This study traces the development of prose, poetry, drama, and (creative) nonfiction written in English by Canadians of Ukrainian descent during the twentieth century. The thesis argues that, although Ukrainian Canadian literature has been underrepresented in Canadian and Ukrainian Canadian studies, it makes a substantial contribution to ongoing debates about the ways in which individuals (re)define their sense of self, community, history, and home in the process of writing. Chapter One provides an overview of Ukrainian Canadian history, and outlines the development of a Ukrainian Canadian literary tradition. Chapter Two examines the assimilationist rhetoric articulated by such non-Ukrainian Canadian writers as Ralph Connor, Sinclair Ross, and Margaret Laurence, as well as that of Vera Lysenko (author of Yellow Boots, 1954, the first English-language novel by a Ukrainian Canadian). Chapter Three focuses on Maara Haas's novel The Street Where I Live (1976), George Ryga's play A Letter to My Son (1981), and Andrew Suknaski's poetry (published in Wood Mountain Poems, 1976; the ghosts call you poor, 1978; and In the Name of Narid, 1981), and explores these writers' responses to the policies and practices of multiculturalism. Chapter Four identifies the shift toward transnational or transcultural discourses of individual- and group-identity formation in Janice Kulyk Keefer's and Myrna Kostash's writing, especially that which records their travels "back" to Ukraine. The central argument of the thesis is that if Ukrainian Canadians are to maintain meaningful ties to their ethnic heritage, they must constantly—if paradoxically—reinvent themselves as Ukrainians and as Canadians. In examining this paradox, the study draws parallels between Lysenko and Kulyk Keefer, both of whom rely on conventional narrative techniques in their writing and privilege nation-based models of identity that marginalize the experiences of ethnic minorities. Haas, Ryga, Suknaski, and Kostash, by contrast, experiment with multiple languages and genres: shaped, thematically and formally, by their experiences as hybrid subjects, their texts illustrate that ethnicity is less product than process; less fixed than fluid; constantly under construction and open to negotiation. The concluding chapter of the thesis, reflecting on the past and the present of Ukrainians in Canada, calls for the next generation of writers to continue re-imagining their communities by pushing the boundaries of existing language and forms.

This study traces the development of prose, poetry, drama, and (creative) nonfiction written in English by Canadians of Ukrainian descent during the twentieth century. The thesis argues that, although Ukrainian Canadian literature has been underrepresented in Canadian and Ukrainian Canadian studies, it makes a substantial contribution to ongoing debates about the ways in which individuals (re)define their sense of self, community, history, and home in the process of writing. Chapter One provides an overview of Ukrainian Canadian history, and outlines the development of a Ukrainian Canadian literary tradition. Chapter Two examines the assimilationist rhetoric articulated by such non-Ukrainian Canadian writers as Ralph Connor, Sinclair Ross, and Margaret Laurence, as well as that of Vera Lysenko (author of Yellow Boots, 1954, the first English-language novel by a Ukrainian Canadian). Chapter Three focuses on Maara Haas's novel The Street Where I Live (1976), George Ryga's play A Letter to My Son (1981), and Andrew Suknaski's poetry (published in Wood Mountain Poems, 1976; the ghosts call you poor, 1978; and In the Name of Narid, 1981), and explores these writers' responses to the policies and practices of multiculturalism. Chapter Four identifies the shift toward transnational or transcultural discourses of individual- and group-identity formation in Janice Kulyk Keefer's and Myrna Kostash's writing, especially that which records their travels "back" to Ukraine. The central argument of the thesis is that if Ukrainian Canadians are to maintain meaningful ties to their ethnic heritage, they must constantly—if paradoxically—reinvent themselves as Ukrainians and as Canadians. In examining this paradox, the study draws parallels between Lysenko and Kulyk Keefer, both of whom rely on conventional narrative techniques in their writing and privilege nation-based models of identity that marginalize the experiences of ethnic minorities. Haas, Ryga, Suknaski, and Kostash, by contrast, experiment with multiple languages and genres: shaped, thematically and formally, by their experiences as hybrid subjects, their texts illustrate that ethnicity is less product than process; less fixed than fluid; constantly under construction and open to negotiation. The concluding chapter of the thesis, reflecting on the past and the present of Ukrainians in Canada, calls for the next generation of writers to continue re-imagining their communities by pushing the boundaries of existing language and forms. / Arts, Faculty of / English, Department of / Graduate

This thesis explores alternative ways for English literature students in Taiwanese Science Universities to choose more culturally accessible works in addition to the canonical English and American literature. Currently, many students consider their experience of reading Western literature to be both perplexing and frustrating because of inadequate language capability as well as unfamiliarity with Western culture. The rationale for introduction to works emerging from the Chinese diaspora is to enable students to situate their personal experiences within the context of different cultures, but ones that nonetheless have accommodated Chinese communities and values. Bearing this in mind, choosing English language works from within the Chinese diaspora is a natural progression and is based on the assumption that its content shares the same cultural identity that Taiwanese students are already familiar with. My hope is to provide teaching strategies for literature teachers of Taiwan to consider. The learning culture in Taiwan tends to dissociate the self and sentiments from the learning experience. Accordingly, it is hard for them to express their own feelings within the learning environment. In this thesis I try to address these problems through examination of Rosenblatt's transactional theory (1995), and exemplification of the theory through Nussbaum's literary exegesis of Henry James' Golden Bowl. I then attempt a parallel study of Wayson Choy's The Jade Peony (1995) as an example of how a work from the Chinese diaspora might be used in a Taiwanese classroom. I argue that the application of transactional theory could enhance meaning making in English literature classes for Taiwanese students. The thesis concludes with a discussion of strategic emphases for teachers of English literature in Taiwan.

A large part of Canadian literature being produced today is being done by immigrants and the children of immigrants. Struggling between the dominant culture and the history and traditions of their parents, whom they desire to honor, these writers adopt modes of representation ranging from the elegiac to the ironic. / Nino Ricci's first book Lives of the Saints begins from the perspective of Vittorio as an adult, but the narrative that the reader follows is developed from his perspective as a child focusing on his ethnic roots. The narrative structure is two-fold: it is a combination of the objectivity of a child's innocent observations with a child's sense of wonder and magic and a strong influence from the adult narrator's voice. / This thesis will examine the narrative approach, the rhetorical devices and the use of myth that Ricci harnesses in his novel in order to show how his work is marked with ambiguity and paradox which points to the psychological condition of immigrants in Canada. The discussion will also focus on some of the literary models that influenced Ricci's narrative, such as Alice Munro, Carlo Levi and Corrado Alvaro.

The aim of this research paper is to analyse the literary works and the writers of Italian origin who have actively contributed to the creation of Italian-Canadian immigration literature, and above all, that referent to the Montreal milieu. For this and other reasons, it distinguishes itself from other Italian-Canadian productions and precisely due to this reality, the objective of this research is to: (1) examine its role, its characteristics, the difficulties its writers experience, its literary artistic value and the recognition it receives in our literary environment; (2) compare the creative approach adopted by some writers to the perfect example, Primo Levi; (3) expose its contents and reoccurring themes; (4) examine the question of the literary language of expression of these works; (5) demonstrate the social usefulness of this literary production.

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