Shaping an Image of Europe: Half Way Over Iceland (George Bowering: “Discoloured Metal”)

Abstract

This paper deals with George Bowering’s short story “Discoloured Metal” from his 1994 collection of short prose The Rain Barrel. Analysis of the short story is focused on four main points: 1. a possible approach to shaped short prose, 2. cultural issues regarding Canadian appreciation of Europe, 3. the position of Iceland as a ‘place in between’, and 4. the interrelations of notions and depictions of Canada-Iceland-Europe in a multimodal shaped short prose. In the end of the paper there are possible conclusions on how Iceland as a neutral territory, a place to refill (not just kerosene), functions in Bowering’s short story (literary approach), and how does that reflect the perception of Iceland and Europe in Canada (cultural studies).

Keywords

• Canada
• linguistics
• literature