Title: Geology and story in Alice Munro's "Axis"
Source document: Brno studies in English. 2020, vol. 46, iss. 2, pp. 87-102
Extent
87-102
-
ISSN0524-6881 (print)1805-0867 (online)
Persistent identifier (DOI): https://doi.org/10.5817/BSE2020-2-5
Stable URL (handle): https://hdl.handle.net/11222.digilib/143208
Type: Article
Language
License: CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International
Notice: These citations are automatically created and might not follow citation rules properly.
Abstract(s)
"Axis" appeared in 2011 in The New Yorker but never made it into Dear Life (2012), Munro's final collection. The story includes a brief but crucial description of the Niagara Escarpment and other geological features that interrupt the otherwise bland landscape of Southern Ontario. This focus is in keeping with the "deepening geological sensibility" of Munro's later work (Thacker 2016: 12). As Munro writes in "Axis," the Escarpment is a "tower of ancient-looking rock that seem[s] quite out of place" among the flat roads west of Toronto (2012: 131). This paper argues that Munro uses geological symbolism with an overtness not seen elsewhere in her work. The Cambrian and the emotional converge in "Axis" and geology serves as a model for how a story can be put together. The geological model appears to mirror a predictable map, but Munro complicates the parallel between geological or geographical mapping by adding the unpredictable human element.
References
[1] Beer, Janet (2009) Short Fiction with Attitude: The Lives of Boys and Men in The Lives of Girls and Women. In: Bloom, Harold (ed.) Alice Munro. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 143–151.
[2] Black, Conrad (2014) Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada From the Vikings to the Present. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
[3] Bloom, Harold (ed.) (2009) Alice Munro. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism.
[4] Cosgrove, Denis (1999) Introduction: Mapping Meanings. In: Cosgrove, Denis (ed.) Mappings. London: Reaktion, 1–23.
[5] Duncan, Isla (2011) Alice Munro's Narrative Art. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[6] Dutoit, Thomas (2014) Boring Gravel: Literary Earth, Alice Munro's Ontario Geolithic. Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies 77, 77–109. https://journals.openedition.org/eccs/pdf/467 | DOI 10.4000/eccs.467
[7] Frye, Northrop (2015) Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[8] Gadpaille, Michelle (1988) The Canadian Short Story. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
[9] Gibson, Douglas (2011) Stories about Storytellers: Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and Others. Toronto: ECW Press.
[10] Groff, Lauren (2011) Lauren Groff Reads Alice Munro. Podcast. June 21, 2011. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/lauren-groff-reads-alicemunro
[11] Heble, Ajay (1994) The Tumble of Reason: Alice Munro's Discourse of Absence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
[12] Howells, Coral Ann (2007) Alice Munro. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press.
[13] Howells, Coral Ann (2009) Intimate Dislocations: Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. In: Bloom, Harold (ed.) Alice Munro. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 167–192.
[14] McGrew, Timothy (2019) Miracles. In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed October 26, 2020. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/miracles/
[15] Munro, Alice (2009 [1971]) Lives of Girls and Women. Toronto: Penguin.
[16] Munro, Alice (2006) The View from Castle Rock. London: Vintage.
[17] Munro, Alice (2011) Axis. New Yorker, January 31, 2011. Accessed March 14, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/31/axis-alice-munro
[18] Munro, Alice (2012) Axis. In: Perrotta, Tom and Heidi Pitlor (eds.) The Best American Short Stories 2012. Boston: Mariner Books, 131–144.
[19] Prose, Francine (2006) Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. London: Union Books, 2006.
[20] Redekop, Magdalene (2014) Mothers and Other Clowns: The Stories of Alice Munro. New York: Routledge.
[21] Simonds, Merilyn (2016) Where do you think you are? Place in Alice Munro. In: Staines, David (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Alice Munro. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 26–44.
[22] Smith, Emma (2012) A Midsummer Night's Dream. Approaching Shakespeare (podcast). November 5, 2012. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/midsummernights-dream
[23] Staines, David (ed.) (2016) The Cambridge Companion to Alice Munro. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
[24] Taylor, Christopher (2009) The emotional housekeeping of the world. The Guardian. 15. 8. 2009. Accessed 14. 3. 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/15/alice-munro-too-much-happiness
[25] Thacker, Robert (2011) Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives: A Biography. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
[26] Thacker, Robert (2016) Introduction: "Durable and Freestanding": The Late Art of Munro. In: Thacker, Robert (ed.) Alice Munro: "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage," "Runaway, "Dear Life". New York: Bloomsbury USA Academic1–20.
[27] Thacker, Robert (ed.) (2016) Alice Munro: "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage," "Runaway, "Dear Life." New York: Bloomsbury USA Academic.
[28] Tuan, Yi-Fu (1977) Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.
[29] Van Noy, Rick (2003) Surveying the Interior: Literary Cartographers and the Sense of Place. Reno and Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press.
