THE FUGITIVEFEMININE IN EARLY CANADIAN l1RITINGr VISION, PERFORMANCEAND MASQUERADE
by Va l e r ieLe gge
B.A •• B.Ed •• M.A. (Me morialUniversity 'l.~Newfoundland)
Submitted in PartialFulfilment of the Require ments for the Degree of
Docter of Philosophy
Departmentof EnglishLanguageand Literatur e Memor ial unive rs i t y of Newfoundland
April1990
st . John's Newfoundland
DEDICA1'ION
To my verydear and well-loved son , Theo
"Setme as a seal upo n thineheart , as a sea l uponthine arm: forloveisst ro ng as deat h."
Songof So lomon
and toRon ald
"andwhen you ha ve gonetothe ea r t h I willletmy hairgrow long foryour sake, I will wa nde r through the wilder ness in the ski n of a lIon."
Epi c of Gil gam es b
ABSTRACT
.Reading backward fromthe twentie t h-ce ntury fictionsof Marga re t Atwood , Marga re t Laur e nce , sheila Wa tso n and Ethel Wilsr.mto nine t e e nt h-ce nturywrite r s li ke Rosa nn a Leprohon, Anna Jame son, and Li l y Dougall , it be c o me s ev ide nt that from.
thebe g i nn ing of letters inCanadato thepre s enttime, literatureisdens ely populat edwith a host oforacl e s , di v in ers, magicians, an d seers. Althoughthey oft e n occupy auxil iaryrole s, at leastin early nineteenth-centurytexts, they perfo rm , in the se wo rks, significantfunctions-- they ar c ancestra l shades, cartographers,me diators, healers , harbingers, guide s, hy ster ics , ma gicians , and holy women . Disrupting th edo mina nt discours eof thenar rat ives, they mutt e r and malign,gest u re and prcp aeafae, Whenth eir voice s are suppressed origno r e d , chaos and lossabound.
As this studywill shew,th eorac l e that appearsso fr equently in our literaturerespects no boundaries.
Appea ri ng inwor ks writtenbymen and women, th e fi g u r e can be either male or reaefe , She ismi no r and major characte r, ce nt ral andperipheral. She is young and old, innoce nt and ex p e r ienced. Most imp ort a nt l y , she is powerful. She voices herwarnings, ut ters herprophecies in a numberof ways:
i i
orall.y(thro ughverbal articulation)Ithrough signs (Le.
nat u r a l ph en one ma) : thro ug hdre ams , fantas ies • •ea ari es, epip ha ni es: andthrough ancestral shades,ghosts or app a r itio ns .
curio usasto where this visio naryfigureoriginated in Canad ia n lite r ature . I decid e dtosta rtat the beginning-- in the jo u r na lsand diarie sof the ea rlyexplorersand fur- traders, andin the hitte r s andskatch esof wo ma npIone e r s . Re strictedto the yea rs priorto19 0 0 , this surve y focu s e s onthemovernont of the se sibyllin e figu r e swho are so closely linkedwiththeirancient foremothers . They are active ,though often subve rs i ve agents ; theiraesseqee, covertand pali mpsest, arerevealed instra ng e drealllsand through mystica lexperi ences -- messages thatare pre s ente d in eniq1llat i c for.s thatrequ irede c i pher i ng, divining . These figu r e s arecapab leof st rangenessand trans r o ~ a t i',n: they are as sociatedwithnamingasaae ansofkno1dnq; the y ar evisionarieswhopossessa myste rious secon dsense.
Invariably thoyareco nnectedto thecycli c a l worldof nature, to a past o ra l worldaswel l as toan un ruly world of darkness anddespa i r . Just asoften , they are foundwi thi n settlenlents where the yarepercei vedby the pcpureceas models of virtue and morality. By examiningthete xt ua l positions of the se figures , andthecontex t and the natu re of the i r (m]utteran ces, itispos sibletosee how prophe c y, heededor ignore d, co ntributestothesha p i ng of a Canadia n
IIi
literary tradition. Goingback to tht! seventeenth century, to the beginningof letters in Canada , I discoveredwhata few critic sha ve tentativelyobserved-- that what has evolvedIn Canada is a di stinctlyfeminine traditionof writing, a tradition which, I suggest, isintimately linked to thisperva s i veprophetic presence .
Mostof th& charactersexamined In this study are feminine. I ha vedeliberatelydecidedto treat them as activeagents who posses s "mi ddlevoices" -- that is, as cha ra c t e rs in whichsub j e ctand objectposit ionsare oft en thesame . occupy ingshi f ti ng spa ces, these ch a r ac t e rs disrupt theharm ony ofco nv e nt i ona l bi narysystems ; theyact as destabili zingas well as st a b i l iz ingage nt s; they challenge fundamental assumptions ,undermine established authoriti es ,often while underthe explicitthreat of si l e ncingor excl us i o n. others, through privateceremonie s or rituals, createthe illus ionof conformityand stability.
Assuming posturesand positionsWhich sugg est openings rather thancl osur e , theseconservative/radical figures createfiss ures,rupturesand raptures,and magnificent transformations . Movingerraticall y andelusivel ybetween confinement and freedo m,the y cross herders, vi o l a te cu l t ur a l code s , transmit trea s onousme ssages, ins t i ga t e revolution, createepectec a e a , andins t i tute change.
Thisana l y sis of whatI callthe "fugitive femin ine"in earlyCanadianwriting will demonstratethat the actionsof
iv
these unruly figuresbelie the notion that Canadian liter..ture is essentiallyconservative. It will also negate the~ythof t.he Canadianas eitherstrictly law-abjdingor victimiz edbya profoundfearof chao sor wilderness. Janus-like,th esefigure srebel while pretendingto uphold the law. Of te n perceivedby the status quo as modelll of morality, theysecr e t l y transgre ss,defy, and re volt. Their cov e r t actions neces sarilyrequiresome form ofsUb t e r f uge or masquerade. Likespies, mole s, voyeurs,theyperform their duplicitous act s:l:"r om within sha dowy sphere s asw~ll as in open spac es. When their per f orma nce s are censured by a restrictive andre gul a ti ngsoc i a l order, theywilfully become ex-centric,ea Le n, and anoma l ou s.
ACItNOWLEDGEXEHTB
FirstI wouldlike to th a nk Dr. PatrickO'Flahe r ty whose ti me ly telephoneca ll, what now seemsa li fe-t i me ago, br ought me backtoMe mo ri al University. I would als oLkke to expressthanks to Dr.TerryGoldie for leading meint o the labyrinthineworldof a Ph. D.dissertationandthen le a v i ng me there. Spe cia l tha nks areextended to Dr. No r een cearee n ,lIysupe rviso r who assured .e that, inti me, I would emerge trolltheeaee, To cathy Murphy, Illy patient typi st , no th a nk- you could ev e rsuf fi c e.
vi
TABLE OFCONTENTS
PRE FACE
INTRODUCTI ON: INT ERROGAT I NG TEXTS
TilE OTHER CARTOGRAPHERS i Women andwilderness ii Gospel Narratives iii Rambling Epistles ivSummary
.2
"
70 sa 139
II THE MEDIAL FEMININE AND HER ANCESTRALSHADES 140 i AncestralShades
ii Smal l and Priva teCeremonies iii Li.teraryMedial Fe mi n i ne iv SUlamary
140 160 181 207
III FEMALE SAVIOR OR REDEMPTRIX 209
IV 'ATORN PRESENCE' : MADWOMEN IN THE WILDERNESS 261
V MAGIC WOMEN' AN'DFEMALE POWER 309
VI SPIRITUALFORTRESS INVIOLA TE: FALLI NG INTO{WJHOLINESS
CONCLUSIO N: 'THE COUNTRY IN WHICH (S ] HE LIVES'
SOURCES OFEPIGRAPHS
BIBLIOGRAPHY
350
404
415
.21
PREFACE
•• . culturally Canada has always been
:~~;:;~:s i . th~U~e;i~i~:~~fe
•.•Lorna Irvine, "Surfacing, surviving, surpassing: Canada'sWomen Writers"
"... it seems entirely appropriate that Atwood should choose a woman as sUbject for her poetic meditation on the Canadian psyche.... It might be argued that women's stories could provide
~~i~~aioid;~~i~~~;,rof Canada's Coral Ann Howells, Privateand
Fictional words
"The feminine gift is a distinct
i~~i~~n;nd-
ai~o~~et~~b¥~~~i~it~~:fe,
Thomas O'Hagan,"Canadian Women writers"
"Females in fragmentson the page/
~~~:~~h:~:s~;fppedbetween Louky Bersianik, "wl>menIsWork"
"Whencenadlens figuretheircountry to themselves,they callup no cypher of population, no symbol of territory, no statistic of trade, but the iml':tgeof a
~~~~~~ey~~n~e~n~a~:~;;~ withflush of ArchibaldMacMechan,~
of Canadian Li tetature vii
"Our heroicmen arewomen. "l>
Adele Wiseman, "Word Power: Women and Prose in Canada Today"
" ... pe rhapsthe fact that;;0many major Cana d ian writQrsarevca en (andsomuc h of theirwork devotedto studiesof
i~~:~:n~~a~~~t:~:~n~:P~~~:p:c~l~~~~ ~t
Lorna Irvine ,"A Ps yc h ol ogic a l Journey : Mothersand Daughtersin English-canadian Fiction"
.•. in a mas cul ineworld of the eeser-uve will and thecut t i ng edgeof the intellect, a ce r e e dnCanadian tende ncyto the amorphous pe.rmis s ivefemi nineprincipleof openness and toleration and ac c eptanc e of fer s the possibilityof healing."II
William Kilbour n . Canada' A Guide to the Pe a c e a bleKina dom
"If meaningful int e ract i o n canbe achieved betweenthesetwo hi storical problemsthen pe r ha ps somemore precise imageof Canada _.
