Brotherhood : a novel ; Shepherds on skates : Canadian hockey fiction as a version of pastoral

Abstract

'Brotherhood: A Novel' – Doug and Jerry are fraternal twins, orphaned as infants and raised by their grandparents. Dying of cancer, Jerry moves back home to live with Doug after a nearly fifteen year estrangement. Set against the backdrop of the 2001 NHL playoffs, Jerry searches through his memories in the hope of understanding the complex relationship he has with his brother, and to figure out the roles they are meant to play in each other’s lives. // 'Shepherds on Skates: Canadian Hockey Fiction as a Version of Pastoral' – the last quarter century in Canadian fiction has seen an increasing number of ‘hockey novels’ – serious literary works in which hockey plays a significant thematic or dramatic role. This portion of the thesis examines these narratives in order to ground them in the tradition of pastoral poetry. Using as context the pastoral journey of retreat and return, as well as the pastoral elegy, Canadian hockey fiction is seen to function in similar ways to traditional pastoralists, and, more importantly, for similar reasons.