[30] Westphal, Bertrand (2013) The Plausible World: A Geocritical Approach to Space, Place, and Maps. Translated by Amy D. Wells. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[31] Young, Robert J. C. (2003) Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
[2] Black, Conrad (2014) Rise to Greatness: The History of Canada From the Vikings to the Present. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
[3] Bloom, Harold (ed.) (2009) Alice Munro. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism.
[4] Cosgrove, Denis (1999) Introduction: Mapping Meanings. In: Cosgrove, Denis (ed.) Mappings. London: Reaktion, 1–23.
[5] Duncan, Isla (2011) Alice Munro's Narrative Art. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[6] Dutoit, Thomas (2014) Boring Gravel: Literary Earth, Alice Munro's Ontario Geolithic. Études canadiennes / Canadian Studies 77, 77–109. https://journals.openedition.org/eccs/pdf/467 | DOI 10.4000/eccs.467
[7] Frye, Northrop (2015) Anatomy of Criticism. Princeton: Princeton University Press.
[8] Gadpaille, Michelle (1988) The Canadian Short Story. Toronto: Oxford University Press.
[9] Gibson, Douglas (2011) Stories about Storytellers: Publishing Alice Munro, Robertson Davies, Alistair MacLeod, Pierre Trudeau, and Others. Toronto: ECW Press.
[10] Groff, Lauren (2011) Lauren Groff Reads Alice Munro. Podcast. June 21, 2011. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/podcast/fiction/lauren-groff-reads-alicemunro
[11] Heble, Ajay (1994) The Tumble of Reason: Alice Munro's Discourse of Absence. Toronto: University of Toronto Press.
[12] Howells, Coral Ann (2007) Alice Munro. Manchester; New York: Manchester University Press.
[13] Howells, Coral Ann (2009) Intimate Dislocations: Alice Munro, Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage. In: Bloom, Harold (ed.) Alice Munro. New York: Bloom's Literary Criticism, 167–192.
[14] McGrew, Timothy (2019) Miracles. In Zalta, Edward N. (ed.) The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy. Accessed October 26, 2020. https://plato.stanford.edu/archives/spr2019/entries/miracles/
[15] Munro, Alice (2009 [1971]) Lives of Girls and Women. Toronto: Penguin.
[16] Munro, Alice (2006) The View from Castle Rock. London: Vintage.
[17] Munro, Alice (2011) Axis. New Yorker, January 31, 2011. Accessed March 14, 2018. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2011/01/31/axis-alice-munro
[18] Munro, Alice (2012) Axis. In: Perrotta, Tom and Heidi Pitlor (eds.) The Best American Short Stories 2012. Boston: Mariner Books, 131–144.
[19] Prose, Francine (2006) Reading Like a Writer: A Guide for People Who Love Books and for Those Who Want to Write Them. London: Union Books, 2006.
[20] Redekop, Magdalene (2014) Mothers and Other Clowns: The Stories of Alice Munro. New York: Routledge.
[21] Simonds, Merilyn (2016) Where do you think you are? Place in Alice Munro. In: Staines, David (ed.) The Cambridge Companion to Alice Munro. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press, 26–44.
[22] Smith, Emma (2012) A Midsummer Night's Dream. Approaching Shakespeare (podcast). November 5, 2012. Accessed March 13, 2018. https://podcasts.ox.ac.uk/midsummernights-dream
[23] Staines, David (ed.) (2016) The Cambridge Companion to Alice Munro. Cambridge; New York: Cambridge University Press.
[24] Taylor, Christopher (2009) The emotional housekeeping of the world. The Guardian. 15. 8. 2009. Accessed 14. 3. 2018. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/aug/15/alice-munro-too-much-happiness
[25] Thacker, Robert (2011) Alice Munro: Writing Her Lives: A Biography. Toronto: McClelland & Stewart.
[26] Thacker, Robert (2016) Introduction: "Durable and Freestanding": The Late Art of Munro. In: Thacker, Robert (ed.) Alice Munro: "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage," "Runaway, "Dear Life". New York: Bloomsbury USA Academic1–20.
[27] Thacker, Robert (ed.) (2016) Alice Munro: "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage," "Runaway, "Dear Life." New York: Bloomsbury USA Academic.
[28] Tuan, Yi-Fu (1977) Space and Place: The Perspective of Experience. Minneapolis and London: University of Minnesota Press.
[29] Van Noy, Rick (2003) Surveying the Interior: Literary Cartographers and the Sense of Place. Reno and Las Vegas: University of Nevada Press.
[30] Westphal, Bertrand (2013) The Plausible World: A Geocritical Approach to Space, Place, and Maps. Translated by Amy D. Wells. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.
[31] Young, Robert J. C. (2003) Postcolonialism: A Very Short Introduction. Oxford: Oxford University Press.