Conservation and Bears In Canadian Literature

Mgr. Zuzana Janoušková

Bachelor's thesis

Abstract:

In my thesis, I deal with conservation in connection to bears in Canadian literature. I analyze five works: a Haida myth called “The Bear and His Indian Wife” collected by Richard Erdoes and Alfonso Ortiz and published in their American Indian Myths and Legends (1985), Douglas Glover’s novel Elle (2005), Ernest Thompson Seton’s story “Johnny Bear” published in Lives of the Hunted (1967), Marian Engel’s novel Bear (1986) and a different version of “The Bear and His Indian Wife” called “The Bear Mother and Her Husband” collected in Bill Reid’s and Robert Bringhurst’s The Raven Steals the Light (1988). The main aim of my thesis is to show that bear conservation is recurring theme in Canadian literature. I also mention the issues of hunting and zooerastia that are suggested in some of the works. These issues are put in contrast to conservationism.

Keywords

ochrana přírody, medvěd, zoofilie, lov, conservation, bear, zooerastia, hunting

Language used: English

Date on which the thesis was submitted / produced: 24. 5. 2007

Thesis defence

• Date of defence: 15. 6. 2007
• Supervisor: Mgr. et Mgr. Kateřina Prajznerová, M.A.

Masaryk University

Faculty of Arts

Bachelor programme / field:
Philology / English Language and Literature