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In his 1987 essay "Canadian Poetry After Auschwitz," Michael Greenstein argues that A.M. Klein's mock-heroic poem, The Hitleriad (1944), ultimately fails to portray the severity and tragedy of the Holocaust because "it lacks the necessary historical distance for coping with the enormity" of the event (1). Greenstein's criticism is interesting because it suggests that in order for a writer to adequately represent the horrors of a traumatic event like the Holocaust it is "necessary" for him to be distanced from the event. While Greenstein specifically addresses historical (or temporal) distance, Canadian authors writing about the Holocaust have also, inevitably, had to negotiate their geographical and cultural distance from the historical event as well. Not surprisingly, their works tend to be immensely self-reflexive in nature, reflecting an awareness of the questions of authority and problems of representation that have shaped critical thinking about Holocaust literature for over half a century. This dissertation examines the role that distance has played in the creation and critical understanding of representative works of Canadian Holocaust literature. It begins with an extensive analysis of the poetry and prose of geographically-distanced poet A.M. Klein, whose work is unique in the Canadian literary canon in that it mirrors the shifting psychological state of members of the Canadian Jewish community as news of the Holocaust slowly trickled into Canada. This is followed by a discussion of the Holocaust texts of Irving Layton and Leonard Cohen, both of whom experimented with increasingly graphic Holocaust imagery in their works in response to the increasingly more horrifying information about the concentration camps that entered the Canadian public conscience in the 1960s. The dissertation then turns its attention to the uniquely post-memorial and semi-autobiographical works of two children of Holocaust survivors, Bernice Eisenstein and J.J. Steinfeld, before focusing on the Holocaust works of Timothy Findley and Yann Martel, both of whom produce highly metafictional novels in order to respond to the questions of appropriation and ethical representation that often surround works of Holocaust fiction created by non-Jewish writers. The dissertation concludes with an analysis of Anne Michaels' novel Fugitive Pieces—a text that addresses all three types of distance that stand at the center of this dissertation, and that illustrates many of the strategies of representation that Canadian writers have adopted in their attempts to negotiate, highlight, erase, and embrace the distance that separates them from the Holocaust.

<p>In this thesis, I investigate Canadian poetry that is explicitly about the political (politicians, political parties, or political policies) written in English. I begin by defining political poetry and its aims in Canada and then progress through an examination of three collections of poetry and one poem: <em>The Blasted Pine</em>; <em>Howl Too, Eh?</em>; and <em>Rogue Stimulus</em>. This allows for a comprehensive look at how political poetry has evolved in Canada from a pointed and critical genre that aims to mock and argue to a more subtle, playful genre that utilizes parody and wit. It also demonstrates the evolution and complication of voice in political poetry, given that each poem contains the voice of the poet, the speaker, the public, and the political.</p> <p>I argue that political poetry in Canada is not poetry as dissent, protest, or witness, but rather poetry as inquiry/commission (in the political sense). This definition relies on the fact that Canadian political poetry seeks to ascribe accountability for political actions and decisions and utilizes the poet as spokesperson, speaking for the public to the political (and the public in turn). Canadian political poetry hence arises out of a demand from the public, much like political inquiries do, and through the satirical use of politically correct language and explicit political references calls for action from the political sphere and the public. I further argue that poetry as inquiry also comments on the public itself (including the author/speaker as a member of that public) and that political poetry is transideological.</p> / Master of Arts (MA)

The thesis comprises an introduction and annotations to Collected Poems of Richard Outram, Volume One (1957–1988), a planned critical edition of the poems of Richard Outram (1930-2005), Canadian poet and printer. It tells the story of Outram’s published oeuvre, beginning in 1957, when he published his first work in collaboration with his wife, the artist Barbara Howard (1926–2002), up through 1988, when Outram and Howard published the last of their hand-printed, letterpress collaborations. Jernigan asserts that Outram’s oeuvre is characterized by a reiterative poetics, in which the poet “reads” individual poems into the public record of his work on multiple occasions, allowing the poems’ meanings to be shaped by the changing context of an unfolding oeuvre, as well as by changes in material context and addressed readership — an assertion reflected in the structure of her edition. At the same time, she speaks to the collaborative context of Outram’s published work, all of which was made in explicit or implicit conversation with his wife, the artist Barbara Howard (1926 – 2002), while also being shaped by the sorts of communal forces famously noted by D.M. Mackenzie. Both the introduction and the annotations demonstrate the close link between composition and publication for Outram, poet-printer. In her introduction, Jernigan considers how this link complicates the traditional dichotomy between genetic and bibliographic approaches to textual criticism. Throughout, Jernigan establishes an updated bibliographical and biographical context for Outram’s work, enlarging upon the seminal scholarship of Peter Sanger, and contributes to the existing scholarship on Outram’s personal and publishing life with new archival research in the Gauntlet Press fonds at Library and Archives Canada, the Richard Outram papers at the Thomas Fisher Rare Book Library, the Allan and Nancy Fleming fonds at York University, and the Macmillan and Key Porter fonds at McMaster University. / Thesis / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD) / The thesis comprises an introduction and annotations to Collected Poems of Richard Outram, Volume One (1957–1988), a planned critical edition of the poems of Richard Outram (1930-2005), Canadian poet and printer. It tells the story of Outram’s published oeuvre, beginning in 1957, when he published his first work in collaboration with his wife, the artist Barbara Howard (1926–2002), up through 1988, when Outram and Howard published the last of their hand-printed, letterpress collaborations. Both the introduction and the annotations demonstrate the close link between composition and publication, for Outram, and show the deep effect on Outram’s poetics of his longterm collaboration with his wife. The annotations map the interaction, through three decades, of Outram’s commercial- and private-publishing practices, and cast new light on his lifelong practice of reiteration: his habit of reading his own, older poems into the record of his unfolding work again, in new contexts, linking old work to new, and enriching the meanings of both.

