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While these forms may be included Bien que ces formulaires aient inclus dans in the document page count, their la pagination, il n'y aura aucun contenu removal does not represent any loss manquant. of content from the thesis. 1+1 Canada "ONLY AN ARTIST CAN MEASURE UP TO SUCH A PLACE": PLACE AND IDENTITY IN CONTEMPORARY NEWFOUNDLAND FICTION by © Paul Chafe B.A. (Hons), MA. A thesis submitted to the School of Graduate Studies in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Department of English Memorial University of Newfoundland September 2008 St. John's Newfoundland ii Abstract This thesis is an examination of ten novels at the centre of the recent surge of artistic and literary production in Newfoundland. This rise is not only one of quantity but quality as well, as evidenced by the numerous national and international nominations and rewards garnered by these texts and the ever-expanding audience they attract both within and without Newfoundland. Annie Proulx's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Shipping News (1993) placed Newfoundland in a wider public consciousness as a harsh, unforgiving environment that paradoxically provides a nurturing and purifying home for the world- weary visitor. Reviews of Proulx's novel and the subsequent work of Newfoundland novelists like Wayne Johnston, Michael Crummey, and Lisa Moore have invariably included comments on the rugged yet beautiful landscape and its relationship to the hardy, joyful (and perhaps somewhat backward) people who occupy it. The encompassing notion espoused by Newfoundland's burgeoning tourism industry of an unspoiled land loved and worked by a tenacious people is both compounded and confronted by the literature produced since the publication of The Shipping News. This thesis will examine how the authors of these works present Newfoundland and Newfoundlanders by focusing primarily on the characters and their relation to place. Ideas central to postcolonial theory can be seen throughout the text as several of the protagonists are examined as postcolonial subjects striving for a notion of "home" on an island that continually changes identity. Patrick Kavanagh's GaffTopsails, which tries to establish a physical and even erotic connection between its characters and the land, is iii examined through an ecocritical lens. The examination of Edward Riche's Rare Birds relies heavily on recent touristic discourse, while the analyses of the urban no vels by Moore, Michael Winter, Paul Bowdring, and Kenneth J. Harvey use Walter Benjamin's flåneur and scholarly investigations of urban literature to investigate the fraying connection between these metropolitan protagonists and their island. Always paramount throughout this thesis is the examination of Newfoundland identities presented by these authors as extensions of a foundational, mythologized and troubled relationship with the land. iv Acknowledgements This thesis was written in St. John's, Mount Pearl, Corner Brook, Topeka, Kansas and Ajax, Ontario. I have not been the easiest student to supervise and I am grateful for the patience, promptness, and availability of my supervisor, Dr. Ronald Rompkey. His insights, corrections, and suggestions have made this a much stronger thesis. For her love, support, patience, and encouragement, I am forever grateful to my wife, Karen. I am also thankful for the love and support of my parents, Ronald and Angela, my sister, Erin, and my brother, David. Thanks also to the members of the Kennedy and O'Neill families (the in-laws) who have all tåken an interest in my work. I am especially thankful for my daughter, Sophie Marie Chafe, who was born November 17, 2007, and has been nothing but a hindrance to the completion of this thesis since she arrived. I would not have it any other way. I am thankful to other members of Memorial University's English Department who have contributed to this thesis in many ways. I would like to thank the three people who served as Graduate Chairs during my time as a PhD student: Dr. Tamas Dobozy, Dr. Danine Farquharson, and especially Dr. Mark Cumming, who made sure I was well- stocked in fruit, coffee, and