Canadian Postmodernism Canadian Postmodernism & Postcolonialism& Postcolonialism

Introduction – OverviewCanadian Postmodernism and Postcolonialism Margaret Atwood

General QuestionsGeneral QuestionsWhat do you know about

◦The Canadian◦The Postmodern◦The Postcolonial ◦Globalization◦Margaret Atwood and ◦The Chinese-Canadian Writers?

OverviewOverviewThe Canadian – 2nd largest nation with

high tech development; settler-invader (post)colonialism leading to split identity and “unity in disunity.”

The Postmodern – cultural dominant (parody, pastiche, constructivism, challenge of metanarrative) in the conditions of high-tech telecommunication and international capitalism.

The Postcolonial –issues of identity in relation to marginality, power, alterity, resistance, and historical revisionism

Overview (2)Overview (2)Globalization –growing intensification

of global interactions and restructuring on the economic, political and cultural levels.

Margaret Atwood – a major Canadian writer concerned with women’s positions both on the personal and political/national levels

Overview (3)Overview (3)SKY Lee – metafictional

constructions of five generations of Chinese-Canadians

Larissa Lai – Reconstruction of Chinese myths (fox, Nu Wa) in order to re-write (Chinese-) Canadians’ post-national identities in contemporary society or near future

Please see course description for common issues

““Canadian” Canadian” Postmodern & Postcolonial Postmodern & Postcolonial IdentitiesIdentities

• General Views• Postmodernism

1. Definitions 2. Definitions and Issues

• Postcolonialism1. Settlement Colonies 2. Postcolonialism ‘s Three

Fronts3. From Two Solitudes to Many: National Myths &

Realities4. Debate and Controversies

MICHAEL J. FOX

Keanu ReeveCaptain Kirk

Jim Carrey

ALANIS MORISSETTE

k.d. Lang

Celine Dion

Paul Anka, Neil Young,Peter Jennings

Saturday Night Life: Dan Aykroyd

Pamela Ander-son Lee

Megan Follow asAnne of Green Gables

Which of the following are Canadians?

Internet Jokes on Cultural Internet Jokes on Cultural DifferencesDifferences

Aussies: Dislike being mistaken for Pommies (Brits) when abroad.

Canadians: Are rather indignant about being mistaken for Americans when abroad.

Americans: Encourage being mistaken for Canadians when abroad.

Brits: Can't possibly be mistaken for anyone else when abroad.

Uncertain Identity

Internet Jokes on Cultural Internet Jokes on Cultural DifferencesDifferences

Americans: Spell words differently, but still call it "English".

Brits: Pronounce their words differently, but still call it "English".

Canadians: Spell like the Brits, pronounce like Americans.

Aussies: Add "G'day", "mate" and a heavy accent to everything they say.

In-Between Identity

Aussies: Are extremely patriotic

to their beer.Americans: Are flag-

waving,anthem-singing, and obsessively patriotic to the point of blindness.

Canadians: Can't agree on the words to their anthem, when they can be bothered to sing them.

Brits: Do not sing at all but prefer a

large brass band to perform the anthem.

Internet Jokes on Cultural Differences

Uncertain Identity

Canadian Identity: Self-Canadian Identity: Self-AssertionAssertionWho Are We?Molson “I am Canadian”;

(http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dzn0UiiOYLs ) (William Shatner: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1CwZgb_iAI&feature=related ; http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dt596dfzYq8&feature=related )

Hey,I'm not a lumber jackOr a fur traderAnd I don’t live in an iglooOr eat blubberOr own a dog sled And I don't know Jimmy, Jally or Suzie from CanadaAlthough I'm sure they're really really nice

Stereotypes –e.g. “Do you know Jimmy?”

The More Positive The More Positive Distinction from the Distinction from the American…American… I have a Prime Minister not a President

I speak English and French not American And I pronounce it about not "a-boot" I can proudly sew my country's flag on my backpack I believe in peace-keeping not policing Diversity not assimilation And that the beaver is a truly proud and noble animal A toque is a hat a chesterfield is a couchAnd it is pronounced "zed" not "zee" "zed"!Canada is the 2nd largest landmass!The 1st nation in hockey!And the best part of North America!My name is Joe and I am Canadian!

Politics, national symbols,

language and identity

Postmodernism (0)Postmodernism (0): : Definitions Definitions

-- 後現代主義 (Postmodernism) ︰ cultures which challenge language and the other types of “Truth,” foundation and tradition. (Poststructuralism as one example.)

-- 後結構主義 (Poststructuralism) ︰ theories which challenge the stable structure of language (binaries) and traditional value systems; sees their meanings as slippery, multiple and contingent ( 因時而定的 ).

