TWENTIETH CENTURY CANADIAN SCEINCE FICTION: AN ANALYTICAL NOTE ON CERTAIN DOMINANT THEMES

Jacob George

Abstract


Modern science fiction being overwhelmingly an American phenomenon, a distinctive Canadian model or tradition that could be contrasted with the American one emerged only during the last couple of decades. The delayed flowering of science fiction and fantasy in the Canadian literary context is often attributed to a certain atrophy of the fantastic imagination in Canada. Yet, the rare appearance of science fictional flights' in pre-Second World War Canlit is best ascribed not to the aridity of the fantastic imagination, but to the fact that the preponderance of works that constitute the 'canon' of Canadian fiction are realistic or naturalistic. Such a marginalization of the fantastic mode appears to be the direct consequence of holding realistic and naturalistic paradigms as effective tools of nationalis

Keywords


science fiction, Canadian fiction, nationalism

Full Text:

PDF

References


Arnheim. Rudolr. Entropy and Art : All Essay on Disorder and Onler. Bcrklcy:

U of CaJifomia P. 1971.

Atwood. Margaret. "Canadian Monsters". The Canadian Imagination: Dimensions

/ a Utemry Culture. Ed. David Staines. Cambridge: Harward UP. 1m.

-107.

-Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Utemture. Toronto: Anansi. 1972.

Cohen. MatL The Colou" o/War. New York: Methuen. 1m.

Collins. Roben G. Tolemble Levels o/Violence. Toronto: Ballantine Books, 1983.

Drew. Wayland. The Galan Expedient. Toronto: Random House. 1985.

Gotlieb, Phyllis. Heart 0/ Red Iron. New York: St. Martins. 1989.

-. Sunbunl. Greenwich. Conn.: Fawcell Publications. 1964.

Holden. Helene. After the FocI. Onawa: Oberon Press. 1986.

Kcrmode. Frank. The Sense 0/ an Ending. New York: Oxford UP. 1967.

Ketterer. David. Canadian Science Ficlion and Fantasy. Bloomington: Indiana UP.

-. New Worlds lor Old: The Apocalyptic Imaginalion. Science Fiction and

American Ulemlure. Bloomington: Indiana UP. 1974.

Lewis. R.W.B. Trials o/the Word. New Haven: Yale UP, 1965.

Lovelock. James E . Gaia: A New Look 01 U/e on Earth. New York: OUP. 1979.

MacLennan. Hugh. Voices in 7ime. Markham. Ont.: Penguin. 1981.

Planck. Max. Eighl Lectures on Theoretical Physics. Trans. A.P. Wills. New York:

Columbia U.P. 1915.

Spencer. Hugh Alan Douglas. et al. Destination: Out o/This World. Ottawa: National

Library of Canada. 1995.

Weiner. Andrew. Distant Signals and other Stories. Victoria. B.C.: Porcepic Books.

Willer. Jim. Paramind. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart. 1973.

Wollheim. Donald A. "Whither Canadian Fantasy?" Uncanny Tales December 1942:

-22.




DOI: https://doi.org/10.24167/celt.v2i1.758



Copyright (c) 2017 Celt (A Journal of Culture, English Language Teaching & Literature)



| pISSN (print): 1412-3320 | eISSN (online): 2502-4914 | web
analytics View My Stats