The Dominion of Women: The Personal and the Political in Canadian Women's Literature

(Hardback)

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William Fraser's examination of the works of 18 women writers in English Canada's history demonstrates how Canadian women's literature provides an insight into the social and political development of the country. Fraser approaches the subject as a literary critic, arguing that these narratives were constructed within a certain social and political framework that resulted in a body of literature whose terms focus on the relationship of the individual to the larger community, an essentially feminist orientation. The study, arranged chronologically from colonial times through the 1980s, parallels women's personal experiences with Canada's political development. Analyses of works of such authors as Frances Booke, Ethel Wilson and Margaret Atwood support Fraser's contention that the literature, as a forum where women voiced their personal concerns regarding marriage, colonialism, independence and feminism, reflects and comments on Canada's political identity as a country with a continuing commitment to compromise, co-operation and international peace.

Reviews

F"raser argues compellingly the tight connection between the personal and the political in Canadian women's fiction. Defining the essence of femininity as a sense of relatedness, Fraser chronologically traces the parallel progress and mutual encouragement of feminism, women's fiction, and Canadian nationalism, meticulously identifying seven stages, from colonial dependence (via Brooke, Traill, Jameson, Moodie) through imperialism to an ambivalent emancipation in the 1920s and 1930s (Duncan, McClung, Ostenso), 1940s and 1950s isolationism (Ethel Wilson), 1960s nationalism (Laurence) and anti-Americanism (Atwood), and a final maturity and (measure of) autonomy in the 1970s and 1980s (again Laurence, Atwood). In firm command of the 17 texts (entirely fiction, not the larger literature the title promises) by 10 authors that he has chosen to illustrate his thesis, Fraser uses massive textual, critical and historical reference in a generally graceful and unforced manner. A useful bibliography and index bring to a close a study which convinces us that women's writing is one of the best places to see what is happening in Canada. Unpretentious and accessible to the literate generalist, the book will be of particular interest and value to upper-level undergraduate students of Canada, of Canadian literature, and of women's writing." * Choice *

Author Bio

Wayne Fraser, PhD, presently teaches English full-time at Ridley College in St. Catharines, Ontario.