Gothic Canada: Reading the Spectre of a National Literature (cuRRents)

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Review
"Gothic Canada is a dazzling journey into the netherworlds of the Canadian literary and cultural imagination. From the wilderness of John Richardson’s Wacousta, through the haunted houses of Sinclair Ross and F.P. Grove, to the urban Gothic of contemporary writers and filmmakers, Edwards’ superbly researched book compels us to confront the ghosts, obsessions, and fears that lie dormant within the imaginative fabric of Canadian identity."  —Irene Gammel, Canada Research Chair in Modern Literature and Culture, Ryerson University, and author of Baroness Elsa—A Cultural Biography

“Canadians have been searching for and discussing cultural identity since Confederation. According to Justin Edwards, our stories and literature might be showing us our greatest fear: perhaps we don't have one. In Gothic Canada, Edwards explores both the search for identity and the haunting spectral elements in Canadian literature. Analyzing literature from the nineteenth century through to the modern fiction of Atwood and Ondaatje, Edwards finds a common thread. ‘The thing that Gothic Canadian texts have in common is the question ‘who are we?’ and a source of fear and anxiety is generated from not being able to answer this question,’ says Edwards.” Lynne Stefanchuk, Prairie Books NOW

“This is another volume in the praiseworthy cuRRents Canadian literature series. Edwards explores the connections between the formation of identity and gothic, through analysis of discourses in Canadian culture.” Anne Burke, Prairie Journal Trust, July 22, 2005

"[Edwards] has written a much-needed, readable, and engaging account of the gothic in Canadian literature and cinema." Marlene Goldman, Canadian Literature 19, Winter 2006.

"Using various poststructuralist approaches, Edwards (Univ. of Copenhagen) produces a challenging analysis of selected historical and contemporary works ....Edwards's argument is a provocative challenge to the classic land-based approach of Margot Northey's The Haunted Wilderness: The Gothic and Grotesque in Canadian Fiction (CH, May'77)." Choice, Jan, 2006.

Product Description
Canadians have always been obsessed with the idea of their own identities. Stories that tell us who we are provide a reassuring sense of identity for the individual and the nation. Hockey. Maple Leaves. Beavers. But collective stories tend to be haunted by a fear that a shared narrative might be nothing more than an elaborate artifice. This fear has long been a source of gothic inspiration for Canadian writers. A haunted Canadian self returns again and again. Polite. Friendly. Not American. With examples of gothic discourse from Canadian fiction, autobiography, film, poetry, and drama, Justin Edwards analyzes the ghost at the heart of the nation. A major contribution to cultural and literary studies, Gothic Canada unearths two centuries of Canadian gothic writings to reveal uncanny traditions of trauma, repression, and monstrosity.

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