Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- The Canadian Short Story: Status, Criticism, Historical Survey
- 1 Canadian Animal Stories: Charles G. D. Roberts, “Do Seek Their Meat from God” (1892)
- 2 Tory Humanism, Ironic Humor, and Satire: Stephen Leacock, “The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias” (1912)
- 3 The Beginnings of Canadian Modernism: Raymond Knister, “The First Day of Spring” (written 1924/25)
- 4 From Old World Aestheticist Immoralist to Prairie Moral Realist: Frederick Philip Grove, “Snow” (1926/1932)
- 5 Psychological Realism, Immigration, and City Fiction: Morley Callaghan, “Last Spring They Came Over” (1927)
- 6 Modernism, Prairie Fiction, and Gender: Sinclair Ross, “The Lamp at Noon” (1938)
- 7 “An Artful Artlessness”: Ethel Wilson, “We Have to Sit Opposite“ (1945)
- 8 Social Realism and Compassion for the Underdog: Hugh Garner, “One-Two-Three Little Indians” (1950)
- 9 The Perils of Human Relationships: Joyce Marshall, “The Old Woman” (1952)
- 10 The Social Critic at Work: Mordecai Richler, “Benny, the War in Europe, and Myerson's Daughter Bella” (1956)
- Myth and the Postmodernist Turn in Canadian Short Fiction: Sheila Watson, “Antigone” (1959)
- 12 The Modernist Aesthetic: Hugh Hood, “Flying a Red Kite” (1962)
- Doing Well in the International Thing?: Mavis Gallant, “The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street” (1963)
- 14 (Un-)Doing Gender: Alice Munro, “Boys and Girls” (1964)
- 15 Collective Memory and Personal Identity in the Prairie Town of Manawaka: Margaret Laurence, “The Loons” (1966)
- 16 “Out of Place”: Clark Blaise, “A Class of New Canadians” (1970)
- 17 Realism and Parodic Postmodernism: Audrey Thomas, “Aquarius” (1971)
- 18 “The Problem Is to Make the Story”: Rudy Wiebe, “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” (1971)
- 19 The Canadian Writer as Expatriate: Norman Levine, “We All Begin in a Little Magazine” (1972)
- 20 Canadian Artist Stories: John Metcalf, “The Strange Aberration of Mr. Ken Smythe” (1973)
- 21 “A Literature of a Whole World and of a Real World”: Jane Rule, “Lilian” (1977)
- 22 Failure as Liberation: Jack Hodgins, “The Concert Stages of Europe” (1978)
- 23 Figures in a Landscape: William Dempsey Valgardson, “A Matter of Balance” (1982)
- 24 “The Translation of the World into Words” and the Female Tradition: Margaret Atwood, “Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother” (1983)
- 25 “Southern Preacher”: Leon Rooke, “The Woman Who Talked to Horses” (1984)
- 26 Nativeness as Third Space: Thomas King, “Borders” (1991)
- 27 Digressing to Inner Worlds: Carol Shields, “Our Men and Women” (1999)
- 28 A Sentimental Journey: Janice Kulyk Keefer, “Dreams:Storms:Dogs” (1999)
- Further Reading on the Canadian Short Story
- Time Chart: The Short Story in the USA, Canada, and Great Britain
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
26 - Nativeness as Third Space: Thomas King, “Borders” (1991)
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 28 April 2017
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- Preface
- The Canadian Short Story: Status, Criticism, Historical Survey
- 1 Canadian Animal Stories: Charles G. D. Roberts, “Do Seek Their Meat from God” (1892)
- 2 Tory Humanism, Ironic Humor, and Satire: Stephen Leacock, “The Marine Excursion of the Knights of Pythias” (1912)
- 3 The Beginnings of Canadian Modernism: Raymond Knister, “The First Day of Spring” (written 1924/25)
- 4 From Old World Aestheticist Immoralist to Prairie Moral Realist: Frederick Philip Grove, “Snow” (1926/1932)
- 5 Psychological Realism, Immigration, and City Fiction: Morley Callaghan, “Last Spring They Came Over” (1927)
- 6 Modernism, Prairie Fiction, and Gender: Sinclair Ross, “The Lamp at Noon” (1938)
- 7 “An Artful Artlessness”: Ethel Wilson, “We Have to Sit Opposite“ (1945)
- 8 Social Realism and Compassion for the Underdog: Hugh Garner, “One-Two-Three Little Indians” (1950)
- 9 The Perils of Human Relationships: Joyce Marshall, “The Old Woman” (1952)
- 10 The Social Critic at Work: Mordecai Richler, “Benny, the War in Europe, and Myerson's Daughter Bella” (1956)
