses drawn from our list of approved admis- sions subjects. For details, please consult Section One, Admissions and Registration. At mid year, the admission averages for scholarship purposes is calculated on the overall av- erage of final grades on Grade 11 academic subjects, as well as final first-semester results or mid-year results (for non-semestered schools) on Grade 12 academic subjects. Other factors considered include: • a reference letter from a teacher, principal or guidance counsellor In addition to the academic selection criteria, the following criteria are considered in award- ing some entrance scholarships: • leadership qualities • extracurricular activities • financial status 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Cahiers-Papers 53-1
    The Giller Prize (1994–2004) and Scotiabank Giller Prize (2005–2014): A Bibliography Andrew David Irvine* For the price of a meal in this town you can buy all the books. Eat at home and buy the books. Jack Rabinovitch1 Founded in 1994 by Jack Rabinovitch, the Giller Prize was established to honour Rabinovitch’s late wife, the journalist Doris Giller, who had died from cancer a year earlier.2 Since its inception, the prize has served to recognize excellence in Canadian English-language fiction, including both novels and short stories. Initially the award was endowed to provide an annual cash prize of $25,000.3 In 2005, the Giller Prize partnered with Scotiabank to create the Scotiabank Giller Prize. Under the new arrangement, the annual purse doubled in size to $50,000, with $40,000 going to the winner and $2,500 going to each of four additional finalists.4 Beginning in 2008, $50,000 was given to the winner and $5,000 * Andrew Irvine holds the position of Professor and Head of Economics, Philosophy and Political Science at the University of British Columbia, Okanagan. Errata may be sent to the author at [email protected]. 1 Quoted in Deborah Dundas, “Giller Prize shortlist ‘so good,’ it expands to six,” 6 October 2014, accessed 17 September 2015, www.thestar.com/entertainment/ books/2014/10/06/giller_prize_2014_shortlist_announced.html. 2 “The Giller Prize Story: An Oral History: Part One,” 8 October 2013, accessed 11 November 2014, www.quillandquire.com/awards/2013/10/08/the-giller- prize-story-an-oral-history-part-one; cf.
    [Show full text]
  • A. Scholarships
    A. Scholarships St. Thomas University recognizes academic excellence through a generous scholarship program. The university offers a wide range of entrance awards to highly qualified students admitted on the basis of their high school records, as well as numerous scholarships-in- course to continuing students who have achieved academic distinction at St. Thomas. Entrance Scholarships The Entrance Scholarship program is highly competitive and is designed to attract out- standing scholars to the St. Thomas University campus. Except when otherwise specified, the entrance awards are open to candidates for full-time admission to the first year of the Bachelor of Arts program who are applying on the basis of their high school records. 1. Selection Criteria In selecting entrance scholarship recipients, the primary criterion considered by the Entrance Scholarship Selection Committee is the academic record. The Committee reviews the following: • admission average • Grade 12 program: courses and levels • rank in graduating class • program and performance in grade 11 Note: The admission average is calculated on the senior-level academic English grade and the grades on four other Grade 12 academic courses drawn from our list of approved admissions subjects. For details, please consult Section One, Admissions and Registration. At mid year, the admission averages for scholarship purposes is calculated on the overall average of final grades on Grade 11 academic subjects, as well as final first-semester results or mid-year results (for non-semestered schools) on Grade 12 academic subjects. Other factors considered include: • a reference letter from a teacher, principal or guidance counsellor • scores on standardized tests In addition to the academic selection criteria, the following criteria are considered in award- ing some entrance scholarships: • leadership qualities • extracurricular activities • financial status 2.
    [Show full text]
  • Surveillance and Policing in David Adams Richards's
    Document generated on 09/27/2021 7:36 p.m. Studies in Canadian Literature Études en littérature canadienne Principles to Sort By Surveillance and Policing in David Adams Richards’s ‘Principles to Live By’ Thomas Halford Volume 43, Number 2, 2018 URI: https://id.erudit.org/iderudit/1062917ar DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1062917ar See table of contents Publisher(s) University of New Brunswick, Dept. of English ISSN 0380-6995 (print) 1718-7850 (digital) Explore this journal Cite this article Halford, T. (2018). Principles to Sort By: Surveillance and Policing in David Adams Richards’s ‘Principles to Live By’. Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en littérature canadienne, 43(2). https://doi.org/10.7202/1062917ar All Rights Reserved ©, 2018 Studies in Canadian Literature / Études en This document is protected by copyright law. Use of the services of Érudit littérature canadienne (including reproduction) is subject to its terms and conditions, which can be viewed online. https://apropos.erudit.org/en/users/policy-on-use/ This article is disseminated and preserved by Érudit. Érudit is a non-profit inter-university consortium of the Université de Montréal, Université Laval, and the Université du Québec à Montréal. Its mission is to promote and disseminate research. https://www.erudit.org/en/ Principles to Sort By: Surveillance and Policing in David Adams Richards’s Principles to Live By Thomas Halford erb Wyile was deeply invested in Canada’s Atlantic provinces, not as an isolated and sealed-off region, but as a place always undergoing an exchange with the rest of the Hworld. One author whom he continually returned to was David Adams Richards.
