book-length project, and when the number of grants available in
the humanities appear to be diminishing at an alarming rate, funds
to support research leaves and travel grants can, as many of us know,
make all the difference. I am, therefore, deeply indebted to the
Academic Relations Office of the Canadian Embassy for their re-
peated help in the form of travel and research grants over the years
and for the generous financial assistance that the Canadian Studies
Senior Fellowship provided me during a critical six-month period.
Their active support of scholars like myself, many of whom were not
initially trained in Canadian studies, continues to be very important.
Both Bowling Green State University and Virginia Polytechnic
Institute and State University have also granted me summer stipends
to carry out this project.

Finally, I would like to thank my partner, Rick, who, in addition
to providing helpful technical assistance all along the way, has given
me the emotional support and the mental space needed to explore
and to complete this study.

Portions of chapter 3 have appeared in abbreviated form in the
following essays: "Madeleine Gagnon's Po(e)litical Vision: Portrait
of an Artist and An Era," in Traditionalism, Feminism, and National-
ism, edited by Paula Gilbert Lewis, 185-204, and "Unearthing the
Female Text: Madeleine Gagnon's Lueur," L'Esprit Créateur 23. 3
( 1983): 86-94. Two sections from chapter 5 have also appeared in
"Reclaiming Electra: Disruption and Desire in the Writing of
France Théoret," Modern Language Studies 7. 1 ( 1987): 17-27 and in
"L'Ecrivaine/La putain ou le territoire de l'inscription feminine chez
France Théoret," Voix et images 14. 1 ( 1988): 31-40.

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