<abstract xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><p>This article argues that, since the turn of the twenty-first century, fiction in Canada – whether by English-Canadian, Québécois, or Indigenous writers – has seen a re-emergence in the apocalyptic genre. While apocalyptic fiction also gained critical attention during the twentieth century, this initial wave was tied to disenfranchised, marginalized figures, excluded as failures in their attempts to reach a promised land. As a result, fiction at that time – and perhaps equally so in the divided English-Canadian and Québécois canons – was chiefly a (post)colonial, nationalist project. Yet, apocalyptic fiction in Canada since 2000 has drastically changed. 9/11, rapid technological advancements, a growing climate crisis, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: these changes have all marked the fictions of Canada in terms of futurities. This article thus examines three novels – English-Canadian novelist Emily St. John Mandel’s <italic>Station Eleven</italic> (2014), Indigenous writer Thomas King’s <italic>The Back of the Turtle</italic> (2014), and Québécois author Nicolas Dickner’s <italic>Apocalypse for Beginners</italic> (2010) – to discuss the ways in which they work to bring about the destruction of nationalism in Canada through the apocalyptic genre and affectivity to envision new futures.</p></abstract>

This article argues that, since the turn of the twenty-first century, fiction in Canada – whether by English-Canadian, Québécois, or Indigenous writers – has seen a re-emergence in the apocalyptic genre. While apocalyptic fiction also gained critical attention during the twentieth century, this initial wave was tied to disenfranchised, marginalized figures, excluded as failures in their attempts to reach a promised land. As a result, fiction at that time – and perhaps equally so in the divided English-Canadian and Québécois canons – was chiefly a (post)colonial, nationalist project. Yet, apocalyptic fiction in Canada since 2000 has drastically changed. 9/11, rapid technological advancements, a growing climate crisis, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission: these changes have all marked the fictions of Canada in terms of futurities. This article thus examines three novels – English-Canadian novelist Emily St. John Mandel’s Station Eleven (2014), Indigenous writer Thomas King’s The Back of the Turtle (2014), and Québécois author Nicolas Dickner’s Apocalypse for Beginners (2010) – to discuss the ways in which they work to bring about the destruction of nationalism in Canada through the apocalyptic genre and affectivity to envision new futures.

The Destruction of Nationalism in Twenty-First Century Canadian Apocalyptic Fiction

American, British and Canadian Studies

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

This article argues that, since the turn of the twenty-first century, fiction in Canada – whether by English-Canadian, Québécois, or Indigenous writers – has...

The Destruction of Nationalism in Twenty-First Century Canadian Apocalyptic Fiction

Published Online: Mar 01, 2021

Page range: 5 - 22

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2020-0014

Keywords
apocalyptic genre, English-Canadian fiction, Québécois fiction, Indigenous fiction, nationalism, globalization, Emily St. John Mandel, Thomas King, Nicolas Dickner

© 2020 Matthew Cormier, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

The Destruction of Nationalism in Twenty-First Century Canadian Apocalyptic Fiction

Published Online: Mar 01, 2021

Page range: 5 - 22

DOI: https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2020-0014

Keywordsapocalyptic genre, English-Canadian fiction, Québécois fiction, Indigenous fiction, nationalism, globalization, Emily St. John Mandel, Thomas King, Nicolas Dickner

© 2020 Matthew Cormier, published by Sciendo

This work is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Keywords
apocalyptic genre, English-Canadian fiction, Québécois fiction, Indigenous fiction, nationalism, globalization, Emily St. John Mandel, Thomas King, Nicolas Dickner