Az Eszterházy Károly Tanárképző Főiskola Tudományos Közleményei. 1994. [Vol. 2.] Eger Journal of American Studies. (Acta Academiae Paedagogicae Agriensis : Nova series ; Tom. 22)
STUDIES - Judit Molnár: Search for Identity in the English-language Writing of Allophone Quebecers
Certain of it now (even though one philosopher argues certain=uncertain) . Certain I will offer after this regenerating bundle of humanity to the God of both Christians and heathens in thanksgiving. (181) By not giving up to want to create a new life, Nina's overall perspective of cross-cultural existence must be positive. Similarly, Raymond Filip's individual stories and the well organized composite of his fiction imply the feasibility of transcultural dialogues. The final resolution lies in each case in the central characters' becoming able to love and being grateful for being loved. Supporting the possibility of easing the tension in intra- and interethnic relationships, it is suggested that the acceptance and even more the appreciation of differences in human nature can only be realized through mutual understanding. In sum, having fully explored life offered accross ethnic boundaries, each writer has opted for transcending these boundaries in exchange for a more cosmopolitan way of existence. Their fiction proves the truth of what Daniel Taylor says: In the midst of this malaise, the literature of the oppressed offers a realistic, nonsectarian moral vision. At the centre of this moral vision is a stubborn belief in the categories of good and evil. This belief, far from naive, is simple faith to reality. It does not pretend that good and evil comes neatly packaged, but it knows, often from personal experience, the foolishness of pretending that the two are only arbitrary cultural constructs. (1987: 4—5) The works of Filip and Melfi support Linda Hutcheon when she claims that: "Its [Canada'sl history is one of defining itself agains centres" (1988: 4). In their case sub-group differences have helped to develop an ethnic self-esteem in the midst of the society of Québec by trying to balance the discourse of displacement and the various cultures, thus their "minority status" has been endowed with a new quality. Breaking through the closknit cultural communities, they also advocate an attempt to "fit in" through 106
