Alternative histories in western Canadian fiction of the 1970-1980S

BackgroundBefore the anatyses of the novets, a ctoser examination of the intettectuat context of these texts is offered here.Among the major factors that contributed to the rise of a distinct titerary genre in Western Canadian titerature, firstty the generat emergence of historiographic metafiction in Canada is to be outtined (Chapter 2.1).This chapter presents historiographic metafiction in recent Western Canadian writing atong with some rotated criticat points.Chapters 2.2 and 2.3 are devoted to the presentation of two factors that, in my view, determine most significantty the voice of these writers, and these are: a modified sense of historiography as compared to previous interpretations of a region and its past and the second factor is a new concept of regionaiism.Chapter 2.2 focuses on the interdiscipiinary reiations of historiographic metafiction combining phiiosophy and historiography, for each nove!seems to present a criticism of historicat investigations in the traditionat sense, trusting one interpretation onty.Moreover, there are shared features of fiction-and history writing, that emphasise epistemoiogicat retativism atong with a stress on the authoriat responsibitity of interpretation.The next chapter of the thesis (Chapter 2.3) provides an insight to this changing concept of the Canadian West as presented by its writers.The tast of the chapters that synopsises the intettectuat context that I consider to formutate significantty Western Canadian fiction between 1975-1985 is Chapter 2.4.Here an attempt is made to expand the generat scope of the interdiscipiinary rotations with the speciat Western Canadian view of the past, ittuminating the speciat regionat context of the texts.I betieve that the conceptuai knowtedge these chapters attempt to hightight can provide a deep understanding of the titerary texts that the consecutive parts of the thesis (Chapters 3.1-3.4)anatyse.!5 2.1 The Emergence of Historiographic Metafiction in Canadian Literature and Its Criticai Reception Writing history, creating a 'usabie past' has been an important trait for North-American inteiiectuats.In Canada this tendency correiated the attempts to define nationa! and regionat identity and search for unifying myths and images especiaüy in the post-war period up to the 1960s.The presentations of the past in the noveis of for exampte Hugh MacLennan and Sinciair Ross foiiow a monoiogicai, iinear pattern.The communa! past is introduced through individuai past experiences, mostiy with didactic, morai or nationaiistic purposes.To present how the fictionai treatment of past experiences has changed and how the generic attributes of historiographic metafiction are inscribed in the fiction of the 1960s-1970s, I wouid iike to refer briefiy to two noveis, Leonard Cohen's and Laurence's 77?^ Z?/w/7e/y for their impact on the fictionai techniques of Kroetsch, Bowering, Hodgins and Wiebe is considerabie.In Cohen's novei historiography took a new metafictionai ground, whiie Laurence's fiction faciiitated the emergence of a new (femaie) voice in Western Canadian fiction through the re-definition of regionai identity.The mid-1960s marked the commencement of the genre of historiographic metafiction.1966 was the year when Cohen's Feac/A'yi// Xose/y was pubiished and in 1969 Atwood's 77?^ M47/77a/7 appeared.Both noveis demonstrate an osciiiation between modernist and postmodernist techniques and thus signify the beginning of a new iiterary era in Canadian iiterature.The story of Catherine Tekakwitha, the Liiy of the Mohawks in Cohen's fiction is presented from a radicaiiy new poetic angie as compared to that of eariier Canadian writers: he creates a discourse in which he estabiishes a speciai trans-historicai reiationship: iove with the 17th century woman.This feature reappears in Kroetsch's where the daughter of the iong dead archaeoiogist deveiops a simiiar trans-historicai )6 reíatíonshíp with her father, though here affection and rejection equatty characterise the feeiings.Cohen aiso draws a paraiiei between the ways how the Indians and the Quebecois were deprived of their own versions of communat past."Give us back our History!The Engtish have stoten our History 126)."Cohen stresses his fears that schotarty study of history, 'technicoior postcards' and other conventionat ways of recording the past wouid bind up her story and indirectty Catherine herseif (e.g."The end of this book has been rented to the Jesuits.The Jesuits demand the officia) beatification of Catherine Tekakwitha! 259]").Contrariiy, he tries to free her image through his inabitity of finding ctose and dear-cut answers to her iife, through opening this image to humanness (e.g.suffering, being misunderstood) and femateness (e.g.sexuat references to her body), consequentty tearing down and reshaping the traditionat image of the saint, and through tatking to her in the second person.The major characteristic features of historiographic metafiction ait appear in Cohen's fiction: the rejection of truth in Ross, or Laurence's fiction indicated the emergence of a distinct Western Canadian fiction, among their contemporary writers Bowering, Kroetsch, Wiebe and Hodgins introduce region and its past from a radicatty new perspective, as exptained in Chapter 2.4 (" 'Being West of History'-Recent Fiction and The Specific Western Canadian View of the Past").As far as critica!examinations of historiographic metafiction in recent Canadian writing are concerned, some significant views rotated to our present undertakings must be mentioned here.Postmodernism tn Canadian tetters is

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