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

attaching the same value systems to Canada and the USA. She finds even art produced in the two countries indistinguishable. She tells her husband: You want to find reasons why the Group of Seven is Canadian rather than American. But you won't be able to find any. The Group of Seven could have been American. We could be American. In fact we are... with or without free trade. (38) She considers both countries to be the living forms of shallowness, superficiality and dullness. She can find only just a few attributes to living in Canada: "Unlike the people south of the border I do not have to be wealthy in order to be healthy" (84). Being critical both of her Italian heritage and of what the new world offers, she lives in full awareness of different merits and charges. Yet the country she is preoccupied with is unique: "I do not care about the country's problems. It is not my country. My country is my body and a revolution against it has taken place" (17). It is certainly true since the novel chronicles the movement from several painful abortions to childbirth in the end. The agonizing series of attempts materialize within the bounds of an unhappy marriage between a wasp and a wop. The latter is a discriminating way of naming Italian immigrants who are presumed to reside in Canada "without official papers." Nina is obsessed with the idea of creation both in trying to become a mother and a successful artist Daniel, her husband, with a totally different cultural background, that of a wasp, is puzzled by Nina's desires. He can only understand her ambitions of realizing herself as a painter but her basic needs shared by many women, not only by "Italian mothers", remain cryptic for him for quite a while. It is interesting to note what Antonio D'Alfonso says about Italian

—Canadian artists: "Few writers have actually written about being Italians. It is no surprise that the first Italian artists of Quebec were painters; practicing the voiceless art" (1985: 226). Nina also practises the art of painting, however she also produces a piece of writing; her own confessions. The importance of art is touched upon by Raymond Filip, too. Teaching Canadian literature is considered to be "revolutionary" in 'Winter of Content'

(66), and Chantal, in the story named after her, enjoys Les Grands Ballets Canadien playing at 103