"No Great Mischief"

Book Review # 62439

Canadian Studies > History, Culture
Canadian Studies > Immigration Issues
Literature > Canadian

"No Great Mischief"

An exploration of the relationship between place and history in Alistair MacLeod's novel "No Great Mischief".

3,586 words () | 8 sources | MLA | 2005 United Kingdom

Paper Summary:

This paper is concerned with tracing the relationship between place and history - both real and figurative - in Alistair MacLeod's novel, "No Great Mischief" about immigrant experiences in Canada, particularly those of his Scottish ancestors. It looks at how MacLeod draws on physical and figurative representations of space in order to locate his central protagonist's sense of identity within his community and in his new homeland. It also shows how in doing this, MacLeod is inscribing a history for the MacDonalds on the Canadian landscape, whilst also exploring ideas expressed in settler theories regarding displacement and/or mimicry of the First Nations of Canada.

From the Paper:

"The relationship of history to place is also indicated as a global issue in a discussion between an American and Alexander about Ukrainians in Canada. The American is staunchly convinced that the Ukraine is Russian, based on a map he had viewed years ago. His resistance to accepting that borders are constructs that shift according to the processes of history betrays the mindset of one who lives in a dominant culture (in this instant, the neo-colonial United States) that is interested in boundaries cast on the model of the core and periphery. "Lines are lines, right? Either they're there or they're not. There aren't any Ukrainians. They're Russians." The Ukrainians' identity is therefore denied by this American's hegemonic discourse of history."