The map of Canadian fiction: Constructing history and nation

Abstract

The concept of 'nation' and its priviliged tool, the map, have become the focus of contemporary fiction, criticism and theory. Given the present Canadian emphasis on national identity and the great number of texts that touch upon (the myth of a) national unity, this paper discusses the notions of nation and map as cultural constructs undergoing thorough revisions in contemporary Canadian fiction. I intend to show how the thematization of maps in recent Canadian texts implies strategies of appropriation and transformation which always operate in/over the intersections of history, culture and geography.