abi s ex ualCana da-- will finally ell'erge.lI ll ve r on icaSt r o ng - Boag,
"Cousincinderella"
"In America , the r e ar e manyroad s
and womenca n stridealong with men."lO CathySo ng , "Lost Si ster"
"If we turn to the work of women novel i st"i, wefindnot victi ms, not just survivors, but heroines ••• the denouement is not death, but birth.1111
ElizabethWaterson, "Women in Cauad ianFiction"
viii
liThe true voice of Canada is a mutter."12 Anonymous
"Canadian li t e rat u r e is a deterritorialhed literatu re. At the cent reof its concernsis
~~ep~~~~~e-; ~~~~~d.~i\tivesand immigrants-- BarbaraGOdard, "struc t ura lism/
Post-structuralism : Language, Realityand Can adianLiterature"
"I ' ve been screaming ra pe aboutfore i gn domination of Canadianculture for years.
Butthe troubleis there'Gsomething feminine in the Canadianmenta l i t y .II'4
Hughnectennen , "Sees Canada as IFeminineIII
lilthas be e n acknowledgedthatcaneeare strongest fiction wr i t e r s are women ...ts
Arit ha van Hark, "Myt h ol ogy of Our Own"
"Thela ng u a ge we await is feminine. It is not pure1..Q.9Q.§.,but muthos-loqos,or mythological. It is anevocative language.••.,,16
Nor Hall,The Moon and the virgin
"The figureof womanas strongand competent is centra l totheCanadian tradit ion...11
Lorraine MCMUllen,"Images of Women in CanadianLiterature: Woma n as Heroll
"She is pieces. He is order. she is absence . He abstract ."la
MadeleineGagnon, "MyBody in Writ ingII
ix
"(The Canadian literary] tradition is profoundly markedby the inability to repress in some unifying manner the other language, whatever it is called. . .. Had Jacques Cartier only e~:~isw~:i~gi:ai~~~~be easler to read E.O. Blodgett, "A.fter Pierre Berton What?
In Search of a Canadian Literature"
INTRODUCTION: INTERROGATINGTEXTS
" • .. in order to kno w who we are , we must fi ndout wherewehavebe en . "
Rota Herzberg Lister, "Erika Ri t te r and the Come dy of
Se l f-Actualizat ion."
"Our repe ateddesireas criticsof Ca na di an literatureha sbeen tode/ s i re, to dis co ve r ourowniden t ity .II
Pa u l Hj i!'t."t ar son,"The Fic t i o n of Pr09_ess: Not eson the
Composition of~
~."
As a st uden t beginningto read Can ad ianliterature, I became immediate ly aware ofanemph as is on the feminine within ma nyCana d i a n works. There isan unu sualnumber of womenwriterswho are central to our literary tradition;
woman isthesubj e c t of manytexts: female experiences, fema l e traditions arede s cribed ; femin ine forms are us ed (Lve,diarie s, letters, journal s , romanc e, se nt i men t a l fictions) : writers,bothmal e and female,employ spatial imag e r y whict traditi onally is associa t e d withwome n (Le.
ga r de ns , convents,houses,forests, towers,lakesand rive r s ):andman y works address a spec i fic femaleaudienc e.
There also seems to be a pervasive presence of one particUlar fictional fiqure that manifestsit s e l f in any number of forms -- this is a character that possesses a prophetic or sibylline voice.I
'In John Richardson's Wacousta:or The Prophecy (1832), Ellen (lithe light") Halloway, OUcanasta, and Madeline De Haldimar share ther~leof visionary: Ellen is the mad prophetess;
oucanasta, the Indian guide and savior; and Madeline represents the release of intuition and divinationwithin the garrison. In Ralph Connor's The Man from Glengarry (1901), Mrs. Murray possesses insight into religion and the hearts of the people.
Her capacityfor love and forgiveness distinguishes her from Reverend Murray who preaches a rational Christianity. In Sara Jeannette Duncan's TheImp e ria lis t (1904), Advena Murchison (whose name recalls the mid-centuryAdventists, religioUS groups who believed in the second coming of Christ and who were divided on Ellen Gould White's prophecies) is a modern-day woman who docs not sacrifice feeling for intellect. In Frederick Philip Grove's prairie novels, women, who are often bridal slaves tn myopicmen, learn to become true diviners. In~tlersof the Marsh (1925) Ellen Al1Iundsen, a woman with "sky-blue eyes" (56) is associated with insight. Both Neils Lindstedt and Ellen deny their visions until the end of the novel. In Fndts of the Earth (1933) there is the crone, Mrs. Grappentin, a prophetess of forebodinq and evLt . In Martha Ostenso's~(1925) another Ellen represents a woman who refuses to se e,perhaps because this gift has been crushed within Amelia, her mother, by Caleb Gare, a brutally oppressive father. Hence the transition of knowledge from mother to d2.ughter has not occurred. Here the true oracle figure is Mrs. Bjarnasson, the grandmother who "spins" and foretells the future. In Ethel Wilson'sHetty Doryal (1947) Frankie Burnaby learns to divineduring her initiation into wcnenhccd, In Wilson's~(1954) Mrs. Severance is the sibylline voice. In Ernest Buckler's The Mountain and the Valley
(1952), again it is an Ellen, David Canaan'sgrandmother, who weaves the past and the present of tne family in the fOnl of a rug and in the storIes ehe tells. In W.O. Mitchell's~ Seen the Wind (1947). Mrs. MacMurray, another grandmother, is also the repository of tales and signifies the continuity of life and the shaping of destiny. Throughout Shelia watson's~ Double Hook (1959) Mrs. Potter, "the old lady" (19) is Been fishing with the double hook that catchesboth "the darkness" and
"the glory" (15). Margaret teurence in The piviners (1974) explores the nature of divining, "the gift, or portion of grace"
(452). She equates divining with the creation of the poet or storyteller. The female artist reconstructs stories from fragments of the past. However, she is never sure whether the
Readingbackwa r d fromthe twe nt ieth-ce nturyfi c t i on :.;of Ma r g aretAt wo od , Margaret Laure nce,Shei la Wa tson andEt h el Wilson to nine t e e n t h-c e ntu r y wri ters li keRo s a nn a Leproh on, Ann a Jameson, and Li l y Doug all , it be c omes evident th a t from the "beqinningof lett e r s in Canad ato the pre s entt ime, our lit~ratureis densely popu lated wi t h a host of oracle s , divine rs , magicians, andseers. Although th e yoften occ upy auxiliary roles, at le a s t in ear ly ninete enth-ce ntu ry tcxts,2 they perform, in these works, significant
finalprod uc t istru t hor illu s i on . InRob e rts on Dav ies ' tlill Business (1970 ) Ma r y Dempsterpossesses "c l a r ity ofvis i on " (52) while Liesl 1s anagentof re s t or at i on . MargaretAtwood'sworks contain a myriad of oracle figures. Their powersfall intofour categories: oral (th evoi ce ); signs (i.e. au t oma tic handwriting); dreams; andgh o sts or anc e s tral shades . Ja c k Hod g i ns' ladies are nearly allmagical andmany possess ora c ular names: L;».Phcmie Porter , Crystal and Mrs. Starbuck in~ Delaney 's Island (1976). In contra st , hismale chara ct ersare eithermaimed orblind. In Timothy Findley's~ (1977) Mrs. Ross isth e centraldiviner with "Delphic concent r a tio n"
(27) while womenlikeJulie t d'orseyand MarianTurne r als o play propheticrol e s. In RobertKroetsch's~ (197 5) prophetesses abound: Anna Yellowbird, America, the blo nd e prophetesswho turns intothe"Sc a rle t Lady" (83), lith e woman in green " (76),an d eventually Anna nawe ,
2There is a changeinthe i r textual sta tus fromthe nineteenthtothe twent iethce ntu r y . In the earlyfic t ions , generallythe y are minorcharacters, peri p h e ral figures who perform as disruptiveagents . The tr ut h s they repr e sent are not alwaysimmediatelyacknowledged; instead the ir messages are perceived asmadness, intuition, magic or mystic ism. Howe ver , theend i ng s of these nar r a t i v e s affirmthe validi ty ofthe i r uceerences, There appears to be some initia l reluctan c e on the part of earlywr it e r s to foreg rou nd thes efigure s. By th e twent ieth-century, thi s relu cta nc edi s a pp e a r s an d theora cl e assumesthe roleof a centralch ara cte r , or an important secondary charac terwhois closel y L'lnkedto the ide nt i t y of the protagonist.
fu nctions --the.y areances t ra l shades, cartograp he rs , med i ato r s , healers, harbing ers, guid e s , hyste rics, magician s, andholy wome n. Disr up ti ng thedomin ant discourseofthenarr a t i ve s ,they mut te rand mal i gn,ge stur e andprophesize .3 Whenthei r voi c e sar esupp ressed cr ig nored, chaos and z.ce s abound.
