Er(r)go, (paste the English text) Wojciech Kalaga

Agnieszka Rzepa

It’s a Bad Line. Canadian Re-visions: Postcolonialism,

TransCanada and First Nations

In the 1990s discussions on Canadian literature and culture were dominated by postcolonial discourses that coexisted with reflections on the Canadian model of multiculturalism. At the beginning of the 21st century the discussion on Canadian postcolonialism, and in particular on the position of Canadian literature in relation to postcolonial discourses, veered towards transcultural aspects of Canadian culture and literature. Such re-visions of the concept of postcolonial Canada as a “Second World” country have resulted in the emergence of an inspiring new concept of TransCanada, which – in the intention of its makers – should go beyond the postcolonial discourse, but which in fact remains entangled in it. The vision of TransCanada, just like the vision of postcolonial Canada, is complicated and problematized by the presence of the First Nations, their literatures and cultures. First Nations writers take active part in the developing discussion, inevitably focusing on the colonial dependence of the First Nations within Canada. Even though all the participants in the discussion have stressed the need to work out points of intersection and connection among different discourses on Canada, and in particular to take into account First Nations points of view, the net impression is often that of a “bad line call.” One of the most interesting aspects of this fluuctuating context is the potential positioning of First Nations literatures vis-a-vis Trans.Can.Lit.

Bożena Zawisza

Two Songs of Friendship. Judeo-Christian Philosophy of Friendship and the Worldview of the Nuu-chah-nulth Nation in the 21st century. Transcultural Reflections

The author conducts a contrastive analysis of Judeo-Christian philosophy, represented by two European thinkers Jacques Derrida and Tadeusz Sławek, with the worldview of Nuu-chah-nulth, a Canadian First Nation inhabiting the Western coast of Vancouver. The concept of friendship excluding such concepts as symmetry, equality, or mutuality in favour of opposition and decentralization of a viewpoint, is juxtaposed with the dominating principles of Tsawalk – the Nuu-chah-nulth worldview – which promote such values as the common origin and essence of all living beings, despite the apparent differences of race or skin colour. The analysis of the philosophical stances of Derrida and Sławek, highlighting the importance of independence in each relation, promoting the variety, and even open opposition between friends, leads to the understanding of friendship as a process, in which not only one gets to know one’s own culture but also acknowledges other cultures’ value. Both Derrida and Sławek question traditional Judeo-Christian philosophical propositions, preparing ground for the revision of the existing division between the dominating and dominated. Both of them perceive in the development of friendship the possibility for the establishment of better world order. The Nuu-chah-nulth worldview, based on the assumption that heshook-ish tsawalk – everything is one, is purely the philosophy of friendship which accepts everyone without any exception. It rejects any artificially created divisions, resulting from the lack of knowledge, stereotypes and fear. All the same, Nuu-chah-nulth’s mode of behaviour is conditioned by the existing network of relationships between all living beings.

Anna Branach-Kallas

 Multicultural? Diasporic? Transcanadian Literature?Transcultural Dialogue in Contemporary Canadian Fiction

 Anna Branach-Kallas situates the analysis of Canadian racial minorities’ literature in a transcultural perspective. The author focuses on the postcolonial, diasporic and transnational aspects of minority discourses. She maintains that to view Candian literature from the theoretical perspective of diaspora and postcolonial studies allows to highlight the relation between the concept of nation and minority, to research cultural conflicts and hybrid identities and the modern mutations of colonial rhetoric. The purpose of such studies is not simply to assert that immigration and alterity are central to Canadian culture, but to reveal the differences between various diasporas and to indicate that racial conflict is fundamental to the history of Canadian nation. The author argues that the category of race applied to the study of Canadian literature provides an important analytical tool to transcend the provincionality of Canadian literature and to highlight the transcultural character of Canadian culture. The article analyses the concepts of multiculturalism, diasporic citizenship and global diasporas. It also scrutinises the notion of “TransCanada” launched recently by Smaro Kamboureli. Branach-Kallas claims that the transnational and transcultural focus of the “TransCanada” project has the potential to foreground the complexity of Canadian literature and culture, the intricate relations of the Canadian diasporas with other nations, and the involvement of Canada in modernity and globalisation.

