Description

David Creelman examines the works of Maritime writers between 1920 and 2000 and traces the ways these fictions have been shaped by the region's history and culture. He shows that realism arrived comparatively late to the Maritime provinces and argues that the emergence of a realist style corresponded with a dramatic period of economic and cultural disruption during which the Eastern provinces were transformed from one of Canada's most developed, prosperous and promising regions into one characterized by chronic underemployment and underdevelopment. The region is thus torn between its memory of an earlier, traditional social order and its present experience as a modern industrial society. These tensions are embedded in the Maritime character and have affected not only the lives of its people but the imaginations and texts of its writers. The stories of Thomas Raddall, Hugh MacLennan, Charles Bruce, Ernest Buckler, Donna Smyth, and David Adams Richards have been deeply influenced by the cultural shifts they have observed. Creelman also explores the works of such writers as Ann-Marie MacDonald, Lynn Coady, Nancy Bauer, Carol Bruneau, Alan Wilson, Leo McKay and Sheldon Currie.