-- 後現代狀況 (Postmodernity) ︰ The socio-economic and intellectual conditions which make postmodernism possible.

Postmodernism (1): Definitions Postmodernism (1): Definitions & Issues& Issues1. Definition:

◦ “post”modernism -- 什麼是現代？什麼是「後」？◦ Period or style: 是斷代還是文體？已經過去了嗎？

2. Postmodernism and postmodernity (postmodern conditions 後現代性 : 後工業資本主義、跨國企業 ) － the former reinforcing or critiquing the latter.

3. Interpretation: against interpretation, difficult wholenss or hybridity

4. Postmodern Identity: Depthlessness vs. 1. History, Memory, Capitalist culture and Identity 2. The role of the author – authority, originality

and authenticity 3. The boundaries of humanity

What is Postmodernism? (2) What is Postmodernism? (2)

Negative Positive

Flattening of subjectivity;

Pastiche

Ambiguity

Eclecticism

Pluralism

De-Centering & Boundary-crossing

Literature & Film:

Surfiction, metafiction pastiche

Parody

Ensemble film

Sci-fi . . .,etc

Historiographical metafiction & metafilm

Urban space

Society as spectacle; overall commofication

Plural space;

Multiple historical signs

De-zoning or democratization of urban space;

re-creation of historical spaces

2. Canadian 2. Canadian PostmodernismPostmodernismThe postmodern condition – e.g.

Marshall McLuhan) “The medium is the massage” (the influence of print technology and media)

A strong self-conscious (or metafictional) impulse which does not give up on realism (e.g. plot or realistic description)

In Film -- Atom Egoyan’s treatment of electric/electronic devices of reproduction and David Cronenberg’s treatments of technologies and dual identity

Postmodernism (3): as Postmodernism (3): as Boundary-CrossingBoundary-CrossingBoundaries between –

◦ fact and fiction◦ disciplines ◦ the private and the public ◦ high art and popular culture ◦ nations ◦ human and non-human

Why? Next week.

Postmodernism(3): Postmodernism(3): CulturesCultures後現代主義 (postmodernism) －文化表

現（音樂、建築、大眾文化、政治、文學、理論）

特色：無深度 (depthless) 、拼貼(pastiche) 、後設 (metafictional) 、模擬兩可 (ambiguous) 、質疑大敘述／真理(de-doxification) 、折衷 (eclecticism) 、跨界 (boundary-crossing) 、多元(pluralistic), etc.

Colonization 2: Settlement

Canada: U. K. Metaphor: Miranda

Colonization 3 : Internal colonialism = racism against the immigrants; Quebec

Postcolonial Issues (1): Postcolonial Issues (1): Settlement ColoniesSettlement Colonies

Colonization 1: invasion, exploitation & cultural imposition India: U.K. (Prospero)the Caribbean: Holland, Spain, France, U.K. ◦ Metaphor: Caliban

Colonization 4: neo-colonialism U.S.

Canada’s Miranda IdentityCanada’s Miranda IdentityDiana Brydon: “Re-writing The Tempest” – Miranda -- the “dutiful daughter of the

empire” (77). Prospero’s values …”are internalized by

Miranda but redefined through her interaction with Caliban” (86).

They show how “Canadians have internalized the process of their colonization: they are themselves Prospero and what he colonized is a vital part of themselves.” Dennis Lee “Namelessness” “Placelessness.”

Canadian HistoryCanadian History◦1534 --New France◦ 1670 -- Charles II of England

established HUDSON'S BAY COMPANY

1867 -- Canada become a confederation of former colonies (The British North America Act)

1947-- the creation of the status of Canadian citizen

1967-- expo '67 in Montreal 1982-- The Constitution Act ended

British control over amendments to Canada's Constitution.

1988-- Canadian Multiculturalism Act

Summary: Canadian Summary: Canadian IdentityIdentityCompared with the States, it

merged quite late, slowly and peacefully in the 20th century.

Defined in contrast with the Americans -- White North (but not the West), Irony (but not Innocence), victim mentality (but not heroism), Mounties but not cowboy, etc.

Charateristics (?): Gentleness + violent hockey, Two solitudes.

Postcolonialism: Three Postcolonialism: Three Fronts in CanadaFronts in CanadaBrydon: Critics in Canada have

contributed to postcolonial theory on these three fronts:

1.understanding Canada as a settler-invader society;

2.healing the colonial wounds inflicted on Indigeneity through the development of decolonizing Indigenous research and activist strategies; and

3.understanding postcolonialism as a global phenomenon. (59 in Moss)

From Two Solitudes to MANY: From Two Solitudes to MANY:

National Myths & Racial Realities

e.g. “Who Are We?”

"As Canadian as possible, . . ., under the circumstances."

