Dominant Impressions: Essays on the Canadian Short Story

Thomas M.F. Gerry is a professor of English at Laurentian University. He
is the editor of Arachne, Laurentian University’s bilingual
interdisciplinary journal of language and literature.

The 13 essays in this volume make a significant contribution to the
academic study of the Canadian short story. On the topic of national
uniqueness, the editors adopt William New’s axiom that in
“historically marginal cultures like Canada’s and New Zealand’s,
writers have found the marginal form [the short story] accommodating of
their situations and ambitions.” Irony and protest on account of their
authors’ national marginalization are thus characteristic of Canadian
and New Zealand short stories. Lynch and Robbeson adduce the case of
Ireland as “pseudo-scientific” proof of these assertions.

Jean Stringam’s essay, “Present But Unaccounted For: The Canadian
Young Adult Short Story of the Nineteenth Century Comes of Age,” takes
an inductive approach to distinguishing Canadianness. Stringam observes
that most such stories, whether by Canadians or Americans, involve the
formulas of the “ordeal” and the “change of heart.” Whereas
“moral authority” in the American stories is borne by members of the
gentry (“the culture-bearers of American democratic principles”),
19th-century Canadian young adult stories “feature working-class men
and boys whose values and commitments present a stark contrast to the
sensibilities of the gentry class.”

The other striking dissimilarity Stringam notes is that in the American
stories the city is regarded as monstrously evil, while the country is a
place of “serenity, health and honour.” Canadian writers portray
rural life as a lot of ignorant hillbillies endlessly working,
destroying nature, and fending off beasts and each other; the city is
seen as a place of refuge and opportunity. Stringam leaves exploring the
ironies of these generalizations to others; and we also owe her a debt
of gratitude for beginning the process by reading the primary sources.

There is much of value in the collection’s other essays. Bonnie
Burnard’s contribution, “It Almost Always Starts This Way,” is
just one example. Her depiction of the possibilities for interesting
fiction arising from quite ordinary events is vivid and genuinely
insightful about her creative process.