A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland
Between 1946 and 1975, dozens of islands and outports in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador were abandoned as part of a government resettlement policy. Families and communities were torn apart, and a culture and way of life that revolved around the fishery changed irrevocably. The pr...
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ftdoajarticles:oai:doaj.org/article:d203649a6fc44211943d23420a9ae79e 2023-07-16T03:59:37+02:00 A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland Laurie Brinklow 2016-05-01T00:00:00Z https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.339 https://doaj.org/article/d203649a6fc44211943d23420a9ae79e EN eng Island Studies Journal https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.339 https://doaj.org/toc/1715-2593 doi:10.24043/isj.339 1715-2593 https://doaj.org/article/d203649a6fc44211943d23420a9ae79e Island Studies Journal, Vol 11, Iss 1 (2016) Physical geography GB3-5030 article 2016 ftdoajarticles https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.339 2023-06-25T00:35:04Z Between 1946 and 1975, dozens of islands and outports in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador were abandoned as part of a government resettlement policy. Families and communities were torn apart, and a culture and way of life that revolved around the fishery changed irrevocably. The practice, which continues to this day, has been well documented, particularly by artists and writers. Michael Crummey’s 2014 novel Sweetland is a recent iteration. The relationship between humans and place is complex: on an island, with compressed space and a very real boundary that is the ocean, emotional attachments to one’s place are often heightened and distilled. What happens when a person is displaced from his or her island; when bonds of attachment are severed and one’s mirrored double is destroyed? Sweetland offers a fictional lens through which we see an example of a mirrored relationship between an island protagonist and his island setting. Exploring themes of attachment to place, and what Barry Lopez calls a “storied” or “reciprocal” relationship with the land, this paper examines what happens to a man when confronted with leaving an island he knows as deeply as his own body and soul; and how the island reacts. Article in Journal/Newspaper Newfoundland Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles Lopez ENVELOPE(-63.567,-63.567,-64.850,-64.850) Newfoundland Island Studies Journal 11 1 133 144 |
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Directory of Open Access Journals: DOAJ Articles |
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ftdoajarticles |
language |
English |
topic |
Physical geography GB3-5030 |
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Physical geography GB3-5030 Laurie Brinklow A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland |
topic_facet |
Physical geography GB3-5030 |
description |
Between 1946 and 1975, dozens of islands and outports in the Canadian province of Newfoundland and Labrador were abandoned as part of a government resettlement policy. Families and communities were torn apart, and a culture and way of life that revolved around the fishery changed irrevocably. The practice, which continues to this day, has been well documented, particularly by artists and writers. Michael Crummey’s 2014 novel Sweetland is a recent iteration. The relationship between humans and place is complex: on an island, with compressed space and a very real boundary that is the ocean, emotional attachments to one’s place are often heightened and distilled. What happens when a person is displaced from his or her island; when bonds of attachment are severed and one’s mirrored double is destroyed? Sweetland offers a fictional lens through which we see an example of a mirrored relationship between an island protagonist and his island setting. Exploring themes of attachment to place, and what Barry Lopez calls a “storied” or “reciprocal” relationship with the land, this paper examines what happens to a man when confronted with leaving an island he knows as deeply as his own body and soul; and how the island reacts. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
Laurie Brinklow |
author_facet |
Laurie Brinklow |
author_sort |
Laurie Brinklow |
title |
A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland |
title_short |
A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland |
title_full |
A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland |
title_fullStr |
A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland |
title_full_unstemmed |
A Man and His Island: The Island Mirror in Michael Crummey’s Sweetland |
title_sort |
man and his island: the island mirror in michael crummey’s sweetland |
publisher |
Island Studies Journal |
publishDate |
2016 |
url |
https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.339 https://doaj.org/article/d203649a6fc44211943d23420a9ae79e |
long_lat |
ENVELOPE(-63.567,-63.567,-64.850,-64.850) |
geographic |
Lopez Newfoundland |
geographic_facet |
Lopez Newfoundland |
genre |
Newfoundland |
genre_facet |
Newfoundland |
op_source |
Island Studies Journal, Vol 11, Iss 1 (2016) |
op_relation |
https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.339 https://doaj.org/toc/1715-2593 doi:10.24043/isj.339 1715-2593 https://doaj.org/article/d203649a6fc44211943d23420a9ae79e |
op_doi |
https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.339 |
container_title |
Island Studies Journal |
container_volume |
11 |
container_issue |
1 |
container_start_page |
133 |
op_container_end_page |
144 |
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1771547706792083456 |