Through readings of a variety of literary and historical narratives from throughout the Americas dating from the 16th century to the present, I show that miscegenation, its sudden and disrupting revelation in these narratives serving as the catalyst for utopian and/or apocalyptic rhetoric, becomes a trope for New World cultural identity (Utopia and Apocalypse themselves being crucial ideas for this hemisphere). I call by the name "Astonishment" the resulting space created by the sudden revelation of miscegenation in these narratives.

Because child readers are still in the process of fully acquiring their language, children's books and their translations are closely linked to orality and the oral culture. Strong sound, rhyme and rhythm, which are habitual features of children's literature, also figure as important agents in the acquisition of language. Therefore, these linguistic principles might indicate a pedagogical skopos in the translation of children's literature, that of aiding in child language acquisition. Theory on sound translation and commentaries from translators of children's literature provide arguments for the importance of retaining sound and rhythm in translation. Analyses of three French-Canadian children's books translated into English provide practical observations of how sound and rhythm are translated in actual texts.

More often than not, in theoretical discussions about translation, there has been a predominance of Western thought (Tymoczko, 2006). This dominance has been reflected principally in the concentration on linguistic aspects of translation, as well as in the importance given to written texts over any other form of expression. This fact has led to skepticism about metaphorical or non-linguistic studies of translation and non-Western approaches to this field. Nevertheless, there is a growing belief in Translation Studies that translation does not always involve a textual or linguistic practice, but that it can also take place within only one language, and even more, without implying any text at all (Bhabha, 1994; Venuti, 1992; Douglas, 1997; Young, 2003). Moving in that same direction, this thesis offers a metaphorical approach to translation that attempts to expand the boundaries of Translation Studies and resist certain previous Western-oriented conceptualizations of translation. Through examination of the works and a body to remember with and Le pavillon des mirors, written by Carmen Rodriguez and Sergio Kokis, respectively, this thesis contends that their fictional characters may be considered as both linguistically and culturally "translated beings" (Rushdie, 1991). Throughout this discussion, the concept of metaphorical translation refers to the never-ending process of transformation and transculturation that Rodriguez and Kokis' fictional characters undergo in their migrant experience. In other words, this thesis examines Rodriguez and Kokis' literary representations of migrants and their experience with translation as a transformation process. The dislocation caused by migration takes the form of social, linguistic, cultural, and psychological disarticulations, which are typified through images and metaphors of translation. These images and metaphors represent the main focus of analysis in this study. Therefore, this thesis brings about a broader idea of translation than the explicit interlingual transference of meaning. Both migration and its subsequent cultural mingling produce complex situations that are discussed in the works analyzed. First, this thesis examines the spatial and temporal related images and metaphors of translation within Rodriguez and Kokis' works. The aim here is to determine how these characters manage to overcome the loss of their place after migration and how this fact affects their roots. Second, in an attempt to evaluate whether the metaphorical translation of Rodriguez and Kokis' characters symbolizes a successful or a failed translation, this thesis considers specific aspects in characters' identity construction throughout the stories. Finally, their discourses are evaluated to discuss the linguistic conflicts stemming from the tension between mother tongue and adoptive language.

Abstract not available.

In contemporary nature writing, beauty can indeed be said to be "in the eye of the beholder". English-Canadian and French authors of such texts often perceive and describe their natural surroundings in very individual, though culturally shared, ways. English-Canadian and French authors have developed quite different approaches to nature writing, and this difference becomes clearly apparent through a contrastive analysis of two corpora: nature writing intended for English-Canadian readers and similar texts addressed to French readers. Through the juxtaposition of these texts, the cultural topoi of each linguistic set are drawn out. In an environment where forces of globalization are bringing more languages and cultures into contact, an analysis of this type sets forth the "culturemes" that practising translators need to be aware of and respond to. A sample text that takes the findings into account illustrates this.