““ The Canadian North”: Its The Canadian North”: Its Myths and “Realities” Myths and “Realities” The Group of Seven

National Myth 1: Victim National Myth 1: Victim MentalityMentality “Garrison Mentality” “Victim Mentality” vs. American individualism e.g. Atwood 在 Survival 中視加人為自

然力量的「集體受害者」，主張加拿大文學即是移民文學，哀悼「離家及失落」。換言之，加拿大文學的「後殖民」主題之一即是文化及地理上－－或內在與外在－－的流離失所 .

But who are the victims?

e.g. “Can Lit.” by Earl Birney

Myth 2: Two SolitudesMyth 2: Two Solitudes

Duality -- caused by settler-colonization and neo-colonialism

French and English; British, American & “Canadian”

e.g. “Tricks with Mirrors”The victims are not necessarily powerless.

Interactions between the victimizer and the victimized.

Myth 3Myth 3: : MMoossaaiicc and and MulticulturalismMulticulturalism

Immigrants to CanadaImmigrants to CanadaEarly 20th century: Italians and

Jews discriminated againstthe postwar new-comers: at

first mainly British, and then Dutch and German

in the 1960s -- Mediterranean peoples, notably Italians, Greeks and Portuguese,

in the 1970s -- a steadily growing number of Asians--from India and China via Hong Kong especially and of people of ultimately African origin via the Caribbean.

Ghettoized?

V e r t i c a l

Mosaic

Is Canada “Postcolonial”?Is Canada “Postcolonial”?

Depends –focus on Canada as a member of the

British Commonwealth;focus on the vastly different histories of

the countries in that Commonwealth;view Canada as both an invader and

settler colony;view Canada as holding two solitudes

and/or other solitudes;see Canada as a nation of immigrants;

Is Canada “Postcolonial”?Is Canada “Postcolonial”?see Canada continuing the colonization of First

Nations people; isolate Canada as a member of the G8 and a

powerful player in globalization;isolate Canada as a country with pockets of poverty;define Canadian primarily as “not American”;think of a Molson “I am Canadian” identity; consider multiculturalism in Canada to be more than

a series of folklore festivals; and/orconsider Canada to be a nation of writers from

widely diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds (Moss 7-8)

Margaret AtwoodMargaret Atwood

Concerned with Canada’s cultural identity and histories; Women’s Positions;

Survival (1972)Duality “Tricks with

Mirror”; Two-Headed Poems (1978)

Victim mentality

The Circle Game

(1966, poetry)

Survival (1972, non-fiction)

The Edible Woman (1969, novel)

Surfacing

(1973, novel)

Lady Oracle

(1977, novel)

Dancing Girls

(1977, short)

Life Before Man

(1979, novel)

Dancing Girls and Other Stories (1982, short stories) Bodily Harm

(1982, novel)

The Handmaid's Tale (1985, novel) Bluebeard's Egg (1987, short stories)

Selected Poems: 1965-1975 (1987, poetry)

Margaret Atwood (2)Margaret Atwood (2)

42 books; 13 novels

Postmodern, self-reflexive mode

mixing poetry and fiction, mixing a lot of genres (Gothic, detective story, fairy tales, family romance, comedy, allegory, etc.)

Selected Poems II: 1976-1986

(1987, poetry... US)

Cat's Eye

(1989, novel)

Wilderness Tips

(1991, short stories)

The Robber Bride

(1993, novel)

Good Bones and Simple Murders (1994, short stories)

Alias Grace (1996, novel) A Quiet Game(1997, The Blind Assassins (2000)

PoemsPoemsDuality and Women’s Self-

Preservation: “This is a Photograph of Me” “Tricks with Mirror”

The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970): the experience of a mid-nineteenth-century English settler in Canada,” derived from two books by Moodie, Roughing It in the Bush (1852) and Life in the Clearings (1853).

““Tricks with Mirrors” Tricks with Mirrors” from from You Are HappyYou Are Happy

Mirror: Identity narcissism, self-

absorption, entrapment, stasis. Note: Atwood compares writers to

trickster.“The trickster figure embodies

contradictions, often using humor, parody, and satire to expose hypocrisy and pretension. “

The Handmaid’s Tale: Plot The Handmaid’s Tale: Plot

The simple, constrained life of a handmaid and her memories. ◦Her life: shopping, eating, bathing, waiting,

ceremonies– intercourse, birthing, Salvaging.◦“Night” sections – memories, meeting Nick,

etc. In-between the commander and his wife: Commander – meetings in the

study, Jazebel, Wife – Nick

ReferenceReferenceLaura Moss, ed. Is Canada

Postcolonial? Unsettling Canadian Literature. Waterloo, Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2003.