    [Show full text]
  • Abortion in Canadian Literature
    Citation for the following article: Jeff Koloze, “Abortion in Canadian Literature: Comparisons with American Literature and Canada’s Unique Contributions,” Proceedings of the Nineteenth University Faculty for Life Conference at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, Minneapolis MN (2009), ed. Joseph W. Koterski, S.J. (Washington, D.C.: University Faculty for Life, 2013), pp. 207-225. Abortion in Canadian Literature: Comparisons with American Literature and Canada’s Unique Contributions Jeff Koloze A BSTRACT: After reviewing the scholarship on abortion in twentieth- century Canadian fiction written in English, the essay discusses various abortion scenes in major Canadian works by comparing and contrasting them with major works from the United States. The essay then discusses post-abortion syndrome and illustrates passages in Canadian fiction on abortion where numerous characters display features of that syndrome. OCATING CANADIAN NOVELS concerned with abortion often approximates an archaeological dig since compilations of literary Lcriticism frequently obscure, minimize, or lack references to abortion. Margaret Atwood’s Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature1 has much to say about babies being an inappropriate solution for a plot’s denouement, calling this technique the “Baby Ex Machina,”2 1 Margaret Atwood, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (Toronto ON: McClelland & Stewart, 1972). 2 Atwood, Survival, p. 247. The “Baby Ex Machina” denouement is well- established in Canadian fiction. Frederick Philip Grove’s 1925 Settlers of the Marsh (Toronto ON: Penguin Canada,2006) ends with two instances of children bringing closure to an otherwise disastrous plot: Bobby, a young man befriended by Niels, the main character, and encouraged to do well, has five children; Ellen, the love of Niels’s life, realizes at novel’s end that she needs to be a mother (pp.
    [Show full text]
  • Governor General's Literary Awards
    Bibliothèque interculturelle 6767, chemin de la Côte-des-neiges 514.868.4720 Governor General's Literary Awards Fiction Year Winner Finalists Title Editor 2009 Kate Pullinger The Mistress of Nothing McArthur & Company Michael Crummey Galore Doubleday Canada Annabel Lyon The Golden Mean Random House Canada Alice Munro Too Much Happiness McClelland & Steward Deborah Willis Vanishing and Other Stories Penguin Group (Canada) 2008 Nino Ricci The Origins of Species Doubleday Canada Rivka Galchen Atmospheric Disturbances HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. Rawi Hage Cockroach House of Anansi Press David Adams Richards The Lost Highway Doubleday Canada Fred Stenson The Great Karoo Doubleday Canada 2007 Michael Ondaatje Divisadero McClelland & Stewart David Chariandy Soucoupant Arsenal Pulp Press Barbara Gowdy Helpless HarperCollins Publishers Heather O'Neill Lullabies for Little Criminals Harper Perennial M. G. Vassanji The Assassin's Song Doubleday Canada 2006 Peter Behrens The Law of Dreams House of Anansi Press Trevor Cole The Fearsome Particles McClelland & Stewart Bill Gaston Gargoyles House of Anansi Press Paul Glennon The Dodecahedron, or A Frame for Frames The Porcupine's Quill Rawi Hage De Niro's Game House of Anansi Press 2005 David Gilmour A Perfect Night to Go to China Thomas Allen Publishers Joseph Boyden Three Day Road Viking Canada Golda Fried Nellcott Is My Darling Coach House Books Charlotte Gill Ladykiller Thomas Allen Publishers Kathy Page Alphabet McArthur & Company GovernorGeneralAward.xls Fiction Bibliothèque interculturelle 6767,
    [Show full text]
  • Notes on Realism in Modern English-Canadian Fiction
    NOTES ON REALISM IN MODERN ENGLISH-CANADIAN FICTION Matt Cohen A REALISTIC NOVEL is USUALLY TAKEN to mean a novel in which narrative is the connecting thread, in which not only does thought or action lead to subsequent connected thought or action, but does so in groups of words organized into logical sentences, paragraphs, chapters, etc. But "realistic novels" are also novels written about "reality" — as opposed to novels perceived to be about something which is not "real." Thus, aside from realistic novels there are novels which are termed gothic, or science fiction, or fantasies, or dream journals, or simply "experimental" — a class of novel which conjures up the image of a fanatically mad scientist blindly pounding at a type- writer (or, latterly, a word processor). In Canada, the novelistic technique most practised by writers, and most accepted by readers, critics, and academics, has been from the beginning and still remains the conventional realistic narrative, though there have been some interesting innovations. One of the characteristics non-Canadians always notice about Canadian novels is that an amazingly large proportion of them are set in the country. Even of that fiction set not in the countryside but in the city, much portrays the city not as a cosmopolitan centre but as a small town. There is, I think, a political reason for this. Canada, like the rest of the "developed" countries, is a place in which the dominant way of life is an urban one. Just as American culture is dominated by Los Angeles and New York, as British culture is dominated by London, as French culture is dominated by Paris, so, too, is English-Canadian culture dominated by Toronto.
