Two Canadian dystopias Brown girl in the ring and Récits de Médilhault

Abstract

Lyman Tower-Sargent, in his article"Utopian Literature in English Canada: An Annotated, Chronological Bibliography, 1852-1999," lists over 70 English-Canadian dystopias and shows that there exists a significant corpus of Canadian dystopian works. This thesis provides a study of two Canadian dystopias, Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson and Récits de Médilhault by Anne Legault, in terms of Moylan's and Pordzik's theories, while at the same time showing how the appearance of magic within the genre is in fact serving to help these dystopian texts retain their critical power. This work first studies the evolution of the concept of dystopia as a genre, and then looks at how these two recent Canadian/Québécois dystopias further complicate and expand our understanding of the term dystopia through the incorporation of magic. Reconsidering Darko Suvin and his theories, much sited by contemporary dystopian theorists, shows the possible application of the novum and cognitive estrangement in broader terms, which would include and not exclude magic within the dystopian genre."--Résumé abrégé par UMI.