Representations of Women and Nature in Canadian Women's Writing

Thesis (M.A.) from the year 2008 in the subject American Studies - Literature grade: 13 Ernst Moritz Arndt University of Greifswald (Institut für Anglistik/Amerikanistik) language: English abstract: Canada has always been associated with its landscape with a vast and inviolatenature including prairies forests with innumerable lakes idyllic mountain rangesand the Arctic barrens in the far north. With an area of almost 10 million squarekilometers Canada is the second largest country in the world but with only 31million people living there and a population density of 32 inhabitants per squarekilometer it is also the less populated.1The theme of nature and wilderness has also been reflected throughout Canadianliterary tradition. As Canadian author Aritha van Herk notes [t]he impact oflandscape on artist and artist on landscape is unavoidable (1992 139). Adopting thenorthern concepts of early explorers and settlers most literature about the Canadianwilderness has been written by male authors. For a long time the Canadian Northserved as background for historical romances and adventure stories. The response tothe landscape was often very negative the wilderness was described as being hostileand dangerous. Parallel to that image the landscape was portrayed in female termsas being innocent inviolate and beautiful - the Canadian North appeared as a femmefatale. Especially in its beginnings Canadian literature was strongly influenced by itsAmerican and British predecessors and the early writers reinforced the myth of theCanadian North. In the early twentieth century the North was mainly a place ofretreat for the fictive heroes of the South who went from the city to the wilderness tofind themselves. One of the most famous texts of this time is Frederick PhilipGrove's autobiography In Search of Myself (1946). His journey to the North becamea synonym for the search of the own self.