    [Show full text]
  • Longlisted & Shortlisted Books 1994-2018
    Longlisted & Shortlisted Books 1994-2018 www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca # The Boys in the Trees, Mary Swan – 2008 13 Ways of Looking at a Fat Girl, Mona Awad - 2016 Brother, David Chariandy – 2017 419, Will Ferguson - 2012 Burridge Unbound, Alan Cumyn – 2000 By Gaslight, Steven Price – 2016 A A Beauty, Connie Gault – 2015 C A Complicated Kindness, Miriam Toews – 2004 Casino and Other Stories, Bonnie Burnard – 1994 A Fine Balance, Rohinton Mistry – 1995 Cataract City, Craig Davidson – 2013 The Age of Longing, Richard B. Wright – 1995 The Cat’s Table, Michael Ondaatje – 2011 A Good House, Bonnie Burnard – 1999 Caught, Lisa Moore – 2013 A Good Man, Guy Vanderhaeghe – 2011 The Cellist of Sarajevo, Steven Galloway – 2008 Alias Grace, Margaret Atwood – 1996 Cereus Blooms at Night, Shani Mootoo – 1997 Alligator, Lisa Moore – 2005 Childhood, André Alexis – 1998 All My Puny Sorrows, Miriam Toews – 2014 Cities of Refuge, Michael Helm – 2010 All That Matters, Wayson Choy – 2004 Clara Callan, Richard B. Wright – 2001 All True Not a Lie in it, Alix Hawley – 2015 Close to Hugh, Mariana Endicott - 2015 American Innovations, Rivka Galchen – 2014 Cockroach, Rawi Hage – 2008 Am I Disturbing You?, Anne Hébert, translated by The Colony of Unrequited Dreams, Wayne Johnston – Sheila Fischman – 1999 1998 Anil’s Ghost, Michael Ondaatje – 2000 The Colour of Lightning, Paulette Jiles – 2009 Annabel, Kathleen Winter – 2010 Conceit, Mary Novik – 2007 An Ocean of Minutes, Thea Lim – 2018 Confidence, Russell Smith – 2015 The Antagonist, Lynn Coady – 2011 Cool Water, Dianne Warren – 2010 The Architects Are Here, Michael Winter – 2007 The Crooked Maid, Dan Vyleta – 2013 A Recipe for Bees, Gail Anderson-Dargatz – 1998 The Cure for Death by Lightning, Gail Arvida, Samuel Archibald, translated by Donald Anderson-Dargatz – 1996 Winkler – 2015 Curiosity, Joan Thomas – 2010 A Secret Between Us, Daniel Poliquin, translated by The Custodian of Paradise, Wayne Johnston – 2006 Donald Winkler – 2007 The Assassin’s Song, M.G.