- Myth and the Postmodernist Turn in Canadian Short Fiction: Sheila Watson, “Antigone” (1959)
- 12 The Modernist Aesthetic: Hugh Hood, “Flying a Red Kite” (1962)
- Doing Well in the International Thing?: Mavis Gallant, “The Ice Wagon Going Down the Street” (1963)
- 14 (Un-)Doing Gender: Alice Munro, “Boys and Girls” (1964)
- 15 Collective Memory and Personal Identity in the Prairie Town of Manawaka: Margaret Laurence, “The Loons” (1966)
- 16 “Out of Place”: Clark Blaise, “A Class of New Canadians” (1970)
- 17 Realism and Parodic Postmodernism: Audrey Thomas, “Aquarius” (1971)
- 18 “The Problem Is to Make the Story”: Rudy Wiebe, “Where Is the Voice Coming from?” (1971)
- 19 The Canadian Writer as Expatriate: Norman Levine, “We All Begin in a Little Magazine” (1972)
- 20 Canadian Artist Stories: John Metcalf, “The Strange Aberration of Mr. Ken Smythe” (1973)
- 21 “A Literature of a Whole World and of a Real World”: Jane Rule, “Lilian” (1977)
- 22 Failure as Liberation: Jack Hodgins, “The Concert Stages of Europe” (1978)
- 23 Figures in a Landscape: William Dempsey Valgardson, “A Matter of Balance” (1982)
- 24 “The Translation of the World into Words” and the Female Tradition: Margaret Atwood, “Significant Moments in the Life of My Mother” (1983)
- 25 “Southern Preacher”: Leon Rooke, “The Woman Who Talked to Horses” (1984)
- 26 Nativeness as Third Space: Thomas King, “Borders” (1991)
- 27 Digressing to Inner Worlds: Carol Shields, “Our Men and Women” (1999)
- 28 A Sentimental Journey: Janice Kulyk Keefer, “Dreams:Storms:Dogs” (1999)
- Further Reading on the Canadian Short Story
- Time Chart: The Short Story in the USA, Canada, and Great Britain
- Notes on the Contributors
- Index
Summary
Thomas King's life is as multifaceted as his oeuvre, reflecting mythic and postmodern, classic and popular, Native oral and Western literary influences. Born in Sacramento, California, in 1943 to a Cherokee father and a Greek-German mother, King held various jobs (as a photojournalist in Australia and New Zealand, bank teller, ambulance driver, and tool designer for Boeing Aircraft) before pursuing a career as an academic and writer. After graduating from Chico State College he joined the doctoral program and later worked at the University of Utah, but then moved to Canada, where he taught at the University of Lethbridge between 1980 and 1989. It was during this time that King had his most extensive contacts with Native people (Cree and Blackfoot on the surrounding reserves), experiences that influenced much of his writing. He returned to the United States for a position as an associate professor of American and Native Studies at the University of Minnesota (1989–95), but eventually settled in Canada. King currently teaches English and Creative Writing at the University of Guelph, Ontario, and is a senior fellow of Massey College at the University of Toronto.
King's works to date comprise two volumes of short fiction (One Good Story, That One, 1993, and A Short History of Indians in Canada, 2005), five novels (Medicine River, 1989; Green Grass, Running Water, 1993, nominated for the prestigious Governor General's Award for Fiction and winner of the Canadian Authors’ Award for Fiction; Truth and Bright Water, 1999; under the pen name of Hartley GoodWeather: DreadfulWater Shows Up, 2002, and The Red Power Murders: A DreadfulWater Mystery, 2006, two Native detective stories), and, finally, two children's books. In addition, King, who is considered to be Canada's foremost Native writer, edited one of the first collections of short fiction by Canadian Native writers, All My Relations: An Anthology of Contemporary Canadian Native Fiction in 1990. He also collaborated closely with the CBC, providing a number of film and radio scripts (for the most part based on his own fictional works) and designing and participating in the widely popular CBC radio show The Dead Dog Café Comedy Hour (1996–2001).
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- The Canadian Short StoryInterpretations, pp. 353 - 364Publisher: Boydell & BrewerPrint publication year: 2007