energy bars during my comprehensive examinations. Thanks to Dr. Larry Mathews who served on my supervisory committee and in whose graduate course I first began writing this thesis. Very special thanks to Dr. Valerie Legge who also served on my supervisory committee and was always available to offer advice or simply to chat. Thanks to Dr. Noreen Golfman who was always supportive and Dr. William Barker in whose office this thesis began to take shape. I would also like to acknowledge v Dr. Adrian Fowler, Dr. Philip Hiscock, Dr. James Overton, Dr. Jerry Bannister, Dr. Herb Wyile and Ms. Ginny Ryan for meaningful conversations and encouragement along the way. A special thanks to Ruby Barron, Cathy Murphy, Renee Lopez, Brenda Smith, and Tracy Hedd who were always helpful. Finally, "Newfoundland literature" to me was joke books and Ted Russell before I was introduced to Michael Cook's Jacob 's Wake in Professor Ronald Wallace's undergraduate course on Canadian drama. Hearing of my interest in the subversive and scathing presentation of Newfoundland, Professor Wallace fed my curiosity with books from his own library: House of Hate, Tomorrow Will Be Sunday, Random Passage, and GaffTopsails. This thesis is dedicated to him. *** Several paragraphs in the Introduction previously published in "Newfoundland Poetry as 'Ethnographic Salvage': Time, Place, and Voice in the Poetry of Michael Crummey and Mary Dalton" in Studies in Canadian Literature 32.2 (2007). Other paragraphs will appear in '"Old Lost Land': Loss in Historical Newfoundland Fiction" in National Plots: The Historical Novel in Canada, 1832-2005 (WLU Press). Chapter 1 previously published as '"The scuttlework of empire': A Postcolonial Reading of Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams" in Newfoundland and Labrador Studies 19.2 Fall 2003. Chapter 2 previously published as "Lament for a Notion: Loss and the Beothuk in vi Michael Crummey's River Thieves" in Essays on Canadian Writing 82 Spring 2004. Parts of Chapter 4 to be published as '"All the qualities o' th' isle': The Shipping News as Island Myth" in Annie Proulx and the Geographical Imagination: Rethinking Regionalism, Place, and the Local. Chapter 5 previously published as "Living the Authentic Life at 'The Far East of the Western World': Edward Riche's RareBirds" in Studies in Canadian Literature 2008. Most of Chapter 6 to be published as "Beautiful Losers: The Flåneur in St. John's Literature" in Newfoundland and Labrador Studies. I am thankful to the editors, guest editors, anonymous and not-so anonymous reviewers of the above journals and collections for their contributions to the betterment of these chapters. Vil Table of Contents Abstract ii Acknowledgements iv Introduction: Place and Identity in Newfoundland Literature 1 Chapter 1: A Postcolonial Reading of Wayne Johnston's The Colony of Unrequited Dreams 41 Chapter 2: Loss and the Beothuk in Michael Crummey's River Thieves 79 Chapter 3: Island Intimacy in Patrick Kavanagh's GaffTopsails 109 Chapter 4: Island Myths in Annie Proulx's The Shipping News and Michael Winter' s The Big Why 15 8 Chapter 5: Living the Authentic Life in Edward Riche's Rare Bir ds YlA Chapter 6: The Flåneur in Paul Bowdring's The Night Season and Michael Winter's This All Happened 250 Chapter 7: Surviving St. John's in Lisa Moore's Alligator and Kenneth J. Harvey's Inside 295 Conclusion: "Nothing but story": Writing "Home" Through Unhomely Narratives 350 Works Cited 386 1 Introduction: Place and Identity in Newfoundland Literature I did not solve the paradox of Newfoundland orfathom the effect on me of its peculiar beauty... Perhaps only an artist can measure up to such a place or come to terms with the impossibility ofdoing so. - "Joseph Smallwood," The Colony of Unrequited Dreams This thesis on contemporary Newfoundland fiction began as a response or sequel to Patrick 0'Flaherty's The Rock Observed (1979). However, it became apparent in the early stages that creating a simple continuation of 0'Flaherty's seminal survey of Newfoundland literature would be impossible. 0'Flaherty was writing in the 1970s and therefore in the midst of what Sandra Gwyn termed the "Newfoundland renaissance" (38).