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Abstract : The field of literature taken as a sociological phenomenon has enlightened and deepened our knowledge and appreciation of several national literatures, and the works of Pierre Bourdieu and Georg Simmel in this field are now considered ground-breaking. In Québec, the Groupe de recherche sur l’édition littéraire au Québec (now operating under the name « Groupe de recherche sur l’étude du livre au Québec ») has been particularly active in studying the sociological conditions that make literature possible in this Canadian province. Parallel to this, the Équipe de recherche interuniversitaire en littérature anglo-québécoise (ÉRILAQ) has gathered researchers interested in the “contact zone,” to borrow an expression from Catherine Leclerc and Sherry Simon, that is Anglo-Quebec literature. This dissertation will combine these two interests in order to study in greater depth the discourse and works of the poets of the Jubilate Circle, a network of poets writing in English in Québec at the turn of the twenty-first century. It will not only seek to prove the existence of a literary circle, it will attempt to showcase how the circle itself has contributed to advancing its members’ literary careers. In keeping with Pierre Bourdieu’s theories of cultural, symbolic and social capital, this dissertation will present, from the outset, a prosopographical sketch of the four poets that make up the Jubilate Circle, and examine the conditions in which they met, bonded as a group (of friends and of colleagues) and came to found the Jubilate Circle. Following this, the instances in which capital of all kinds (symbolic, cultural and social) were exchanged by the four poets will be examined through a close reading of correspondence, dedications, book jacket blurbs and even of the poetry itself. In an attempt to identify the homogeneous in the cacophony of discourse, to paraphrase Marc Angenot, the Jubilate Poets’ discourse on Canadian poetry, enunciated in interviews, essays, book reviews and in the press will then be examined. This will provide a better understanding of the position they hold, or wish to hold, within the field of Canadian poetry and indeed within its canon, existing or future. Finally, an analysis of the poetry they have produced will serve to underscore those aspects of their discourse that are deemed particularly relevant and will highlight areas in which some contradictions may be observed. As a whole, this dissertation will shed some light on the production of poetry, of its criticism and of its publication not only as a literary phenomenon, but also as a profoundly social one. // Résumé : L’étude du champ littéraire en tant que phénomène social a su éclairer et approfondir notre appréciation de plusieurs littératures nationales, et les travaux de Pierre Bourdieu et de Georg Simmel à cet égard sont aujourd’hui considérés fondateurs. Au Québec, le Groupe de recherche sur l’édition littéraire au Québec (aujourd’hui connu sous le nom « Groupe de recherche sur l’étude du livre au Québec ») a jeté les assises dans l’étude des conditions sociologiques qui rendent le phénomène littéraire possible dans cette province canadienne. Parallèlement, l’Équipe de recherche interuniversitaire en littérature anglo-québécoise (ÉRILAQ) réunit des chercheurs qui s’intéressent à cette “zone de contacte”, pour reprendre l’expression de Catherine Leclerc et de Sherry Simon, qu’est la littérature anglo-québécoise. Cette thèse combinera effectivement ces deux champs de recherche afin d’étudier de manière plus approfondie le discours et les œuvres des poètes du “Jubilate Circle”, un réseau de poètes publiant en anglais au Québec au tournant du vingt-et-unième siècle. Elle cherchera non seulement à prouver l’existence d’un cercle littéraire, mais tentera également de démontrer par quels moyens ce même cercle a pu contribuer à l’avancement des carrières littéraires de ses membres. Suivant les théories sur le capital culturel, symbolique et social énoncées par Pierre Bourdieu, cette thèse brossera, dans un premier temps, le profil prosopographique de chacun des acteurs du Jubilate Circle et se penchera sur les conditions qui ont favorisé leur rencontre, le bourgeonnement d’une amitié et d’une collaboration littéraire à long terme et la création du cercle littéraire. En second lieu, les instances dans lesquelles des échanges de capital ont lieu seront scrutées grâce à une lecture détaillée de la correspondance, des dédicaces, des textes de quatrième de couverture et même de la poésie elle-même. Dans le but de faire ressortir l’homogène que recèle la cacophonie du discours, pour paraphraser Marc Angenot, le discours tenu par les poètes du Jubilate Circle au sujet de la poésie canadienne contemporaine, énoncé lors d’entretiens, dans des essais littéraires, des comptes rendus et dans les quotidiens de ce pays sera examiné. Une telle étude permettra de faire la lumière sur leur posture et sur la position qu’ils occupent, ou souhaitent occuper, dans le champ de la poésie canadienne, voire dans son canon littéraire, présent ou futur. Enfin, une analyse de la poésie produite par ces quatre poètes sera l’occasion de souligner et d’illustrer certains aspects particulièrement significatifs de leur discours et révélera quelques instances dans lesquelles certaines contradictions peuvent être observées. Dans son ensemble, cette thèse vise à jeter un nouvel éclairage sur la production d’une poésie, de sa critique et de ses instances de publication non seulement en tant que phénomène littéraire, mais bien en tant que phénomène profondément social.