When th i s dis s e r tatio n began, it wa stentativ e l Ytitled
"The Voi ce of Cassandra in Dupl icitous Fictions: Or acl e s , [M] utterings, Ma d prophec ies." I beganbyt racing the
'seeH.H. Bakhtin,Th eDialogi c Imagina tion' FourEssays, ed.Mi cha elHolquist, t.r a n s.caryl Emersonand Mich ael Holqu ist (Aus t i n: Universityoi. Texas Press, 1981). Bakhtinwr i t e s :
"Litera rylanguageis not repr e s e nt e d inthe novel as a uni ta ry, complet e lyfinished-offand indisputable la nguag e .- it is rep r e s ented preciselyas a living mixof variedandopposing voic e s , developing andrene wi ng itself (49)." He describes single- voiceddisco urseas the dream of the poet , anddouble- voi c ed discou rse, therealm ofthenove l. InRabalola and His H2..r.l.d, tr ans. HelenIawo1sky (Cambr i dge: TheH. I . T.Press, 19 68) , Bakhtinidentifies the carnival as a tr a n s gress i v e diacourse wh ich cha llenges the offi c i a l rule s of lingu i s tic codes, la ws, andsocial mora lity . He assoc iates laughter ,a do mina n t aspect of carnival,'"ith thepopulaceand the marke t p lace . Itfunctionsto create "anothe r....or ld..outside chu rch, state,and socia1 order. Throughritual spec tacles, comi c verbal compositions, curses,oaths,po pUl ar blazons, play, comic imagery,and par od y , theca r niv almocks, derides, asserts, denies, bur i e s and revi v e s. InCana d ian literaturepro phet s and di vi ners areof t en associated with carniva 1istic momenta wit hi n texts . For anappl ica t i onof Bakhtin'stheoryin Canad i an 1iterature , see Sherrill Grace, "'Listen tothe Voice' : Di al og i sm andtheCa nad i anNov el , " FytureInd ica tiye" Lit erary The ory andCanad ianI,i t erat ur e , ed, and introd. Jo hnMo s s
(Ott awa : Un iver s i tyof Ott a wa Press , 1987) 117-~36. Grace sugges ts that"pol i ti call y, geographically, andli nguist i cal l y Ca nada ••.constitu tes the perfectdialogicspace •.. webelieve th at we lack atrul y unifyingmythology; we behaveas if politicallyde ce ntred, an dwetryto allowfor (or actualize ) et hni c and lingu i st i c dive rsi t y" (131).
oracle figure thr ough a number of twentiet h-ce ntury te x t s , be g i nni n g withRalph ccnnorrsThe Man from Glenga rry(1901) and continuing toin c l ude contemporary works byTi mo t h y Findley, Robert Kroetsch, Margaret Laurenceand Margaret Atwood . The oracle respected no bounda ries. Appearing in works writtenby men and women, the figu rewas male, she was fe male. She was minorand major characte r, centra l and peripheral. Shewa s young and old, innoce ntand experienced. Most importa ntly, she was powerful. She voicedher warnings, utte redher prophecies in a number of ways: orally (through verbal articulation);throughsigns
(i.e.natural phenonema): thr oug h dreams, fan tasies, memories, epiphanies; and thr ou g h ancestral shades, ghosts or apparitions. My ini tialtitlerecalled a polemic tr a ct by FlorenceNightinga leentitled "Ca s s a ndra, " a work which warned againstthe nineteenth-centuryfemin ization of women .4 Yet my stUdyintended to celebratera the r th a n lamentthe fe mi ni ne power ofpro phe c y associatedwiththe virgin-priestessof Apoll o. Combining th e classical figure of Cassandra , dishonored prophetess wi t h sibyl,the Delphic
4Flore nceNigh t inga le 's"Ca s s a ndraMwas origina llypart of a workentitledsuggestions for Thoughtto Searchors aftgr Re lig i oy sTruth,wri tte nc. 18 51 and 1852. Th is three-volume book has never beenprin tedpUblicly. However"Ca s s a ndra " was includedinRa y stracheyts The Cause' A ShortHi sto ryof the Wo menIs Moye me nt inGreat Britain (1928), and excerptsare includedin~nAnthologyof Literatureby Wome n: The Tra di t i o n in English,ede , Sandra M. Gilbe r t andSusanGubar (New York: W. W.Nor ton andCo., 1985) 804-813.
r
rora c l e , Iarr ivedat aCa nad i a n fi9\lre wh i c h embodie dan ambJ.valent re s pons e tosUb j e c t ive Anowledge, and a reluc ta nce tor.. ly solely on "truthwra pped inobs c u r ity ...~
Curiousas towherethisvisionarytiqure orig i nated in Canadian literature, I decided tostart at the begin ning -- inthe journalsand diaries of the early explo rersandfur- trade rs, and inthe lettersand sketchesof womenpioneers.6 Re str i c t e d tothe yea r s pri orto 1900, thi s su n,."",yfocuses onthe moveme nt of the se si by llinefigureswho ar eso r.l os el y linkedwiththe ir an c ien t foremot he rs. Theyare activ e, tho ugh of tensubversive8gentsrthe irme s s ag e s,
SVi rqil , I:bLAmU.d.tr ans. W. F.JacksonKnig ht (Midd lesex:
Peng-u in, 1970) 150.
'Inthe first writtenaccountsIn thenewworld, the sibylline figure isassociatedwith the wilderness, otte n Inthe tOr1ll Clf anIndianwomanor a holyma n. The wi l derne s s was not iJlUlledlatelyperceived by the hewco_ersas ano.ph.lo., a potQ nt ia l sitetor revelationor self-discovery. In s t e a d , it was eruendesc ribedas a maze or labyrinth,a place dangerous and formless. Tocontrol the anxiety crea ted by the alien environme nt ,the Europeantried to i.posehIsno tions of order on it. Hebu ilt 9arrisons to separatehims elt trom thewild e rne s s; he encou ragedthe wanderingtribes of Indians tocr e a te pera a nent dwel lingplaces;and he tri e d tore pl a c e acomplex native mythology with Cathol i cism. Whenthe Jesuit father s encouraged the Huro ns toabando n the ft·nomadic wayof lifeand the ir re l igiou s bel ie f system , rel i g i ouswomanMar i e de1"Incarnat i o n astutel y observed the futilityof suchactio ns. By late ninete enth- c e ntu r y,the wildernessbega ntobe ope nly acknowl e d ge d as a site at healing and re storation, a tact observed earl i e r by many wornen pione erswho set tled inCa nada. In Lily DougaU ' s The Ma donn a ofa pay (18 95 ), thewilderne s s is the siteotMaryHoward'snat ur a listicepi pha ny. Th i s sceneis ant icipa tedby theworksof earlie r writers inCa na d a, tho s eli ke Pier re Espri t Radissonandcathar i ne ParrTrainwh ocele brat e ra t h ertha n denythe powerful lureot the land.
cov ert and palimpsest , ar e revealedin strange dreamsand through mystical expe r i ences -""ee e e e a e s thatarepres ented inenigmati cformsthat requiredeciphering, divining.
These figuresar e capable ofst r a nge ness and transformatio n;
they areass ocia t e d with nam i ng' asa meansof knowing,the y arevisi o na rie s lfihopos s ess a mys t e r i o us secondsense.
Invariably they areconnectedto the cyclical worldof nature, to anunruly world ofda r k ness and despair. Just as often,th e y are found wi t h inset t l eme nts where they ar e perceived by the pop u laceasmode ls of vi r t ue and morality. By examining'thete xtualpos i t ions of the se fi g ur e s, and the co n t e xt and thenatureof the i r [tn]u tteran ce s, 7 it is possibl e to see howprophecy , heed ed or ignored,contribute s to the shapingof aCana d ianlit era ry tradition. Goi ng'ba c k
7Bakhtln use s utterance to referto a speechact (parole ve rs us lanqu., the written) whichis specifically so c ial, historical,concrete, and dialoq i zed . I am also re call i ngan epigraphfrom stanley Fogel's ATal e ofTyocountries,tha t lit he true voiceof Canadaisa mutter." Someti me s,in Canadian literature, utterancebecca e ssile nce, performance , even extra- linguistic. Someearl y explorers and pioneersaccompany their written te xts wi t h drawI ng s, ch a r ts, maps, ske tches , and water- colors , asif awareof thelimi t a t io n s of lanquag e . Sometime s secul a r as wellasreligiou s men and womenuseritual and ceremony as alternate forms of ex pression (seeChapter II liThe Medial Feminine and Her Anc es t ra l Sha des " ). When me mbers of different cultures collide, silen ce and ge stureare employed (see Ch a pt e r III "Femal e Sav i o r or Rede mptrix "J. Ot hercha r a c t e r s resortto prophecy, curse e , and spec t a c l es of the body (see ChapterIVIIIA Torn Presence' : Madwomen in the wilderne s s) ; magical spells (s e e Chapter V"MagicWomenandFemale Power") ; and the poser- of thegaz e , subvers i ve code s ,andparadox (s e e ChapterVI"S pirit u a l FortressInviolate: Fall ing into [W]holiness")•
r
r;.
to the seventeenthcent u r y , to the beginning ofle t t e r s in canada, I di s coveredwhat a fewcritics have tentatively observed-- that....hat has evolvedin Canada is a distinctly feminine traditionof writing,IIa traditionwhich, I suggest, is intimatelY linked to this pervasive prophetic presence.
This study examines the origins ofthe oracularfigure foregrounded in contemporary fiction by thinkingback throughhistoricaland literarytexts written from the seventeenth through to the end of the nineteenthcentury.
It adopts what CatherineBelsey, referringto texts, calls anin t e r r og a t i v e stance9as well as a revisionlAtapproach. 10
IIs e eth e preface for a number of comments regarding CanadaIs feminine nature: Lorna Irvine, "surfacing, Survi ving, surpassing: Canada' sWomen writp.rs"and "A Psychological Journey: Mothers and Daughters in Enqlish-canadianFiction";
l':.D . BlodgQtt, "AfterPierre Berton What? In Search of Canadian Literature": William Kilbourn, Introduction , Canada· A Guide to the Peaceable Kimdom;and Coral Ann Howells,~ FictionalWords. In AMa zing Space· WritingCAnadian Women HI.:1.t.in9(Alberta: Longspoon/Newest, 1986) ShirleyHeuman and Smaro Kamboureliedit a collection of articles which "reread our literary traditionin the context of contemporaryfeminist criticism" (ix),and which perceiveour writers, male and female, as "femininelyspeaking" ex).
9Se e Catherine Belsey, cr1tical Practice (London: Me t hu en, 1990) 95-102. Drawing on Emile Benv eniste' sk'roblema in Genenl Linguistics (Miami: universityof MiamiPress, 1971) which identifies three fundamental functions of discourse, Belsey suggeststhree kinds of texts: declarat i ve, impe ra tiveand inter ro qative. A de clarative text "impartsknowledge to a reader whose position is thereby stabilized, througha privileged discoursewhich is tova ry i ng degreesinv i sibl e " (91). An imperativetext, "giving orders to its readers, is what is commonly thought of as 'propaganda ' " (91). See also Louise H.
Forsyth, "Feminist criticil:>mascreative Process,"In....tb.l Feminine · Womenand words, eds, et al. AnnDybikowsk! (Alberta:
An interrogative text, suggestsBelsey, "disrupts the unity of the reader bydiscouragingidentification with a unified sUbject of enunciation. The position of the 'author'
Longspoon sreue , 1985) 87-94. Forsyth suggests that i t is "the role of the criticto be, above all [a] serious and appreciative reader . In order to play this role, the critic must actively participate in the text; she must enjoy andvi br a t e vith its cr e a t i v e power; she must celebrateits strength and put herself intothe place from vhi chthe textemerges, even though that placemay not bese e n as legitimateby the dominant culture.•• • The feminist critic receivesthe creative text actively, and she is, in turn, a vriter. She produces her own text" (87).
"see Adrienne Rich, "When We Dead Awaken; writing as Re- Visi on," College English 34.1 (October 1972); rpt. in~ Secrets and Silencfr Selected Prose 1966-1978 (Nev York: W.W. Norton and Co., 1979) 33-49. Rich compares vomen ....riting today to "sleepwalkers (Who] are coming eveke , and for the first time this awakening has a collective reality" (35). She defines re- vi s i on as "the act of looking back, of £eeing ....ith fresh eyes, of entering an old text from a new critical direction -- [this]is for women more than a chapter in cultural history: i t is an act of survival" (35). See also Judith Fetterley, The Resist ing Reader' A Femin istApproach to American Literatun (Bloomington:
Indiana University Press,1978) for discussions regarding the need to resist the sexistdesigns of a text: "the first act of the feministcritic must be to become a resisting rather than an assenting reader and, by this refusal to assent, to begin the process of exorcizing the male mind that has been implanted in us" (xxii). "Feminist criticism represents the
dh.covery/recoveryof a voice, a unique and uniquely powerful voice carable of cancelling out those other voices ••." (xxiii).
This rf.· .1slonist approach is evident in A Mazing space, eds, Neuman and Mmbounli, and GynocritJcslI,a Gynocritigue+ Feminist Approaches to writing by Canadian and oueeecefseWomen, ed, Barbara Godard (Toronto: ECW Press, 1987). Canadian historians are also involved in thisprocess. See veronica strong-Boag and Anita Clair Fellman, eds., Rethinking Canada' ThQPromise of Women's History(Toronto: Copp Clark Pitman, 1986), a collection of essays which"r e f l e c t a shared view of Canadian women as actors rather than merely as the acted-upon" (5). While recognizing the subordinate status of women in Canadian life, they tend to shift away frl)m "the woman as victim" (5-6) motif popUlar in the 19605 and 70s.
10 Inscribedinthe text, ifit can beloc ated at all, is seen as questioning or as literally contradictory.nil What emerges from this interrogation of nineteenth-centurytexts is a fugitivefigure which occludesdefinition, a figure cha r a c t e ri z e d by mUltiplicity , ambivalence and contradIction. An elusiveweb connects h,,'rto powerful ancestral sh ad e s,both historical and literary, who initiated thema pp i ng of uniquely feminine spacesin Canadian literature, and who co nt i nu e to contribute to the literaryshaping of this coun t r y .
In the past, thematic criticism in Canada sea rchedfor coherencein whatse eme d to be fixedpa t te r ns of imagesand 1deas. ' 2 Recently ,contemporary critics, beginnIng with Frank Davey and Russell Brown, emphasizetheneed to ee-ee aa Canadian literaturefor contradiction rather than ccneetcn , and to shift thecr i tic a l focus from meaning to form.1] By
llBelsey 91.
lZSee MargaretAtwood, Survival- A Thematic Guide to CanadianLiterature (Toronto: Anans!, 1972);John Moss, ~ of Isolationin EnglishCanad ianFiction (Toronto: McClelland and Stewart, 1974);Northrop Frye, The Bush Ga r de n· ES§ay a00
the CanadianI m ~(Toronto: Anansi, 1971); D.J.Jones, Butterfly on Rock· A Studyof Themes tlnd ImagesIn Canadian
~ (To r o nt o: Univers ityofTo r o nt o Press,1970)_
USee Frank Dave y, "Survi vingthe Paraphrase,"~
~70 (Autumn 1976): 5-13. Davey di s c us s e s the reluctance of Canadianliterary criticsto focus on "lIlatters of form, language, style, structure, and consciousness as these arisefrom the work asauniqueCO;1struCt" (5). He accuses thematic critics of being overly concerned with what literary works "say" about Canadians, while ignoring what literary works
11 tocusinq onvar i ation sof thesiby l li ne oror acula r fiqu r e as cartog rapher,goss ip , ancest ra l shade , aedia t ri x , red elllptr l x , hyste r ic . sor c eres s, mother andmagicia n.thi s st udypropo s e s to coMbineth emati c . and fo rw.. '4 While at tractedtoth e larqe lylanquaqe-ba sedtheoryof many Frenchfe. inist crit ics ,l5, I do not re j e c t the importa nce
"mf;ianll (6 ). Someof theve axne e s e sof the maticcritici sm that he ide ntif i e s are a humani s t ic bias,adisregard tor lite r ary histo ry, a tendencytowa r dsociology-- usua llyba d soci ology, an at tempt 'Jt"c u l ture-fixing ,"and litera rydete rminis m. As al ter nat ives toth is restrict ive appr o ach , Davey suggests histo r ical, ana lytic al, genre,phenomen ol og i cal andarch e t ypa l cr it icism. SeealsoRussell Brow n , "crit ic,CUl tu re,Text : Beyo nd The lllat i c s," ESSAYSonCanad i an Writing11 (Summer191 8) : 151-1 8 3 ,JohnMoss, "Bushed in the Sacred Garden ,"~
~Secon dse ri es,ed.DavidHelwig (o t tawa: Obero nPres s, 1981) 161- 178,and He a th e rHur ray, "Reading for Co ntradi cti onin theLite ratu reofCol onial Spac e ,"Futur e Indi c ative71-84.
"a ee TerryGo l die, "Signsof the The mes: TheVal ueofa Po lit ic a lly Ground e d Semiotics,"Future Indi c llt:1y @ 85-93. In examini ng the ba g esof nati vepeoplesin Canadia n,Austr a l ian, andNewZeal a nd literature s, Go l diepro poses a need"t ocont i nue to loo k formea ning butas the contex t of ev e ryth ingth at occurred" (86). Inthe ill4ge ofthe indigene,he looks "for lIleani nq in as JDany as pectsat context" (87) as possible,a proc e ss hecalls, quoti ng Annette Kolod ny, "tur n ingth e lens"
(90 ). Se eAnne tte Ko l od ny, "Tu rni ng theLenson the 'Pa nther captivity ': AFe. i oist Exerc i seinPractica l Critic ism,"
Cr itiCA l Inquiry 8 (1981 ): 329- 45.
