NATIONAL IDENTITY, TRANSNATIONAL LITERATURE: A REVIEW ON CANADA’S FICTION AND ITS MULTIFACETED GLOBALISATION

Resumo

Both Brazil and Canada exist in-between the status of colony and coloniser, tradition and modernity, past and future; belonging to the New World, there is a lot one might learn from the other. These countries are spaces that literature might rethink ontologies – precisely in terms of identity. Literature reflects one’s society, examining and projecting manners for changing or asserting its epistemes. The national myth is nothing but a myth, and, as such, its reality gaps can only be filled in by other illusory meanings. Myths can destroy us; but they can also help us resurrect as nations. Within this brief study, I decide to accept such challenge, and to depart from the identity condition of Brazil to concoct a sketch of what might have been going on in Canadian fiction during the process of globalisation. The palpability of national identities, their relevance and vitality, shall be tested, for if I say “I am not a Canadian, I’m Brazilian” I need to know what I am talking about. Do I?