| dc.description.abstract | This thesis argues that The Green Library by Janice Kulyk Keefer can be
read as a Canadian national narrative. In the novel, Keefer sets a task to explore how
ethnic minorities in Canada (Ukrainian Canadians in this case) construct their
identity and how their transnational experiences affect their identification process in
the New World. By exploring the stories of three generations of Ukrainian
immigrants in Canada, The Green Library shows the shift in the immigrants’
perception of themselves; while the first-generation immigrants cling desperately to
the Old Country, and their children try to reject their ethnic heritage altogether, the
third-generation Canadians need to rediscover their origin. The urge to redefine
their ethnicity often sends them on a “return journey” to the homeland abandoned
by their ancestors. This “return journey” involves exploration and rereading of
history; in The Green Library, history becomes one of the most important constructs
of identity of the novel’s characters. In addition to history, Keefer recognizes gender
as one of the major markers of identity; the novel seeks to explore gender relations
in Canada from ethnocultural rather than majority perspective. Thus, the ultimate
purpose of the “return journey” that the third generation Canadians undertake is to
rewrite Canadian national narrative from the minority perspective using what Homi
Bhabha calls a transnational knowledge of the world. The shift from an ethnic to a
transnational understanding of identification, as well as the recognition of the
existence of multiple narratives in Canadian culture, will allow ethnic minorities to
accept the plurality of Canadian identity. | |