15See ue tene cbous and Catheri neClement , Th e Newly Bo rn imIu.D., trans. BetsyWing (Minneapol is : uu ivar. i ty ofMinne s ota Press. 1986 ) ;JuliaI<risteva, pesi r e in I.a ng unae· ASemio t i c Approa ch to Li t erat ure BndArt , tra n s.Tho masCora,Alice Jar di ne,and LeonS. Roudi e z, ed, LeonS. Roud iez (NewYork : Co1umb...Un ivers i t yPress, 198 0); LueeIri garay , Thi s SexWhi ch
~, tran s. Cathe ri nePor ter (NewYork: Cornell Unive rsi ty Pres s, 1985) andSpe cu lu m orthe Ot her Woman , tra ns.
Gilli an C. Gill (NewYo rk: Cor ne ll UniversityPres s , 1985 ); El aineMa rks andIsabell e de Courtiv r on,ed s. ,~ Feminhms' An An t hol ogy (Hev York: seh eexe nBooks, 1981) ; Ni coleBrossard, TbeseOur Mgthprg pr theDisintegrating
r
12 of the exper i enc e sbehindthe textor the significance of theauthor behindthework. Althoughdev oted to aspecific ima ge , ea ch cha pterexa mi neshowthatparti cul arima g e ee ru e e etoremaIn fixedin a number of li tera ryworks . Each chapter alsoexamineswhi chconnecti ons, if any, exist between real-life fig-ure aand the s e li tera ry const r ucts. In sese ca se s, conne ctions bet we e nvarious literaryte xts reveal how and why afe mi nin e trad i ti oninCana daevolved .
Throu ghare-r ea d ing of bo t h mainst reamund por iphe r a l texts,16wo rks written by wome nan d me n , thi:~studyalso endea v o r stocrea tenew pointsof entry into thete xts, to produ c e 'o t her'te xts out of the framewo rkof fi rst te xts .17
.thSUi1&:t. trailS . Barba r a Godard(To r o nto: CoachHouse , 1983)and TheAerial Letter ,tra ns. Marl eneWildema n (To ron t o: The \lomenIL Pr e s s , 198 8).
16Example s ofperipheral te xts are include din thepri ma ry bibliog raph y. For ins tancein Chap t e r I "Oth er car tog ra phe rs, "
sect i oni i i,"RamblingEpist les," I use Anna Leveridge 's lett ers andHe nriette Dessau lles ' journals toprovi de anal te rnativevi e w oflife in Cana d aot herthan those views usua llyprovided by Susanna MoodI e and Cat harinePa r r Tr a ill. ot hersin c lu de ~ Monck My Canadia nI,eayes' AnAccountof a Yisitto Cana dain
~ (Londo n : RichardBentle y and SOD,1891 ) : Jame s De Mille,The Ieady ofthe Ic e (New Yo r k: D. Appl e t on, 18 70 ) : Lily Douga ll, The Ma donna of a Da y (New York: O.Appl eton, 1895); AgnesC.Laut , ~~ (Toron to: Ryerson , 1900);and Maria Monk, Awf u l pisc l os ure s of theHotel pieu Nunn eryof
~ (18 36; rpt. New York: ArnoPress, 19 77 ).
"aareees, Roland , ThePle a sure of the Text, trans. Rich a r d Hill er (Ne wYork : Fa rrar , StrausandGiroux , 1975) . aer-en ee propo ses an"erot icsofre a d i ng": the te xtde sires a rea der , i t se du c es a reader (6). Plea sur eisde rived when breaksor col l isi ons occur , when antipa t het ic codes come into contac t,when langu a geis red i s tributed. He defines a textof pl e a s ur e asone ..thatcontents, fill s, grants euph oria; the te xtthat comes from
13 In doi ng so , it returns to circulation forgotten, ig n o r e d, or deliberately excludedworksthat can increaseour understandingof Can adianlite rature, and~ in fa ct, which may challengetr a d i tio n a l assumptions re gard ing out' litera ry hcr Ltiuqe, linex ce lle n t exampleis AbrahamHolm es ' ~ or 'Th e Ri vals (1843), a te xt which was del iberately excludedfrom our canon , and Gilbert Par ker'sThe Seatsof .tl!.!L.l1.i.9htY.(1896), a novel whichhasre c e i v e dli t tle cri t i c a l attention. Bothofthe s ete xt sco nta in unusual female characters that disproveMargaretAtwo od's con f i dent assertionthat "no Can a di a n writer hasse e nfit --or found it imaginable --to produce a Venus in Canada,1118 In John
cultureand does not break withit, [orietha t ) islinked to a comf ortable practiceof reading" (14) . Inco ntra st, a te xtof bliss "i mpo s e s a state oflos s,•.• discomfor ts (pe rhaps to the poin t of a certainboredom) , unsettles th ere a d e r' s hi sto r i c al , cultura l , psychological assumptions, the consistency ofhi s tastes, values, memories,brings to acrisishis rel a t i o n with la ng u a ge" (14). Barthes rejectsthe notion of text as"a product, a ready-madeveil, be h i nd which li e s , more or le s s hidd e n, meaning (trut.h) ." Inste ad hetran slate s tex!:as tissue,
"th e generative id e a t.hat th ete xt is made, iswork edout in a' perpetual interweaving;' los t inth i s tissue -- thi s te xt ure-- the SUbjectunmakeshim~elf,like a spider disso lving in th e constructiv esecretions ,~ f i ts web" (64) . NancyK. Mille r ,
"Arachnologies: The Wo ma n, theText, andthe critic , ".TIl,g Pn~tic!'lnf Gender, ed, Nancy K. Miller (NewYork : Co l umbia University press, 19 8 6 ) 270-295takes exception to Barthes ' erasure ofthepro d uctiv e agent. Mi ll erproposes, inth e place of Barthes' hypoholOqy (6 4 ) , a mode l of femi n i stpoet icsterme d
"arachnol ogy "which emphas izes ....oman's roleas spiderartis t , the weaver'of texts.
18Margaret Atwood, Survival ' l!.The mati c Guideto Can adia n t,i t c r a t u r e (Toronto: Anansi , 19 7 2 ) 119 -1 2 0.
14 Ric:hardson lsWacousta (18 3 2) ,MadelineDolIaldlma r , lit h o Me d i c e an Venus " ,l' is aser ot ic alo v e goddess as Parker 's Al ixeDuvarneyor Holmes' Bel i nda , a yo u ngwo man of questionablebeh a v i o r.
The une a r t h ing of journa lsand diariesby previousl y unknownwr ite r s alsoprovides a re-examina tionofth e rela t i o ns h i p betweenwo men andwilde r ness.20 'I'he captivit y narr a ti ve s writtenbyPIerre Esprit RadIssonand Ma r y JemisondescrIbea wi l d e rne s s which doesnot ne c c e e a r f.r y evok ete r r o r , or- make a man or a woman feel "a s he Lp.Lcuaas a trapp e dmi nk and aslo ne l y as a lo o n.1121 CertainlyAnn..
Leveri dgeISlett ers hometoEurope , written from an isolated pioneer farm, re v e al a more realis ticportra ya lof the exp e r iencesof ordi narywomen incan a da than the accoun ts
19Jo hn Richardson, Wa c o u stal or The Pro~T,'llQof the Canadas, ed.Douglas Cronk (lD32;rpt. attawi\: Carleton Universit yPress, 1987) 295.
20I n "Tr a v ele r s' ta l e s : showingand telling , nlamming and questing,IIA MazingSpace · Writing Canadian WomAn writing, eds.
Shi rley Ne uma n andSmaroKarnbourel i (Albert a : Longspaon/ Newes t , 1986) 51 -60,MarniL. stanley examinesth e op e n ingup ofonce restricted genressuch astra vellite r a ture to inc ludeforgot te n or ov orloo ke d wor ks. She also identi f i esthe di a r i esandlet te rs writtenand pUb l ishedby wo me n whotravel led through Canada du ringthe ni n ete e nth - c entury . Ma ny ofthe s e accountsare no w avai lableinarchives butneedto be re i s s ued. Fo r exampl e , tho diaries of Elizabethsmit h , A Womanwitha Pu rpose· Theplaries of ElizabethSmith18 72-1 8 8 4ha v e been editedbyVeron i c a Strong - Boag and is s ue d by Universi ty ofToro n to, 19 8 0 .
21No r th r op Fr y e , The BushGarden; Es s a y s on theCanadign Imag ingt i on (Toronto: Anansi, 1971 ) 138.
15 providedby eitherSusannaMoodie or Cathari ne ParrTrail !.
Byinc lUding th e vorke of marginal writers and marginal genres ,we are forced to redraw and to widen the circle wh I c h , in thepast , constitutedourli t era ry canon. In so doing. we reshapeour literary historyso thatit includes works andwriters which,duringthe ti me of pUblication, may have been consideredmore importantthan they now are. 22
It isalso the intent of this stUdyto concentrate on secondary characters who have not been highlighted by literary criticswh o tend to focus oncentralcharacters, malecharacters,or who read central and secondary female charactersin traditionalways.2] A survey of literary
22s e e Thomas O'Hagan, "Ca na d i a n Women writers,"~ Essays· critical and UistQ"'ical,ed ,Thomas O' Hagan (To r o nt o: WilliamBriggs, 19 0 1 )54-103. O'Hagantestifiestoth e important contri butionof women wr ite r s to Canaclian lett e r s in the a.reasof poetry,fi cti on, history,biography, scfenceand art. He discussesbr i e fl yth e works of over niroetywomenwr ite r s who were read and well-knownin the nineteenth centurybut who have been forgotten inthe twe ntie t h century. He mentionsSarah Anne cueecn-e IIviril~tyof style ,lI he r "cle ar androb us t mind" (62);
Isabel lavalancyCrawford·s"originality ·'and '·g e n i us ·' (57-58);
Fra ncesHarrison 's "da i n t y and distinct style" (63);Marsha ll Saunder'sBeautiful Joe (1894)which was so popu lar,it"z-eached the enormous ee Le of fifty thousand in eighteenmont hsll andwas translatedintoSwedish, German andJapanese(64);AgnesC.
