An exploration of Canadian identity in recent literary narratives of the Franklin expeditions

• Published in: ELOPE: English Language Overseas Perspectives and Enquiries
• Main Author: Kennedy, Victor
• Format: Report
• Language: English
• Published: Slovensko društvo za angleške študije 2017
• Subjects: Canadian literature; Canadian culture; expeditions; Franklin expedition; Stan Rogers; Northwest Passage; Margaret Atwood; The Age of Lead; Rudy Wiebe; Discovery of Strangers; John Wilson; North with Franklin; kanadska književnost; kanadska kultura; odprave; Franklinova odprava; literarne upodobitve; info:eu-repo/classification/udc/821.111(71).09-311.8; Arctic; Atwood; Canada; Sever; Northwest passage
• Online Access: https://dk.um.si/IzpisGradiva.php?id=65657; https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?id=111230&dn=; https://dk.um.si/Dokument.php?id=111229&dn=; https://plus.si.cobiss.net/opac7/bib/15355656?lang=sl

Sir John Franklin's three expeditions to the high Arctic in 1819, 1825, and 1845 have become the stuff of Canadian legend, enshrined in history books, songs, short stories, novels, and web sites. Franklin set out in 1845 to discover the Northwest Pass age with the most advanced technology the British Empire could muster, and disappeared forever. Many rescue explorations found only scant evidence of the Expedition, and the mystery was finally solved only recently. This paper will explore four recent fictional works on Franklin's expeditions, Stan Rogers' song "Northwest Passage", Margaret Atwood's short story "The Age of Lead", Rudy Wiebe's A Discovery of Strangers, and John Wilson's North with Franklin: the Lost Journals of James Fitzjames, to see how Franklin's ghost has haunted the hopes and values of nineteenth-century, as well as modern, Canada. Sir John Franklin se je s svojimi tremi odpravami na Arktiko v letih 1819, 1825 in 1845 neminljivo zapisal v anale kanadskih legend, zgodovinskih učbenikov, pesmi kratkih zgodb in spletnih strani. Leta 1845 se je Franklin odpravil z namenom, da razišče severozahodni prehod, opremljen z najsodobnejšo tehnologijo, ki jo je takrat premogel britanski imperij, nakar jeza vselej izginil. Številne reševalne odprave so naletele zgolj na pomanjkljive sledove, potem pa je skrivnost pred kratkim izplavala na površje. Članek se loteva štirih sodobnih literarnih upodobitev Franklinovih odprav: pesmi "Severozahodni prehod" ("Northwest Passage") Stana Rogersa, novele "Doba svinca" ("The Age of Lead") Margaret Atwood, Odkritje tujcev (A Discovery of Strangers) pisatelja Rudyja Wiebeja ter dela Na sever s Franklinom: izgubljeni dnevniki Jamesa Fitzjamesa (North with Franklin: the Lost Journals of James Fitzjames) avtorja Johna Wilsona. Iz vseh teh del veje Franklinov duh, ki je prežemal upe in vrednote Kanade devetnajstega stoletja in ki jih prežema še danes.