Food, sex, death, and quest: the literary legacy of Sir John Franklin

Abstract

The story of Sir John Franklin, nineteenth-century British Arctic explorer, has been reinterpreted and reworked by poets, novelists, essayists, and dramatists for more than a century and half. This thesis is an attempt to discover the character and significance of the literary legacy of Sir John Franklin by exploring authors' uses of four common tropes: food, sex, death, and quest. In analyzing these tropes, this thesis focuses primarily on five works of contemporary Canadian literature: Margaret Atwood's short story, "The Age of Lead"; Gwendolyn MacEwen's radio verse play, Terror and Erebus; Geoff Kavanagh's play, Ditch; Mordecai Richler's novel, Solomon Gursky Was Here; and Rudy Wiebe's novel, A Discovery of Strangers. In addition, other works of literature are considered. An appendix lists more than fifty creative works that incorporate Sir John Franklin.