Laut'sLords of the North(1900) whichenjoyed '·unqu a li fi ed success (67);th e ·' mos t gifted" (87) Sara JeannetteDuncan; Lily Douga ll;and Kathleen Blake Coleman.
23I n some cases the motivatio nfor a chapterha s been a provocativeand brief commentby a critic , re ga r d i ng the roleof a secondary character, wh i c h generateda reassessment of that charac ter. For instance, a comment by Denn isDuffy,~ Covenants Exiles · I.gyali s min th e UteratureofUpper canada/Ontario (Toronto: university of TorontoPress, 1982) generateda response ..,hlch producedChapter III , llFema leSavior or Redempt rix." He writes, regarding Richardson 's~
16 flgu't'es eae e suggeststhatinmany nlneteeth-centur y Canadianwor ks thereisno central cha r ac t e r but instea d there iscollectiveorcommuna l characterization. Group dyna micsare emphasized more than solita ry featoor actions. Byaff i rmi ng the importa nc e of peripheraltextual cha r a c te rs andby exa min i ngtheirfun ct i on s, thisstudy sho ws how the s e literary fig ures oft en ac t subve rsive l y toundenn l ne a myopi ccentral int e llige nce.
Reread I ngmaleand female te xts froma femin ist stance servestorea s s e s s powerrela t I on s and to invest igatehow femi n i necha ractersareinsc r i be dbyCanadIan writ ers.
Chapter II "Fe mal e Savi o r or Re C:e mpt r i x " andCh a p t e r IVItIA TornPres en c e' : Ma dwome n inthewilderne s s"foreq round OUcanastaand Ellen Halloway , two marg inal ized fi g ures in John Ri ch ards o n' s~(1832) who ar e cha rac t eriz e d respe c tively bysilenceand hysteria . Despite De Haldimar 1satte mpt stonegat e the powe rfu l presenceof the s e twowome n ,indigen e and ma dwoma n, anddesp itethefa c t that Richardsonas s i gns bothwomen auxil iarytQxtualstat us , the y eruptwi t hi n the narrat i ve to und erm ine theaut ho ri tyof centralma le characters. At theend , De Haldl mar and Wa cousta ar e si l en t andab s e nt , whereasOucanasta andEllen survivethe upheav algenerated by the duplicityofthe se
(1832): "The novel ' s 'f ifthbusines s,'anIndianwoman whose lovefor the heroisexploite dby the whites, appears as a warr iorasoften asshe wears norm aldress •••M (48).
17 The India nwoma nwithinthegatesof th egarrisonand the madwoman in thewilde rn e s sremainto tran s mit st ories which willshape futuregenerati c'lns -- generation sthatthe y will give birthto. Whetherthe y occ upy prima ry or auxi liary pos it i o ns(andinmost instan c estheymove unregulated fr omce n t re to margi n, andfr ommargin to cent re ), femin i ne fi gu res lik e Ouc a nas t a and Ellen Hall o wa y arecha racte ri ze d byacti vityandmobil ity, def ianc eand disguise,epiphan y andpower, ritual andlaughter , ins c r i pt io nand tr an s gre s sion.
Mo s t of th e charactersexami nedin this st u d y are femini ne.24 I hav ede libe r atelydecide dtotreatthe m as activ e agents who possess "middlevoices"zs-- th atis, as
24SeeHlile n e C!xous, "vo i c e i,"~ 21.2 (Winter 198 4 ): 51-61 . ci xous spe a ks of "adeci ph era ble li bid inal femi ni ni t ywhichcanbeloc ated inawri t ingth atcan havebeen produced by a mal eor a fe male•.•. It is some t hi ng whichcan be defined fromthebody, asthe movemen t of a pulsion toward an objectand which ispart ofthe df sccve r Lesthat may be define d asthe Freud i a ndiscover iespar excellence. It allows usto know what in otherti me s had be en analyz ed asthe treaty of passions "
(51- 5 2) . InLove and Deat h in th eAme ricanNoyel (Ne wYo rk : The WorldPublishing Co., 196 2) , Leslie Fiedler sugges ts thatthe novel , throughdupl i city andSUbve rs ion, ma r ks theen t ry of the libidoin literature.
ZSJ ac ques Derrida, Marg i nsof Philosophy , t ra ns . AlanBa s s (Chica go: university of Chic agoPre s s, 1982). Referringto his concept of 'differance , ' whichimp lie s both difference and deferral , Der rida expl ains that "the endi ng-ance is und ec ided bet"••nact iveand pa s s ive ..•that which lets its e lfbe desi g na ted by ditterenceis nel t-,her simplyact ivenor simply passive, announcing or rathe r recall i ngsomethinglike themiddle voice,sayi ngan operat i on whi c his notan ope r a tio n, an ope rat i o ntha t cann ot be conc e i ve deith eraspas sio norasthe act i on of asubject onanOb ject,or on the bas i s of the categor iesof agentor pati ent, ne ither on the basis of nor
18 characters in whlch subject and object positions are often the eaee, OCcupying shifting spaces, these characters disrupt the structure of conventional binary systems:they act as destabilizing as woll as stabilizing agents I they challenge fundamental assumptions, undermine established authorities, often while under the explicit threat of silencing or exclusion. others, through private ceremonies or rituals, create the illusion of conformity and stability.
Assuming postures and positions which suggest openings rather than closure, these conservative/radical figures create fissures, ruptures and raptures, and magnificent transformations. Moving erratically and elusively between confinement and freedom, they cross borders, violate cultural codes, transmit treasonous messages, instigate revolution, create spectacles, and institute change.
The actions of these unruly figures belie the notion of Canadian literature as essentially conservative, and negate the myth of Canadian character as either law-abiding or victimized by a profound fear of chaos or wilderness.
Janus-like, they rebel while pretending to uphold the law.
Often perceived by the status quo as models of morality, they secretly transgress, defy, and revolt. Their covert
~~;~~1nt:~~~a~~rt~;i~~~S:a;e:s~ha~O~hrr~S~~~~;ea~ot~:'o~tBet,
distributed into an active and a passive voice, thereby constituting itself by means of this repression" (9).
19 actions necessarilyrequire some forn of disguise or sUbte~·fuge. Like spies, moles, voyeurs ,26they perform.
their duplicitousacts from within shadowy spheres as well as in open spaces. When their actions are censu redbya res~~ictiveand regulating social order,th e ywil fu lly become cx-centa-Ie, alien, and anomalous.21 They go Indian.
26s e e
ne
re ne Cixous, The Newly Born Woman. cixous, li k e Adrienno Rich, proposes a process of revisionism, a reawakening:"We arc living inan age when the conceptual foundatio nof an ancientcu l t u r e is in the processof being underminedby millions of a speciesof mole (Topol, ground mines) never known before"
(65). Revolution and subversive tactics are alsoproposedby Aritha van Hark, "wonen Writers andthe Prairie: Spies in an Indifferent Landscape,"~6.2 (1984): 120-130. van Herk describes hew malewritershave masculinizedala nd which is instinctively female: liThe fabric of thisliving breathing landscape has beenmasculinized in art, descriptivepa s s a g e s of a land instinctively femaleperceivedby a jaundiced male eye. Description, descriptionand more description , an over- looking.
peud ence , caution. They are afraid to enter the landscape. They describe i t instead" (122). In the past, female characters, even women writers, have beeninscribed by th e male writer who selects, arranges, and orders. vanaerx, like Cixous, advocates that women and women writers dondisguises, arm themselveswith surpriseweapons, developstrategiesaf resistance to male reading and writing ofth efe mal e, and find "passwords that will enable us to gain access,entrance. Look out" (124).
27Se e BarbaraGodard, "Ex-c en tri qu e s , Eccentric, Avant- G:r d e : Women and Modernism in the Literatures of Canada,II
!g~{Room of One's Own] 8.4 (January 19 8 4 ) : 57-75. Godard uses the term ex-centric, which implies exclusion , oddness, and marginalization, tore f e r to the unusual po s i t i o nof Canadian women writers; they are both mainstream and periphera l. It is woman's de-centredposition, suggests Godard, whichensures that her gestures, herla ng u a g e , and her writing wil l be experimental.
As examples of experimentationwith form,Godard mentionsa focus on the epiphany which she relatestothe feminine; li ng u i s t i c subversion such as the extensive use of puns and paradox;the inventionof new words and opposing languages: andth e cha mp i on i ng of the unconscious andthe irrational. See also Bakhtin,The DialogicIma g i na t i o n : "The novel istha t lit e r a r y art form most indebted to cuzdost (otherness) " (423). Generally it is woman who is perceived as other, as alien: exotic, .
