Representations of Jewish people in Canadian literature of the 1940s and 1950s / Dominika Stasiak-Maziarz

The historical background to a Jewish presence in Canada is very well researched [...] the sections on critical analysis of individual texts are strong and insightful. Good use is made of particular texts as examples of general or theoretical propositions, e.g. Wiseman’s novel The Sacrifice is used extensively in the theoretical section on travel writing to test and illuminate theory.

This study makes a valuable attempt to relate Canadian Jewish writing of the post-war era to developing concepts of hybridised cultural identities, a prelude to Canada’s first Multicultural Policy in 1971 and the official Multiculturalism Act of 1988 which has become a distinctive feature of contemporary Canada’s national image. However, the most distinctive feature of this dissertation and what makes it especially valuable, is its emphasis on the subjective states of diasporic subjects with its study of concepts of dislocation and trauma. This is a very illuminating study of a Canadian demographic and cultural phenomenon.

Professor Coral Ann Howells

• Introduction
• Historical background
• The beginnings 1760–1850
• Development of the Canadian Jewish community 1850–1939
• The outbreak of World War II 1939–1945
• Post-war time 1945–1960
• Theory: literature of travel and exploration and life writing
• Jewish life writing: Kreisel and Waddington
• Novels: Graham and Wiseman
• Conclusion
• Selected bibliography
• Archives