Thesis (Ph.D.)--University of Alberta, 2001. / Includes bibliographical references.

This thesis investigates three contemporary Canadian texts— Ruth Ozeki’s A Tale for the Time Being, Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake, and Rita Wong’s forage—that treat information as an object that can be wasted and recuperated. Using information theory and a new sub-field of critical waste theory called “Discard Studies,” I explore how the authors studied in this thesis place these two lines of thought alongside one another to examine how the concept of recycling information challenges the material, cultural, and ideological structures that distance humans from their waste. Specifically, I read the event of recycling as an interruptive act that triggers a reassessment of the (im)material connections that tether humans to their waste, vast (inter)national networks of exchange, and environmental crises related to our garbage.

Many of us believe that poetry, specifically activist and experimental poetry, is capable of intervening in our society, as though the right words will call people to action, give the voiceless a voice, and reorder the systems that perpetuate oppression, even if there are few examples of such instances. Nevertheless, my project looks at these very moments, when poetry alters the fabric of our real, to explore the ways these poetical interventions are, in effect, instances of what I have come to call “dissensual” poetry. Using Jacques Rancière’s concept of dissensus and the distribution of the sensible, my project investigates the ways in which dissensual poetry ruptures the distribution of the sensible—“our definite configurations of what is given as our real, as the object of our perceptions and the field of our interventions”—to look at the ways poetry actually does politics (Dissensus 156). I look at three different types of dissensual poetry: concrete poetry, sound poetry, and instapoetry. I argue that these poetic practices prompt a reordering of our society, of what is countable and unaccountable, and of how bodies, capacities, and systems operate. They allow for those whom Rancière calls the anonymous, and whom we might call the oppressed or marginalized, to become known. I argue that bpNichol’s, Judith Copithorne’s, and Steve McCaffery’s concrete poems; the Four Horsemen’s, Penn Kemp’s, and Christian Bök’s sound poems; and rupi kaur’s instapoems are examples of dissensual poetry.

Contemporary Canadian prairie women poets write about the mother figure to counter maternal suppression and the homogenization of maternal representations in literature. Critics, like Marianne Hirsch and Andrea O’Reilly, insist that mothers tell their own stories, yet many mothers are unable to. Daughter and mother stories, Jo Malin argues, overlap. The mother “becomes a subject, or rather an ‘intersubject’” in the text (2). Literary depictions of daughter-mother or mother-child intersubjectivities, however, are not confined to auto/biographical or fictional narratives. As a genre and potential site for representing maternal subjectivities, poetry continues to reside on the margins of motherhood studies and literary criticism. In the following chapters, I examine the writing strategies of selected poets and their representations of mothers specific to three transformative occasions: mourning mother-loss, becoming a mother, and reclaiming a maternal lineage. Several daughter-poets adapt the elegy to remember their deceased mothers and to maintain a connection with them. In accord with Tanis MacDonald and Priscila Uppal, these poets resist closure and interrogate the past. Moreover, they counter maternal absence and preserve her subjectivity in their texts. Similarly, a number of mother-poets begin constructing their mother-child (self-other) relationship prior to childbirth. Drawing on Lisa Guenther’s notions of “birth as a gift of the feminine other” and welcoming the stranger (49), as well as Emily Jeremiah’s link between “‘maternal’ mutuality” and writing and reading practices (“Trouble” 13), I investigate poetic strategies for negotiating and engaging with the “other,” the unborn/newborn and the reader. Other poets explore and interweave bits of stories, memories, dreams and inklings into their own motherlines, an identification with their matrilineage. Poetic discourse(s) reveal the limits of language, but also attest to the benefits of extra-linguistic qualities that poetry provides. The poets I study here make room for the interplay of language and what lies beyond language, engaging the reader and augmenting perceptions of the maternal subject. They offer new ways of signifying maternal subjectivities and relationships, and therefore contribute to the ongoing research into the ever-changing relations among maternal and cultural ideologies, mothering and feminisms, and regional women’s literatures. / May 2016