20 In Gilbert Parker'sThe Sgah of the Mi gh ty (1896), Al Ixe Duvarney, daughter of a prominentFrench-Canadian family, isforced to don the disguise of an in f a mou s exiled Parisian dancer andto perform an eroticdance in a banquet hal l for the powerful French In t endantand his 1I\a1e guests.
Before tellingMoray of how she dancedto prevent the In tendantfrom carryi ngouthis planto presentMo r a y (who had been accusedof spying) to this drunkenmob, Alixere- enacts herseductiveperformance in the priva cy of Moray's cell: "she beganto dance softly,her feet seeming hardly to touch the ground,her body swaying like a tall flower in the wind, her faceall light and fire.n2& This private pantomImeis a prelude to the story she tells of how her er o t i c masqueradedelivered him from a de athhe was not even aware of. As she endshe r taleof daring and deliverance, the "clearlight of afternoon"29 entersthe cell, bringing withit the greeness of the world outside. Recallinga verse which echoes thelus h imageryof Song of Solomon, Moray becomes suddenlypainfullyaware of the jeopardy Albe ri s k edbyappearing so defenselesslybe f o r e these "base and
strange,estranged.
28Gilbe rt Parker, TheSeatsofthe Mighty(1896, rp t. Toront o: CoppClark, 1902) 220-221.
29parker 233.
21 abandoned men."30 It is, however, Alixe's own wild abandonment and her ability to anticipate the moves of these men Which eventually enable her to undermine authoritative men like Bigot and Doltaire. Alixe epitomizes the fugitive feminine figure in Canadian literature. She shares with Matilde (madwoman, prophetess, and scarlet lady) the role of redemptrlx: ehe moves from centre to margin: she is conservative aswell as radical; she is law-abiding and law- breaking; she uses SUbterfuge to disenfranchise powerful men: she is storyteller as well as the source of the narrative:and the very imagesthat men employ to regulate women, Alixe uses to deconstruct theirnotions of woman.
Parker's The Seats of the Mighty, the memoirs of Robert Moray, perhaps best exemplifies a nineteenth-century Canadian feminine text. Blurring fact and fiction. i t professes to be the autobiographyof aBritish spy who was captured and imprisoned by the French during the months prior to the English conquest of New France. Thenarrative consists of letters, fragments of poems, memories, allegory, liturgical text, and a segment ofawritten history of Moray's life, which doubles as a personal correspondence to Alixe. It also includes an embedded female text --aletter written by Alixe years earlier, when she copied i t into a book asapermanent record of her youthful feelings for
30parker 228.
22 Moray. This personal epistle is later "discovered" and read by the narrator , Moray. Alixe's diary also refers to girlishco nfid e nce s exc ha nged with a childhood friend,Bongs sung at school,and popular tunes of the time.
This fragment a t i on of fonis aleo relatedto character and narrativevoice. Although Moray initiallydescribe s Alixe inconventionaltermsas his mus e, "the benign maid whose life and de eds alone can make thisstory worth telling,11'1it soon be c ome s apparentthatshe , toa large extent, con t ro ls his nar r a tive. In chapter one, Mo r ay is led off to prisonwherehe remainsimmobili zed formost of the nar rati ve. Withoutpen or pap e r, he isfo rce d to
"compo sethe story, and learnit by heart, sentence by sentence ."32 Beginningwithhis in i t i a l memory of life, Moray attemptsto "see itfr o m first to last in a sort of Whole and with a kind of me asurement ."n Howev erhe soon abandons all hopeofsu c han ordering process: "when I began to dwell upon mychildhood, onelittle thinggave birthtoanotherswiftly, as you may see one flic kerin the
3lparker2.
32parker58.
3Jparker.
23 heavenmul tipl y and breakupon the mysteryot the dark...34 The first imac;:eshe con s t ructs emergefromthe memory of a voice whIch comestohimin hisce l l "all on a suddenin this silence, as it another se lfof me werespe a k ing trom far.spaces.")S Thismyste r i o us beckon i ng whIch generates histe xt toAlixeisthe voi ce of his mother. Itisthi s cont i nua l re turnto th e mothe r, this steadymoveme n t toward wo mantha t cha r acterize s much of Ca nadia nwriting .
The femin ine istheother languag e tha t disturbsthe text; it is the lawle s s presencethat emergesfrom the wildernes s and eru pt swithi n the se t tlement. Dennis Lee refers to thi s othervoIceas "ca de nc e ,II"the ene r gy of' infinitepr ocess," and that whichis exper ienced"bo thas goad and as qrace.·36 It is what Da ph ne Marlat t and Joh n
S'parkc r.
15park e r 61.
36s e e DennisLee, ·cadence, Count ry , Silence : Writi ng in a Colonial Space , " ~3.1 (Fall 1974 )153. Lee suggests that "toexplore th e obstruc tio ns to cad e nc e is, for th e Ca n adia n, toexplo rethe natureof colo n ia l space" (154) . He describeshisown senseatpara lysi s anddisloc at i on as a wri ter who experienc e dcivil al ie nation . Through the words of George Gra nt (vcaned de n Fate and Imperia lism " ) , Lee re c e i ves his own ltfirst gift ofspeech . " "To fi nd one' s tongu e-tie dse nseof civ il los s and baffl ement given words at la st , tohear cnevsown most inar t icu la tehunc hes ou t lo u d, becausemost immed i a t e in the bl oodstream--and not prettied up, and inproselikea fa stid l ousgroundwe ll--was tostand erectat lastinenese own spaceII (161) . In describ i ng this"s u r g e of release and exhila r ation " (161) , Leeechoes Heleneci xo u s' descript i onof feminine writi nq , or t1critu r e ft1mi nine . SeeHeleneCixous ,
"voic ei••• -"~12.2 (Wi nt e r 19 84) : 51 -67 . Seealso Heather Murray , "ReadingforContradic tion in theLiteratureof
2'
Gal t'sUrseline in~ ~(18 3 1) call
IImothertongue.lI17 contemporary feminist critics identify this energy using more expansive terms suchas mUl tiplicity and playfulnessas we llasdup lic i t y.3a Indescribing Canada 'sdivided heritage , W.H. New observesthat the ninny differentvoices andvi e wp o i n t s in our literary works do not te nd to create consens us and unitybut rather a babel of voices, and "dreams of speech andviolence."J~ Inhis study of shor-t-fiction, New traces these violent disturbilnccs which oppose a unified SUbject toth e genesis of community in Canada. As with other colonial beginnings , Canada began as fragmentsof a particular European culture.40 an event
Colonia l Space ,"FutureIndicatiye71-84.
370aphne Marlatt, "Musing with Mothertongue,IfGynocritics 223-226 and John Galt, Bogle Corbet (1831:rpt. Toronto:
McCle llandand Stewart, 1977) 191.
3lIs e e Julia Kristeva, Desire in Language; IhHElne Cixous, Xb.§
Newly Born Woman; ElaineMarks and Isabelle de Courtivron, ede , , New French Feminismg· AnAnthology.
39W•H• New, Dreams of Speech and Violence ' The Ar t of the Sho rtstory inCanada and New Zealand (Toronto : University of TorontoPress, 1987). See alsoSherrillGrace, "ILis tento the Voice': Dialogismand theCa nad i an NoVel," Fu t ur e Indicatiye 117-136. Applying Bakhtl n's concep t of dialogismto Canadian literature, Gracesugg e s t s that "pol i t i c a lly, geographically , and linguistical lyCanada, unlike th e UnitedStates,constit utesthe perfectdialogisticspace" (131).
40LOU1 5 Hartz, The Foundingof New societies (NeW' Yo rk:
Harcourt Brace and world, 1964). See also W.L. Morton, "The Historical PhenomenononofMinori t i e s: 'l'he Canadian Experience,"
CanadianEthnic Studies13.3 (19B1):1-39. Morton briefly
25 ....hich impli essepa r a ti o n , in this cas ea willing rather than ....ilf u l separat ion, from the motherland. The evolutionof tho cou n try wasaffe cted by the t ime of separa tio n and fOrlllat ion, by its re a s on s for comi ng int o be i ng, byi ts ge ographic al dema ndsandculturalmixes , andby pressures exerted on the new soci e t y asit be<jan to ta k e shape. posit i onedpre c ariou sly betw e e n the Uni tedSt a t es and ori ta !n, Ca nad a in the nine t e e nt h centuryis su bsequ e nt l y mar kedby asplit resp on se --a desire for egalitarian independenceversus imper i al identification.
In Surrenderor ReyolutionRobinMath ewsrefersto life in the colonies as "aresi s t a nc e mov e ment.
