Border Crossings: Thomas King’s Cultural Inversions

234 Pages·2003·11.105 MB·English

by  Arnold E. Davidson, Priscilla Walton, Jennifer Andrews

BORDER CROSSINGS
Thomas King's Cultural Inversions
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Arnold E. Davidson, Priscilla L. Walton,
and Jennifer Andrews
Border Crossings
Thomas King's
Cultural Inversions
UNIVERSITY OF TORONTO PRESS
Toronto Buffalo London
www.utppublishing.com
© University of Toronto Press Incorporated 2003
Toronto Buffalo London
Printed in Canada
ISBN 0-8020-4134-5
Printed on acid-free paper
National Library of Canada Cataloguing in Publication
Davidson, Arnold E., 1936-
Border crossings : Thomas King's cultural inversions / Arnold E.
Davidson, Priscilla L. Walton and Jennifer Andrews.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-8020-4134-5 (bound)
1. King, Thomas, 1943- - Criticism and interpretation. I. Walton,
Priscilla L. II. Andrews, Jennifer Courtney Elizabeth, 1971- HI. Title.
PS8571.I5298Z622003 C813'54 C2002-903802-2
PR9199.3.K4422Z62 2003
Photographs on pages 100, 101, and 109 by
Thomas King © Dead Dog Cafe Productions Inc.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial assistance to its
publishing program of the Canada Council for the Arts and the
Ontario Arts Council.
This book has been published with the help of a grant from the Humanities
and Social Sciences Federation of Canada, using funds provided by the
Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada.
University of Toronto Press acknowledges the financial support for its
publishing activities of the Government of Canada through the
Book Publishing Industry Development Program (BPIDP).
For Judy
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Contents
Acknowledgments ix
Introduction: Whose Borders? 3
1 Comic Contexts 29
2 Comic Inversions 49
3 Genre Crossings 75
4 Comedy, Politics, and Audio and Visual Media 95
5 Humouring Race and Nationality 122
6 The Comic Dimensions of Gender, Race, and Nation:
King's Contestatory Narratives 157
7 Comic Iritertextualities 197
Notes 205
Works Cited 211 '
Index 221
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Acknowledgments
Books are always collaborative endeavours, reliant upon a much larger
group of people than the individuals whose names appear on their cov-
ers; this book is no exception. We are especially grateful to the research
assistance of several students at Carleton University and the University
of New Brunswick who tirelessly searched for references, read drafts of
the book, and offered their valuable suggestions: Shannon MacRae,
Jonathan Dewar, and Kristel Thornell. Thomas King generously pro-
vided access to his photographs. The support of colleagues and friends
has also made this project a pleasure. Warm thanks to Linda Hutcheon,
John Ball, Brian Greenspan, Cheryl Dueck, Helen Hoy, Randall Martin,
Parker Duchemin, Larry McDonald, and Winfried Siemerling.
At University of Toronto Press, Siobhan McMenemy, Jill McConkey,
and Suzanne Rancourt showed great enthusiasm for the manuscript,
from beginning to end. The generous responses of readers to various
sections of the book kept us busy. The reports from ASPP readers, the
University of Toronto editorial board, Jamie Barlowe, and Laura E.
Donaldson proved to be especially helpful.
The Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada,
Carleton University, and the University of New Brunswick have been
particularly generous in supporting this book. The awarding of a
Research Grant, a Postdoctoral Fellowship, and a New Faculty Grant
paid for research assistants and enabled us to complete the manuscript
in a timely fashion.
Finally, this book would not have come to fruition without the
support of our partners, Michael Dorland and Christopher Butler. It
is written in tribute to the intellectual vitality arid immense generosity
of Ted Davidson (1936-99).