Zuzanna Szatanik

Woman’s Body/Space of Canada. Reflections on the Metaphor of “homeless body” in Selected Poems by Lorna Crozier, Jeni Couzyn and Joy Kogawa

 The general aim of the following article is to analyze images of the body in selected poems by Lorna Crozier, Jeni Couzyn, and Joy Kogawa, in relation to the elusive, theoretical concept of Canadianness. The paper is divided into two parts: theoretical and interpretative. In the theoretical section, the author discusses the notion of Canadian national identity, its affinity to the construct of “Woman,” as well as cultural meanings attributed to the female body. The interpretive section shows how the body images presented in the selected poems correspond to the ambivalence inscribed in theories of Canadianness and how, through these body representations, Canadianness is read and re-read. The author reads first a poem by Jeni Couzyn, titled “House of Changes,” and concentrates on the notions of identity and belonging. An analysis of two poems by Lorna Crozier (“Alice” and “Sometimes My Body Leaves Me”) follows, which points out that the woman’s body appears to be unfamiliar and estranged. The last section of the interpretive part of the essay focuses on Joy Kogawa’s “When Your Mirror Breaks,” which is discussed with reference to the hunger for unity and fear of fragmentation examined in the poem. Throughout the text, the idea of “home” is used in order to indicate a site within which the concepts of identity and belonging are forged. The common saying “I’m home,” after all, can be read not only as an indication of one’s location, but also as an ontological confession.

Justyna Kucharska

Taming the Space „in-between.” Diasporic Cinema in the Context of Canadian Cinematography

The article deals with the development of a new cinematic genre – diasporic cinema, which is a result of works created by representatives of dispersed groups. The signifiers of the genre and a brief survey of diasporic directors’ achievements have been outlined with reference to history and the organizational structure of Canadian cinematography stemming from cultural politics which mirrors ideas of multicultural policies. A brief outline of the history of Canadian cinema includes silent cinema, the turn of 1939, when National Film Board of Canada (NFB) was created, the October crisis of 1970 and trends of Canadian cinematography at the end of 20th century. Apart from the outline of documentary and feature works of Canadian directors the author of the text examines briefly the transformation of the concept of “diaspora” which has considerably broadened its designation at the end of 20th century. Delocalisation brings a new concept of “home” which in the context of migration loses its traditional physical meaning in favour of space being tamed in the country of residence and the process of migration itself. These tendencies are visible in the modern Canadian cinema whose analysis proves that Canada is still struggling to determine its own identity and constructing national cinematography.

Tina Mouneimné-Wojtas

Écritures migrantes: Quebecois challenge.

The essay analyzes écritures migrantes as a quebecois literary discourse relating both to the writing of immigrants and to migrant writing which is more metaliterary and aesthetic than sociological. The text examines a socio-cultural context of the development of écritures migrantes in the years 1980–2000 and particularly its ideological factors, writing strategies and aesthetic challenges in the society which for years has been struggling for identity in the English American continent. The author explores the extraliterary and literary reasons for the emergence of the migrant writing and also the challenges that both writers and critics of this literature have been facing. She poses many questions relating to the transcultural condition of writers associated with écritures migrantes and discusses problems of identity, literary tradtion, choice of themes and language of writing as well as expectations of readers. She points to many factors dividing the writers (national origin, language, education, gender, generation, writing practice) but also reveals the linking element which is a confrontation with the quebecois literary system (with its institutions consecrating and legitimizing literature such as academic and press criticism, system of awards and subsidies or inclusion in or withdrawal from school curricula). The impact of immigration on écritures migrantes is, as the essay argues, indisputable, but the fact of self-interpretation and its role in the construction of identity is also a crucial factor. The term “challenge” relates to the traditional approach of critics to writing which still belongs to the sphere of “otherness”.

Krzysztof Jarosz

On Land Surveyors and Navigators: Transcultural Dilemmasin the Literary Life of Contemporary Quebec

The text is an introduction to the translation of the essay “Land surveyor and navigator” by Monique LaRue. It discusses specificities of the francophome culture of the Canadian province Quebec since its foundation as New France in 17th century until today, with a particular emphasis on the problems of multiculturality and its Quebec version termed as ‘transculturality.’ The issue of transculturality has become a crucial phenomenon of the 1980s due to the francophone immigrant writers who focused in their work on the problems of their individual and group identity while ignoring identity issues of the native francophone majority. The essay by Monique LaRue, unjustly read by an immigrant feminist Ghila Sroka as a manifestation of xenophobia, had incited in late 1990s a heated discussion which revealed a tension between native Québécois and immigrant population. The text provides a synopsis of the argumentation which formed a fundamental basis of discussion on the transculturality of Quebec in the late 20th century.

Krzysztof Jarosz's translation of Monique LaRue's "De fil en aiguille" (2007).

Katarzyna Michalczyk's translation of Brian S. Osborne's essay.

Eugenia Sojka in conversation with representatives of selected Canadian ethnic groups

Ewa Urbaniak-Rybicka's review of "Canadian Passwords: Diasporic Fictions into the 21st Century" by Mirosława Buchholtz (2008).

Dagmara Drewniak's review of "TransCanadiania 2008/1", edited by Krzysztof Jarosz, Agnieszka Rzepa et al. (2008).

Critical notes on books

Summaries of the feature texts of the issue.

Colophon