'Stranger No Longer' : Recuperating Memories of Place from Present Amnesia in Al Purdy's 'Grosse Isle'

The author points out that Grosse Île features in two works by Al Purdy (1918–2000), a novel, A Splinter in the Heart (1990), and a poem, "Grosse Isle" (1994). He notes that the latter was published at a time when the island was contested space: Grosse Île was recognized as significant by the Canadian government in 1974, which established it as a National Historic Site in 1993, but in doing so sparked an emotionally-charged debate about the extent to which the park and historical site should commemorate Irish Famine emigrants. The author explains that Purdy alludes to Canadian literary history and to contemporary controversies surrounding the development of the historic site to raise questions about how Canadians should remember and imagine their past. He explains that Purdy discusses Grosse Île in terms of its implications for Canadian immigrants in general in his novel, while the poem's climax identifies in particular the sufferings of Irish immigrants. In spite of this specific detail, the author argues that the poem's ultimate aim is to confirm the island's importance in shaping a national identity. He explains that Purdy subtly criticizes the connections between promotion of an "official" history and its role in economic development, arguing that in order to avoid being a tourist in one's own past, a visitor must make imaginative connections instead.

The Canadian Journal of Irish Studies / Revue canadienne d'études irlandaises

Vol. 39

no. 1

142-161

2015

en