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Literary Criticism Women Authors

Writing a Politics of Perception

Memory, Holography, and Women Writers in Canada

by (author) Dawn Thompson

Publisher
University of Toronto Press
Initial publish date
May 2000
Category
Women Authors, Women's Studies, Canadian
  • Hardback

    ISBN
    9780802043658
    Publish Date
    May 2000
    List Price
    $61.00
  • eBook

    ISBN
    9781442683709
    Publish Date
    May 2000
    List Price
    $60.00

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Description

Writing a Politics of Perception offers new approaches to five novels by women writing in Canada. Dawn Thompson analyses these works through an epistemological theory that shifts critical perspective in surprising ways.

Under consideration are two classics of Canadian literature, Nicole Brossard's "Picture Theory" and Margaret Atwood's "Surfacing", as well as three lesser-known works: Marlene Nourbese Phillip's "Looking for Livingstone", Beatrice Culleton's "In Search of April Raintree", and Régine Robin's "La Québécoite". Thompson develops a theory of 'holographic memory,' in which texts are performances that invite constant revision, remodelling, and interaction between narrative, memory, and, potentially, reality. This theory is informed by de Lauretis's semiotics of subjectivity, Derrida's memoire radicale, and physicist David Bohm's theory of holographic quantum reality.

Reading these works of Canadian literature through a theory of holographic memory, Thompson successfully combines literary and cultural studies without sacrificing one to the other. She adds to and creates an alliance between feminist, post-colonial, and marxist theory, furthering political work in each of these areas. The interdisciplinary nature of Writing a Politics of Perception will attract scholars and students in a variety of fields, including Canadian and Québec literature, comparative literature, women's studies, cultural studies, philosophy, and the social sciences.

About the author

Dawn Thompson is an instructor in the Department of English at Malaspina University-College.

Dawn Thompson's profile page