The Epic Journeys of the Modern Canadian Penelope

Abstract

The Epic Journeys of the Modern Canadian Penelope

This essay analyses the growing presence of the literary figure of the travelling lady in contemporary women’s fiction and traces her development as a new archetype in Canlit, which the author calls ‘the modern Canadian Penelope’. By showing how Penelope is inscribed as a hero rather than as a passive heroine, the author argues that this new literary archetype subverts conventional representations of females in Canlit and the constructions of Canadian identity within the victim paradigm outlined by Atwood in Survival. The new female quester that we find in the texts written by Canadian women is a complex archetype which combines a number of mythical figures, including the Diana-Venus-Hecate continuum of the Triple Goddess and the Janus god(dess).

DOI: 10.1400/197531