Feb 24th Lecture

Today filled out more of the historical framework for Vancouver fiction. The identity of Vancouver -- it's setting, in literary terms -- has a strong genetic component. The First Nations writing with which we began our study identified a foundational form for Vancouver (& more broadly, British Columbia) , with subsequent texts reflecting the effects of the British colonisation which followed. The fiction we are studying gives a literary interpretation on the development of "Vancouver" -- the quotation marks here point to the conceptual identity of the place -- as a terminus: the end of the exodus from Britain. This aspect of Vancouver as the "Terminal City" -- an early choice of name -- adds much to the character of Vancouver and is a strong theme in our most recent two works of fiction.
The documentary shown in our lecture Remittance Men is an excellent local production which gives important historical context to the formation of our cultural geography.