II"
situated outl ine sthe four modesof forma t i o n that led toCanada's exis te nc e asa co untry and anat ion : "Thefirst wa sby pre- historic migr a t i on , the pr oces s by wh ichthe te rritory now compri s e d in the Can adian stat e, receive d itsabo r i gina l pe oples fro m. Asia, th e AmerindsandtheInu i t . The secon d wasby pea c efu l set tleme nt inwha t at leastseemed to th e new-come rs to beunpo s s e ssed, if notvaca ntland•••• Th ethird wa s the explici t conquestof Aca d i a in 1713and ofNe w France in 1763. Bri tish set tlement th enfollowe d, altho ugh acc o mpan ied by the 'purcha s e' ofaborig inal ri g h t s. The fourthproce ssva s Jmmi g ra t i o n, that ispe rmitted, ofteninvited, entranceto lands hel d bya pre- existingsociety" (4). Se e alsoGilles Paquet and Jean Pier re wallot, "Nouvelle-France / Quebec/ca nada : A Worldof Limited Identit i e s ,"Colon ial Identity in the AtlanticHo r l d1500 - 1 8 00, ads. Nicholas canny and Anthony Pagden (Princeton: Princeton Univ ersity Press, 198 7 ) 95- 114 . paquet andWallo t also explore the fo rces which contributedtothe devel op mentot Canada as a 1 fr agmented society. Becauseof the trequentintrusionsthat Canada endured, th e inhabitants"ne v e r-de velo ped anything buta weak sens e of belongingto a la r g e r corporateentity" (95)."RobinMathew s, Ca nadian I.iterature o Su rr§! nd e r or
~ (ottawa: Steq l Rail, 197 8 ) 1. This strugglebetween pa ssiveacceptanceand activere s i s t a nc eisretl ectedinthe two type s ofcharacters thatMathews identifies in Canadian litera t ur e: the destroyerwho "is essentially an individ uali s t ,
26 somewherebetwe e nthese two opposing responses, one passive and the other openly comba ta nt, is the fugitivefeminine who employssubve r sive tactic s in ordertoinstigate cha nge , to inciterevolution. The fugitivefigures in nlneteenth- centuryCanadian lit e ra t ur e , those who live bothwithinas wellas outs idethelaw, mak e importantcontributions to the model of communitythat has originated in Canada. By insisti ng that the lawbe sUbj ect tochange, they en sure that the communi t y re mainsplurali sticand opento 'others'.
This pluralityof Canadian society isimp l i e d byW.L .Mort o n whenhewrit es"the politic alpractic eof Canada is toseek accommoda tion, social and polit i ca l , inant i c ipati o nofthe action of thesta te. The state rathe r re gisters ac commodationthanimpos e sord e r. ,,42 Thecountry was entered, ex plored , and na med by out-lawfigures-- mysti c al women like Mariede l'Inc arnation and Madeleinede la Peltr iewhose jour ne ys to Canada were wilful actsof opposition; Indian women whoent e r e d int o strange alliances withEur o peanmen; erran t wi v e s like Anna Ja me s on and Abraham Holmes' Belindawho rejected ninet e e nt h- centu ry groundruree regarding femin ine behavi o rt and transgressive
a sel f -see ke r, ahe do nist,anex p l o i t e r and a psychologicalor physical despot " ; and the commun i t y builderwho frequ entlyis"a n irnaginer, te acheror preache r •••a reconciler of opposites" (3).
42Morton 2.
27 daug ht e r s li ke Frances Brooke'sEmilyMo nt a gu e andRosanna Leprohon'sAntoinette de r;lirecourt.
These fugitive figureshave muchincommon. The y generally ad op t non-defeatistat ti tUdes-- the yar e actors rathe r than actedon, they areassociatedwith acts of appropriation as well as actsof generosity ;the y tel l , tr an s mit, inventthei r ownstories;the y share a commonlov e for the land--they celebratethe wilderness as part of rathertha n separate fromthecivilized world: they areall border-cressers --their movements serve to destroy barriers and to ce-est.1bl i s h new linesof commun ica t i o n. These figures band together to lend each other ass Lsrtiance , and col lectivelythey affirmth e existence ofcommunitas, despitecommunitycensure.
When the fugitives are female, it is important forthe m todo nadisguisein order to achievemobility. Besides disguise, they also employunusual mea.-1Sof tr a ns po rtat i o n . Women in canadian literatu reare notth e inn ocent tr a ve l l e r s that they often initially appear to be. In Franc'asBrooke's The Hi s t ory of EmilY Montague(1769) women cross oceans, contractunsanctionedmarriages and immora l alliances,sell land,traverse thewilde r ne s s , and dance andplay flirtat i o us games. In JamesDe Mille'sTheLadyof the Ice (1870)women areassociated with perilousplaces and da ngl3rous liaisons. DeMille resorts toa milita ry metaphor to describethe inte ractionofth e sexes: men are
28 constantlybeing ass aul ted or be siegedbyadvancing, desiring wo me n . They make advance s while the men cautiously retreat. In Charl e s G. D. Robert 's The Forge in the Forest:.
(1896),womanas Cl ilr i ta s, asthelightwhich shows the wa y, joi nswith theci r c ums p e c t nar r at o r to se arch forher lost so nin the wilderne s s. Mi zpa h , the nameof thisfemale warrior , mea ns watch-tower. LikeJohn Richards on' sMadel ine De Hal dirna r (~), LilyDoug all's Sophia (hTh.a.t Nec e ssityKnows 1993 ). andal l of GilbertParke r'sholy wome n , Roberts' defiant and pe rcept i vecha r acters are strangeand estranged womenwhopr ove to bemorallyand spiri tu ally supe ri o r to manan d his la ws. Through the epi phani es orvis i ons of these ex-ce nt r i c chara cters, a more tolerant an d div ersecommun itycome s int o existenc e. Moving cen t r i fuga l l y , theyremapthecoun tryfromsp a ce s whichare notfixed, centered, or fullyknown.
Des p i te the as sum p tion thatlith e coloni al world wa s no place fora woman ••• (that] i t wa s a manl sworld,de manding pi on e e ring, ma r t i a l andorga n i sational skills,n']these conventionalnotions are negatedby theimagesof women in ourfict i on, and in historical accounts , wh ichre ve al a solid tra d it ieDof femal earj~DcyinCanad a. Thatthe coloni alworldwasnot rea dyto ope n l y sanc t i o n female
43XirstenHols t Peters enandAn naRutherf o rd, eda,, Prefa ce, A DOUble Colonizat i on : colon ia l andPo s t-Coloni a! Women 's l:!d.tin.g (Mundelstrup: Da ng arcoPress, 1986) 9.
2'
agency issugge s t e d by the camouflage strategieswhich male andfemal~writers employ to disseminate radical ideasin their texts . critics such as Lorna Irvine and W.H. New44 have observedthe tendency on the part of Canadian writers to use indirection. a subverillvetechnique, in order to tell their stories. The result of thisobliquity isa literatu re riddled with violence,ruptures, and marginalized voices, what John Mossrefers to as"doublevis i o n , ..45and what Sherrill Gracecalls a"v iolent duality.,, 46 Hence , SUbversion, as well as a searchfor avoic e , seemsto be directly relatedtoCanadaIsco l o n i a l st a tus formuc h of the nineteenthcentu ry.
An equ a llyimp o r t a nt feature of early Canadian literature is intertextuality: "in the space of agiven text, sev e ral utterances, tak en from other texts, inters ect
"s eew.n. New, Dreamsofspeech and yi gl e nc e ;Lorna Irvine , Introduction , Sub/Ve rsi o n (Toronto: ECW Press, 198 6) 3-19;
Sherrill Grace, h IListen to the voi c e l: Dialogismand the Canadian Novel," Future Indi cative111-136 ;and Coral Ann Howells, "Canadiannessand WomenlsFiction,"Private and Fictional Words: Cana d i an WOmenNoyelist sof the 1970sand1980s (New York: Me thuen, 1987) 11-32.
45J ohn Moss, Patterns of Isolation in EngliSh Canadian tl£tl.on.
"She r ri l l Grace,vi olentDuality' ASt u d y of Margaret
~,ad,Ken Norris (Quebec: Veh i c u le Press, 1980). Vi olent duality is a phras eused byMargaretAtwood, Afterword, ~ Journalsof SusannaMood ie (Toronto: OxfordUniversity Press, 1970) 62.
30 and neutralizeone anothe r . n This is evidentin Catharine Parr Tr a i n ' sCanad ianCrusoes (1852 )'WhereJacobitesongs, biblical tQxt(Matth e w, Jeremiah, the Psalms), popular poetry,childre n ' s stori es . romanticpoetry, etc.are tran spo s edupon the domi na nt narrati ve. InRos ann a Leprohon ' sAntoinette De Mirec QY£t (1 8 64) Fre nchtexts , literaryand hi storical (Fr an qois -Xa vi erGarne auIs~
~. Balzac' s La Fe mmede Trente Ans , Voltaire's
~). and biblicaltext are assimilat e d. This st udy at t e mpts toshow how ear lywr i t e rscrea te inte r f e re nc e and rupture within the i r worksthroug h the ut te ra nc es of characte rs whosedis cours eisnot imme d iately he a rd or, when heard, notre a d ilysanctioned. The sc a r let woman, the holy woman, the lonelyor relucta nt pioneer, the mad woman -- these figure s al l createtextualres on ance s thatar e atnbi guo us andope n to int e rpreta tio n. For instan c e, inthe worksofGilbe r t Parker, William Kirby and Charle s G.D.
Robe rts,the scarlet womancrea tes an intertextuality of femi nine voices whi chech o aswell as cha lleng ehol y writ.
Inso doing, sh e que stionsthemoral impe ra t ive s pr o pos e d by a commun i t y thatwouldexc ludediffe renceandopposition.
Thesetextual and intertextualdI sturbanc e snegatethe closed spaces which the nar r a tives seektocreat e .
4TXris t eva , pes i reini..-ang uage 36and 15 .