    [Show full text]
  • Anglo-French Relations and the Acadians in Canada's
    View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by Göteborgs universitets publikationer - e-publicering och e-arkiv GOTHENBURG STUDIES IN ENGLISH 98 ______________________________________ Anglo-French Relations and the Acadians in Canada’s Maritime Literature: Issues of Othering and Transculturation BIRGITTA BROWN For C. R. Dissertation for PhD in English, University of Gothenburg 2008 © Birgitta Brown, 2008 Editors: Gunilla Florby and Arne Olofsson ISSN 0072–503x ISBN 978-91-7346-675-2 Printed by Intellecta InfoLog, Kållered 2010 Distributor: Acta Universitatis Gothoburgensis, Box 222, SE-405 30 Göteborg, Sweden Abstract PhD dissertation at the University of Gothenburg, 2008 Title: Anglo-French Relations and the Acadians in Canada’s Maritime Literature: Issues of Othering and Transculturation. Author: Birgitta Brown Language: English Department: English Department, University of Gothenburg, Box 200, SE-405 30 Gothenburg Anglo-French relations have had a significant influence on the fiction created in Canada’s Maritime Provinces. The 18th century was a period of colonial wars. Contacts between the English and French in Canada were established and de- termined by the hostilities between the two colonizing nations, France and Great Britain. The hostilities passed on a sense of difference between the two nations through situations of othering. Contacts, however, always generate transcultural processes which transcend or mediate cultural difference. Othering and transculturation are closely interdependent phenomena acting in conjunc- tion. They work in processes manifesting themselves in so-called contact zones both during the colonial era and in a postcolonial context. This study investi- gates how processes of othering and transculturation are explored and dis- cussed in a number of Maritime novels, Anglophone and Acadian, published in different decades of the 20th century, in order to account for a broad perspec- tive of the interdependency of othering and transculturation.
    [Show full text]
  • University of Saskatchewan Department of English Ph.D
    University of Saskatchewan Department of English Ph.D. Field Examination Ph.D. candidates take this examination to establish that they have sufficient understanding to do advanced research and teaching in a specific field. Field examinations are conducted twice yearly: in October and May. At least four months before examination, students must inform the Graduate Chair in writing of their intention to sit the examination. Ph.D. students are to take this examination in May of the second year of the program or October of the third. The examination will be set and marked by three faculty specialists in the area that has been chosen by the candidate. The following lists comprise the areas in which the Department of English has set readings for Ph.D. candidates: American, Commonwealth/Postcolonial, English- Canadian, Literary Theory, Literature by Women, Medieval, Modern British, Nineteenth- Century British, Renaissance, and Restoration/Eighteenth Century. Each candidate is either to select one of the areas listed here or to propose an examination in an area for which a list is not already set. The set lists themselves are not exhaustive; each is to be taken as two-thirds of the reading to be undertaken for the examination, the final third to be drafted by the candidate in consultation with the supervisor. At least three months before examination, this list will be submitted to the candidate’s Examining Committee for approval. A candidate may choose to be examined in an area for which there is no list. Should this option be chosen, the candidate (in consultation with the supervisor) will propose an area to the Graduate Committee at least six months before the examination is to be taken.
    [Show full text]
  • Literary Trivia Challenge
    Literary Trivia Challenge 1. Which Nobel Prize-winning author wrote a 6. What is the name of the narrator in short story that took place at Osler? Harper Lee’s To Kill a Mockingbird? A) Margaret Attwood A) Scout Finch B) David Adams Richards B) Boo Radley C) Alice Munro C) Atticus Finch D) W. O. Mitchell D) Dill Harris 2. Where was the location of Collingwood’s 7. What is the first ghost to visit Ebenezer original Public Library? Scrooge on Christmas Eve? A) Simcoe Street A) Ghost of Christmas Past B) Second Street B) Bob Cratchit C) Hurontario Street C) Ghost of Christmas Spirit D) St Paul Street D) Jacob Marley 3. Which Canadian author wrote Luke Baldwin’s Vow, a story of a boy who came to 8. Who is known for collecting folklore tales live in Collingwood? such as Cinderella, Rapunzel, and Snow A) Robertson Davies White? B) Morley Callaghan A) Hans Christian Andersen C) George Bowering B) Brothers Grimm C) Walt Disney D) Gabrielle Roy D) All of the above 4. Who is Collingwood’s poet laureate? A) Susan Wismer 9. What was Mark Twain’s real name? B) Maya Angelou A) Twain Mark B) Samuel Clemens C) Robert Frost C) Henry James D) Day Merrill D) Walt Whitman 5. What book won CBC’s Canada Reads contest in 2019? 10. The Lion King is a Disney re-imagining of A) Bakr al Rabeeah, Winnie Yeung which Shakespeare play? A) King Lear B) The Testaments, Margaret Atwood B) Macbeth C) By Chance Alone, Max Eisen.
    [Show full text]