- Library Home /
- Search Collections /
- Open Collections /
- Browse Collections /
- UBC Theses and Dissertations /
- Here is queer : nationalisms and sexualities in contemporary...
Open Collections
UBC Theses and Dissertations
UBC Theses and Dissertations
Here is queer : nationalisms and sexualities in contemporary Canadian literatures Dickinson, Peter
Abstract
This dissertation explores the relationship between the regulatory discourses of nationalism and sexuality as they operate in the cultural production and textual dissemination of contemporary Canadian literatures. Applying recent studies in postcolonial and queer theory to a number of works by gay and lesbian authors written across a broad spectrum of years, political perspectives, and genres, I seek to formulate a critical methodology which allows me to situate these works within the trajectory of Canadian canon-formation from the 1940s to the present. In so doing, I argue that the historical construction of Canadian literature and Canadian literary criticism upon an apparent absence of national identity—us encapsulated most tellingly in the "Where is here?" of Frye's "Conclusion"—masks nothing so much as the presence of a subversive and destabilizing sexual identity—"queer." The dissertation is made up of eight chapters: the first opens with a Sedgwickian survey of the "homosocial" underpinnings of several foundational texts of Canadian literature, before providing an overview—via George Mosse, Benedict Anderson, and Michel Foucault—of the theoretical parameters of the dissertation as a whole. Chapter two focuses on three nationally "ambivalent" and sexually "dissident" fictions by Timothy Findley. A comparative analysis of the homophobic criticism accompanying the sexual/textual travels of Patrick Anderson and Scott Symons serves as the basis of chapter three. Chapter four discusses the allegorical function of homosexuality in the nationalist theatre of Michel Tremblay, Rene-Daniel Dubois, and Michel Marc Bouchard. Chapter five examines how national and sexual borderlines become permeable in the lesbian-feminist translation poetics of Nicole Brossard and Daphne Marlatt. Issues of performativity (the repetition and reception of various acts of identification) are brought to the fore in chapters six and seven, especially as they relate to the (dis)located politics of Dionne Brand, and the (re)imagined communities of Tomson Highway and Beth Brant, respectively. Finally, chapter eight revisits some of the vexed questions of identity raised throughout the dissertation by moving the discussion of nationalisms and sexualities into the classroom.
Item Metadata
Title |
Here is queer : nationalisms and sexualities in contemporary Canadian literatures
|
Creator | |
Publisher |
University of British Columbia
|
Date Issued |
1996
|
Description |
This dissertation explores the relationship between the regulatory discourses of
nationalism and sexuality as they operate in the cultural production and textual
dissemination of contemporary Canadian literatures. Applying recent studies in
postcolonial and queer theory to a number of works by gay and lesbian authors
written across a broad spectrum of years, political perspectives, and genres, I seek
to formulate a critical methodology which allows me to situate these works within
the trajectory of Canadian canon-formation from the 1940s to the present. In so
doing, I argue that the historical construction of Canadian literature and Canadian
literary criticism upon an apparent absence of national identity—us encapsulated
most tellingly in the "Where is here?" of Frye's "Conclusion"—masks nothing so
much as the presence of a subversive and destabilizing sexual identity—"queer."
The dissertation is made up of eight chapters: the first opens with a
Sedgwickian survey of the "homosocial" underpinnings of several foundational
texts of Canadian literature, before providing an overview—via George Mosse,
Benedict Anderson, and Michel Foucault—of the theoretical parameters of the
dissertation as a whole. Chapter two focuses on three nationally "ambivalent" and
sexually "dissident" fictions by Timothy Findley. A comparative analysis of the
homophobic criticism accompanying the sexual/textual travels of Patrick
Anderson and Scott Symons serves as the basis of chapter three. Chapter four
discusses the allegorical function of homosexuality in the nationalist theatre of
Michel Tremblay, Rene-Daniel Dubois, and Michel Marc Bouchard. Chapter five
examines how national and sexual borderlines become permeable in the lesbian-feminist
translation poetics of Nicole Brossard and Daphne Marlatt. Issues of
performativity (the repetition and reception of various acts of identification) are
brought to the fore in chapters six and seven, especially as they relate to the
(dis)located politics of Dionne Brand, and the (re)imagined communities of
Tomson Highway and Beth Brant, respectively. Finally, chapter eight revisits
some of the vexed questions of identity raised throughout the dissertation by
moving the discussion of nationalisms and sexualities into the classroom.
|
Extent |
17107548 bytes
|
Genre | |
Type | |
File Format |
application/pdf
|
Language |
eng
|
Date Available |
2009-03-27
|
Provider |
Vancouver : University of British Columbia Library
|
Rights |
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.
|
DOI |
10.14288/1.0088006
|
URI | |
Degree | |
Program | |
Affiliation | |
Degree Grantor |
University of British Columbia
|
Graduation Date |
1997-05
|
Campus | |
Scholarly Level |
Graduate
|
Aggregated Source Repository |
DSpace
|
Item Media
Item Citations and Data
Rights
For non-commercial purposes only, such as research, private study and education. Additional conditions apply, see Terms of Use https://open.library.ubc.ca/terms_of_use.