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Literary Criticism Canadian

Racial Attitudes in English-Canadian Fiction, 1905-1980

by (author) Terrence Craig

Publisher
Wilfrid Laurier University Press
Initial publish date
Oct 2010
Category
Canadian, Post-Confederation (1867-), Discrimination & Race Relations
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781554586615
    Publish Date
    Oct 2010
    List Price
    $35.99
  • Paperback / softback

    ISBN
    9781554584574
    Publish Date
    Aug 1987
    List Price
    $35.95

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Description

Racial Attitudes in English-Canadian Fiction is a critical overview of the appearances and consequences of racism in English-Canadian fiction published between 1905 and 1980.

Based on an analysis of traditional expressions in literature of group solidarity and resentment, the study screens English-Canadian novels for fictional representations of such feelings. Beginning with the English-Canadian reaction to the mass influx of immigrants into Western Canada after World War One, it examines the fiction of novelists such as Ralph Connor and Nellie McClung. The author then suggests that the cumulative effect of a number of individual voices, such as Grove and Salverson, constituted a counter-reaction which has been made more positive by Laurence, Lysenko, Richler and Clarke. The “debate” between these two sides, carried on in fictional and non-fictional writing, is seen to be in part resolved in synthesis after World War Two, as attitudes are forced by wartime alliances and intellectual pressures into a qualified liberalism. The author shows how single novels by Graham, Bodsworth, and Callaghan demonstrated a new concern for the exposure and eradication of racial discrimination, an attitude taken further by the works of Wiebe and Klein.

The book concentrates on single texts that best portray deliberately or not, racist ideology or anti-racist arguments, and attempts to explain the arousal in Canada of such ideas.

About the author

Terrence Craig is Assistant Professor of English at Mount Allison University in Sackville, New Brunswick.

Terrence Craig's profile page

Editorial Reviews

''An interesting contribution to studies on nationalism, regionalism, and multiculturalism.''

The Year's Work in English Studies