The period 1966-1977 saw the emergence of both the Canadian feminist movement and a new Canadian drama. This thesis explores how the work of four English Canadian female playwrights reflected both in their groundbreaking early work. Aviva Ravel, Beverley Simons, Carol Bolt, and Sharon Pollock were each concerned with women's roles and changing conventional perceptions of women. This may in part explain why critics view the early work of these four playwrights as proto-feminist rather than feminist. All four playwrights, although they often disavowed a feminist intent, wrote plays that reflected the ideological tenets of second-wave Anglo-American feminism. However, their plays also often depict a decidedly vexed feminist vision. They critiqued restrictions imposed on women, while simultaneously arguing for the importance of women's empowered contribution to society, but often their message is obscured by ambiguous characterizations, structures, and conclusions. In this way, these playwrights asserted a feminist vision and challenged authority and stereotypical depictions of women on stage, while attempting to evade the antipathy of audiences and critics. The feminist reflections of these four female playwrights during the initial stages of the second-wave feminist movement in Canada provide a fascinating glimpse into how these writers were able to create a role for themselves in Canadian theatre against the backdrop of the women's liberation movement. They may have concealed their feminist sympathies to varying degrees; however, they nonetheless put women's concerns centre-stage and began an examination of identity politics and gender socialization, especially in relation to the notion examination of identity politics of the performance of gender roles, that has continued for decades.

A generation of young people in Canada has grown up in the face of the so-called "War on Terror". Where previous generations have confronted the Cold War or the World Wars, this is the war that has shaped today's young people's narratives of collective memory. My study investigates the following research questions: How young people in Canada understand "the War on Terror"? How they see "the War on Terror" affecting their lives and their constructions of imagined communities (Anderson, 1983)? How they make collective memories of "the War on Terror" based on these understandings? I collect my data in the form of written narratives, follow-up interviews, and demographic questionnaires. Building on theoretical models from the field of collective memory studies (Halbwachs, 1980; Wertsch, 2002), nationalism studies (Anderson, 1983; Billig, 1995), and cultural representations (Said, 1980; Hall, 1980, 1997, 2000, 2002), I explore the understandings, representations and experiences of young people in the form of the collective memories of "the War on Terror". I find that the terrain of collective memory is like the topography. This topography has three main features: human agents, technologies of memory (Wertsch, 2002) and different social groups or communities. My participants construct collective memories through processes that involve a collectivity of significant 'others', including parents and teachers, or what I call 'interpretative communities'. Significantly, the hegemonic narrative, according to the participants of my study, is not the official Canadian government's narrative of "the War on Terror", rather my participants reject the image of Canada as a military nation in favor of that of a multicultural peaceful nation. I also find that "the War on Terror" has personally affected the young Canadian Muslim participants of this study in ways that it has not the non-Muslim participants.

The daughter of a Mohawk chief and an English immigrant, Pauline Johnson had an unusual childhood which exposed her to Shakespeare and Byron, as well as to her Mohawk grandfather's ancient stories. Her writing reflected her parents' optimism and belief that her dual heritage was the beginning of a new world in which native values and abilities would be integrated as important contributions to Canadian society as a whole. For nearly seventeen years Johnson toured Canada, the United States, and England, reciting her own poetry and adding her own humorous observations. Aware that her special draw to her audiences was her native heritage, Johnson assumed the stage persona of "The Mohawk Princess," and wore a buckskin dress, moccasins, a bearclaw necklace, and other accouterments as she recited angry poems protesting white treatment of native peoples. In the second half of her performance, however, she changed into an evening gown, thereby subverting her audience's expectation of the stereotyped identity, "Indian." Although her performances succeeded in disrupting, for an evening, the dominant colonial discourse, she was ultimately co-opted as a sentimental trope and today is often dismissed as a serious writer. However, such dismissal overlooks the fact that Pauline Johnson was the first and only native writer to make her living from her writing. During the four years between her retirement from the recital platform and her death in 1913, she produced more than 80 short stories that appeared in national magazines. This dissertation examines examples of the colonial discourse of her contemporaries and Johnson's response to such discourse for clues to her current near-exclusion from the Native American literary canon.

No description available.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--The University of Western Ontario (Canada), 2007. / (UMI)AAINR30853. Source: Dissertation Abstracts International, Volume: 68-09, Section: A, page: 3848.