A Different Point of View: Sara Jeannette Duncan

Duncan always wrote from the perspective of someone on the margin of power. Her position on the most important social issues of her day -- feminism, imperialism, nationalism, and racism -- challenged the received wisdom of the period. In her novels, however, Duncan's personal point of view is presented as if it were the social norm. Dean shows that Duncan's use of irony and her seemingly ambivalent attitude toward realism were influenced by her colonial perspective. In placing Duncan's work in the intellectual context of her Canadian, English, and American contemporaries, Dean displays considerable knowledge of the period she examines. In A Different Point of View -- a critical study of almost all Duncan's published and unpublished works: fiction, journalism, and plays -- Dean presents a new interpretation of Duncan, emphasizing the importance of her feminism and Canadian nationality in the creation of her fictional point of view.