In John Steffler's The Afterlife of George Cartwright, fur trader George Cartwright's journal is revised and amended by former lover Mrs. Selby, who adds her rendition of events in a way that mirrors the novel's treatment of the historical journal. In the supplementation of a document that describes the era of British colonialism in Canada, Steffler provides a postcolonial revisioning of Canada's past, one which is not engendered and written exclusively by British men. The novel's dialogic form criticizes the idea of a universal Canadian experience in the historical journal and, by extension, in Canada's history. But rather than setting up its own version as the final representation, the novel discloses the processes employed by the group in power to establish a version of history that reflects its own interests rather than the truth.
