Survival as a Lively Art: The Newfoundland and Labrador Experience in Anniversary Retrospective
In 1997 the people of Newfoundland and Labrador officially commemorated the 500th anniversary of their discovery by European explorers. In 1999 the people of the tenth province will reflect upon their 50-year experience within the Canadian confederation. These two marker events provide a convenient...
| Published in: | Journal of Canadian Studies |
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| Format: | Article in Journal/Newspaper |
| Language: | English |
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University of Toronto Press Inc. (UTPress)
1998
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| Online Access: | http://dx.doi.org/10.3138/jcs.33.1.88 https://utpjournals.press/doi/pdf/10.3138/jcs.33.1.88 |
| Summary: | In 1997 the people of Newfoundland and Labrador officially commemorated the 500th anniversary of their discovery by European explorers. In 1999 the people of the tenth province will reflect upon their 50-year experience within the Canadian confederation. These two marker events provide a convenient paradigm in which to place the profound ironies that have characterized the Newfoundland and Labrador experience. Prominent home-grown scholars and writers such as David Pitt and Patrick O’Flaherty have commented upon this continuity in the Terra Nova record. This article contends that the counterpoint between the images of Jovial Outport and Gothic Tragedy may offer a clue to recapturing the narrative thread of the Newfoundland and Labrador story, an inportant theme as Canadian social and narrative history seeks new bearings in the aftermath of extreme deconstructionism and cultural relativism. As Canadians who still possess living memories of a pre-Confederation political existence the basic story-flow of the tenth province is significant for all who are interested in the larger story of Canada. |
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