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Articles

Volume 16, Number 2 (1991)

History or His/Story? The Explorer Cum Author

  • R. Davis
Submitted
May 22, 2008
Published
1991-06-06

Abstract

The literature of exploration was an important proto-form of Canada's literary experience. Although Northrop Frye declared that the writings of early explorers was "innocent of literary intent," more recent criticism focuses on these works as intentionally created literary documents. Careful scrutiny reveals subtle differences between Sir John Franklin's journals for his land expeditions to the northwest coast of North American in 1819-22 and 1825-27 and the later public accounts based on these journals -- Narrative of a Journey to the Shores of the Polar Sea (1823) and Narrative of a Second Expedition to the Shores of the Polar Sea (1828). The first account is a mechanical and official retelling of a highly-publicized event; the second is a structured account written for an anticipated audience. Readers of Franklin's narrative are given not history, a non-fictiohis story, Franklin's structured version of what happened.