Ambivalence about Lithuania in lithuanian-canadian fiction written in english

Abstract

Among the very small number of literary texts produced by Lithuanian-Canadians in English, there are two novels that deal with the theme of ethnic identity, Magdelana Raškevičiutė Eggleston's Mountain Shadows (1955) and Antanas Šileika's Buying on Time (1997).1 In sharp contrast to writings in Lithuanian produced by Lithuanian-Canadians, which tend to be strongly patriotic and nostalgic about the homeland, these two texts show a marked ambivalence towards Lithuania and Lithuanianism. However, this ambivalence would be read very differently by readers who are or who are not Lithuanian, especially as both novels present Lithuanianism in the context of the problem of Canadian identity. This study will consider how different elements in both Raškevičiutė Eggleston's Mountain Shadows and Šileika's Buying on Time provoke very diverse interpretations by readers of different ethnic origins.