Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1993. [Vol. 1.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 21)

STUDIES - Judit Kádár: Hugh MacLennan's Complex Narrative Technique in His Last Novel

JUDIT KÁDÁR HUGH MACLENNAN'S COMPLEX NARRATIVE TECHNIQUE IN HIS LAST NOVEL As it is with the individual, so it may be with the whole world. When the individual is wanted in his soul he often wishes to die. But time passes and then, for no reason he understands, he wants to live again. Can it be the same with communities? (Voices in Time 28) Hugh MacLennan (1904—1990) played a great role in the deliberate creation of the literature which is undoubtedly and distinctively Canadian in its subject, setting and voice. Voices in Time has not received as broad literary criticism as some of his previous novels, neither is it as popular as for instance The Watch that Ends the Night or the Two Solitudes. His last novel did not continue the thematical tradition that had been estblished in his previous novels, i.e. the quest for personal and/or national self-conscious motif. Here MacLennan makes an attempt to broaden his scope; to turn towards more general human affairs. A closer examination of this not so well-known novel can illuminate features that would enlarge the readers' appreciation and interest in 'the other sides of Hugh MacLennan'. There is a tendency in his novels to portray historical patterns (such as the return of authocracies and regimes; wars, suffering and the sequence 61