“Shaped by the Sea”: Regional Aspects in Atlantic Canadian Short Stories Diplomarbeit zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades einer Magistra der Philosophie an der Geisteswissenschaftlichen Fakultät der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz vorgelegt von Daniela REITER am Institut für Anglistik Begutachterin: Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil Maria Löschnigg Graz, 2015 Acknowledgements In the following I would like to thank a number of people who were very helpful, motivating and supportive throughout the process of writing this thesis: My advisor Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Maria Löschnigg for her professional and motivating guidance during the writing process of this thesis. Jennifer Andrews for the support during my semester at the University of New Brunswick and for taking the time to be interviewed by me. Tony Tremblay Herb Wyile, Gwendolyn Davies and David Creelman for the interesting and very helpful interviews about regionalism and Atlantic Canadian literature. Alexander MacLeod who was willing to answer my questions on regionalism and short stories from Atlantic Canada via e-mail. My mother, who always supports me in everything I do and who has been there for me every step of the way. My two brothers who always manage to make me smile. Table of Contents 1. Introduction ......................................................................................................................................... 3 2. Regionalism ......................................................................................................................................... 5 2.1 The Image of the Region – A Construct Created by the Center of the Nation .............................. 7 2.2 Depression in the Maritimes ......................................................................................................... 9 2.3 Literature from Atlantic Canada .................................................................................................. 10 2.4 Definition of regionalism ............................................................................................................. 12 3. Nova Scotia ........................................................................................................................................ 15 3.1 Nova Scotian Short Story Writers ................................................................................................ 16 3.1.1 Alistair MacLeod ............................................................................................................. 16 3.1.2 Lesley Choyce .................................................................................................................. 18 3.1.3 Sheldon Currie ................................................................................................................ 18 3.1.4 Lynn Coady ..................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Analysis of the short stories ........................................................................................................ 20 3.2.1 “The Boat” by Alistair MacLeod ........................................................................................... 20 3.2.2 “In the Fall” by Alistair MacLeod .......................................................................................... 24 3.2.3 “The Vastness of the Dark” by Alistair MacLeod .................................................................. 26 3.2.4 “The Tuning of Perfection” by Alistair MacLeod .................................................................. 30 3.2.5 “Dance the Rocks Ashore” by Lesley Choyce ....................................................................... 34 3.2.6 “The Glace Bay Miner´s Museum” by Sheldon Currie .......................................................... 38 3.2.7 “Jesus Christ, Murdeena” by Lynn Coady ............................................................................. 42 4. Newfoundland and Labrador ............................................................................................................ 44 4.1 Newfoundland Short Story Authors ............................................................................................ 46 4.1.1 Michael Crummey .......................................................................................................... 46 4.1.2 Wayne Johnston ............................................................................................................ 46 4.1.3 Lisa Moore ..................................................................................................................... 47 4.2 Analysis of Short Stories set in Newfoundland ........................................................................... 48 4.2.1 “Heartburn” by Michael Crummey ....................................................................................... 48 4.2.2 “Roots” by Michael Crummey .............................................................................................. 52 1 4.2.3 “That Fall” by Michael Crummey .......................................................................................... 55 4.2.4 “The Boot” by Wayne Johnston ........................................................................................... 57 4.2.5 “Grace” by Lisa Moore ......................................................................................................... 59 5. Expert Interviews ............................................................................................................................... 66 6. Questionnaire for Canadian Students ............................................................................................... 74 7. Conclusion ......................................................................................................................................... 86 8. Bibliography ....................................................................................................................................... 90 8.1 Primary Sources ........................................................................................................................... 90 8.2 Secondary Sources ...................................................................................................................... 90 8.3 Online Sources ............................................................................................................................. 92 8.4 Images ......................................................................................................................................... 94 9. Appendix ............................................................................................................................................ 96 9.1 Interview with Herb Wyile ........................................................................................................... 96 9.2 Interview with Gwendolyn Davies ............................................................................................. 105 9.3 Interview with David Creelman ................................................................................................. 113 9.4 Interview with Tony Tremblay................................................................................................... 122 9.5 Interview with Jennifer Andrews .............................................................................................. 133 9.6 Interview with Alexander MacLeod .......................................................................................... 149 9.7 Questionnaire ............................................................................................................................ 153 2 1. Introduction Canada as the second largest country in the world is home to numerous outstanding authors. However, Canadian writers have often been neglected and Canadian literature has frequently been seen as secondary literature and not as important as the literary classics (cf. Tremblay Interview 2014: 2). Further, for many years regionalism was seen pejorative in Canada and regional works were associated with hinterland. Thus, regionalism and regional works had rather negative connotations (cf. Tremblay Interview 2014: 6). For a very long time and still now, Atlantic Canada has often only been seen as a picturesque, peaceful place which is great to visit on a holiday. However, in political terms the region does not really count for Canadians from other parts of the country (cf. Wyile Interview 2014: 5). Also the literary outputs of the region have often been neglected in other parts of Canada and internationally. Nowadays however, “there is a whole sort of new generation that is interested in Atlantic Canada” (Wyile Interview 2014: 2) and in the literature from this region. The aim of this thesis is to give an insight into Atlantic Canadian literature by focusing on short stories from that particular region. Further, the thesis should explain and define the concept of regionalism and show which and how regional aspects are portrayed in short stories written by Atlantic Canadian authors. However, it is not within the bounds of possibility of this thesis to concentrate on all provinces that make up Atlantic Canada. Therefore, I chose to work on two provinces namely Nova Scotia and Newfoundland. I also had to restrict the number of authors and short stories in order to narrow the scope of this thesis even further. Further, the goal of this thesis is to give an insight into the opinions of experts on the field of regionalism