The Practice and Theory of Canadian Thematic Criticism: A Reconsideration

Abstract

In 1989 the authors of The Empire Writes Back suggested that the distinguishing feature of English-Canadian literary studies had been the way >these have often stressed thematic concerns considered central to the literature= (Ashcroft, Griffiths, and Tiffin, 134), then added: >More recently, there has been a reaction in Canada against the dominance of thematic criticism, as in Frank Davey=s ASurviving the Paraphrase@ (1983), B.W. Powe=s A Climate Charged (1984), or the more positive Russell M. Brown=s ACritic, Culture, Text: Beyond Thematics@ (1978).= To anyone who=d been following the critical discourse in Canada at that point, this mild characterization of the hostility that had developed towards thematic criticism in Canada B as simply >a reaction= B must have seemed a distinct understatement. A more typical response was that of Louis MacKendrick, who, in a 1992 reference entry on Canadian fiction and poetry, characterized Canadian thematic criticism as >reductive= and >defensive,= as relying >on paraphrase and plot,= and as de-emphasizing interpretation. Recapitulating the thematic debate, he hung the blame for what he saw as this wrong turn squarely on Northrop Frye: