Canadian Postmodernism &
Postcolonialism
Introduction –
Overview
Canadian Postmodernism and Postcolonialism
Margaret Atwood
General Questions
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What do you know about
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The Canadian
The Postmodern
The Postcolonial
Globalization
Margaret Atwood and
The Chinese-Canadian Writers?
Overview
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The Canadian – 2nd largest nation with high
tech development; settler-invader
(post)colonialism leading to split identity and
“unity in disunity.”
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The Postmodern – cultural dominant (parody,
pastiche, constructivism, challenge of
metanarrative) in the conditions of high-tech
telecommunication and international capitalism.
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The Postcolonial –issues of identity in
relation to marginality, power, alterity, resistance,
and historical revisionism
Overview (2)
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Globalization –growing intensification of global
interactions and restructuring on the economic,
political and cultural levels.
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Margaret Atwood – a major Canadian
writer concerned with women’s positions
both on the personal and political/national
levels
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
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Please see course description for common issues
“Canadian”
Postmodern & Postcolonial Identities
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General Views
Postmodernism
1. Definitions
2. Definitions and Issues
Postcolonialism
1. Settlement Colonies
2. Postcolonialism ‘s Three Fronts
3. From Two Solitudes to
Many: National Myths & Realities
4. Debate and Controversies
Which of the following are Canadians?
Saturday Night Life:
Dan Aykroyd
Jim Carrey
MICHAEL J.
FOX
Keanu Reeve
Captain Kirk
Paul Anka, Neil Young,
Peter Jennings
k.d. Lang
ALANIS
MORISSETTE
Celine Dion
Megan Follow as
Anne of Green Gables
Pamela
Anderson Lee
Internet Jokes on Cultural
Differences
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.
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Uncertain
Identity
Internet Jokes on Cultural
Differences
Americans: Spell words differently, but still
call it "English".
 Brits: Pronounce their words differently,
but still call it "English".
In-Between
Identity
 Canadians: Spell like the Brits,
pronounce like Americans.
 Aussies: Add "G'day", "mate" and a heavy
accent to everything they say.
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Internet Jokes on Cultural
Differences
Aussies: Are extremely patriotic to
their beer.
 Americans: Are flag-waving,anthemsinging, 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.
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Uncertain
Identity
Canadian Identity: Self-Assertion
Who Are We?
 Molson “I am Canadian”;
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(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 )
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Hey,
I'm not a lumber jack
Stereotypes –
e.g. “Do you
Or a fur trader
know Jimmy?”
And I don’t live in an igloo
Or eat blubber
Or own a dog sled
And I don't know
Jimmy, Jally or Suzie from Canada
Although I'm sure they're really really nice
The More Positive Distinction from
the American…
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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 couch
And it is pronounced "zed" not "zee" "zed"!
Canada is the 2nd largest landmass!
Politics, national
The 1st nation in hockey!
symbols, language
And the best part of North America!
and identity
My name is Joe and I am Canadian!
Postmodernism (0): 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 & Issues
1.
Definition:
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“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？
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.
2.
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)
Negative
Flattening of
subjectivity;
Pastiche
Positive
Ambiguity
Eclecticism
Pluralism
De-Centering &
Boundary-crossing
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
Literature & Film:
Surfiction,
metafiction
2. Canadian Postmodernism
The 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
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electric/electronic devices of reproduction and
David Cronenberg’s treatments of
technologies and dual identity
Postmodernism (3): as BoundaryCrossing
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Boundaries between –
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fact and fiction
disciplines
the private and the public
high art and popular culture
nations
human and non-human
Why? Next week.
Postmodernism(3): Cultures
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.
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Postcolonial Issues (1):
Settlement Colonies
 Colonization 1:
 Colonization 2:
invasion, exploitation & Settlement
cultural imposition
Canada: U. K.
India: U.K. (Prospero)
the Caribbean: Holland, Spain,
France, U.K.
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◦ Metaphor: Caliban
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Colonization 4: neocolonialism U.S.
Metaphor: Miranda
Colonization 3 :
Internal colonialism
= racism against the
immigrants; Quebec
Canada’s Miranda Identity
Diana Brydon: “Re-writing The Tempest” –
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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 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
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Summary: Canadian Identity
Compared 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.
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Postcolonialism: Three Fronts in
Canada
Brydon: 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:
National Myths & Racial Realities
e.g. “Who Are We?”
"As Canadian as possible, . . ., under the
circumstances."
“The Canadian North”: Its Myths
and “Realities”
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The Group of Seven
National Myth 1:Victim Mentality
“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
But
who
are
之一即是文化及地理上－－或內在與外
在－－的流離失所.
the victims?
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e.g. “Can Lit.” by Earl Birney
Myth 2: Two Solitudes
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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 3: Mosaic and Multiculturalism
Immigrants to Canada
Early 20th century: Italians and Jews
discriminated against
 the 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.
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V
e
r
t
i
c
a
l
Mosaic
Ghettoized?
Is Canada “Postcolonial”?
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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”?
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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/or
consider Canada to be a nation of writers from
widely diverse ethnic and cultural backgrounds
(Moss 7-8)
The Circle Game
(1966, poetry)
Survival
(1972, non-fiction)
The Edible
Woman
(1969,
novel)
Margaret Atwood
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
Concerned with Canada’s
cultural identity and
histories; Women’s
Positions;
 Survival (1972)
 Duality “Tricks with Mirror”;
Two-Headed Poems
(1978)
 Victim mentality
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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)
Margaret Atwood (2)
 42 books; 13 novels
 Postmodern, selfreflexive mode
 mixing poetry and
fiction, mixing a lot of
genres (Gothic,
detective story, fairy
tales, family romance,
comedy, allegory, etc.)
Poems
Duality 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).
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“Tricks with Mirrors” from
You 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. “
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The Handmaid’s Tale: Plot
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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.
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In-between the commander and his wife:
Commander – meetings in the study,
Jazebel,
Wife – Nick
Reference
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Laura Moss, ed. Is Canada Postcolonial?
Unsettling Canadian Literature. Waterloo,
Ont.: Wilfrid Laurier University Press,
2003.