Circular concept of time in Lee Maracle's Ravensong and Tomson Highway's Kiss of the Fur Queen

Abstract

The paper analyses two novels by Aboriginal Canadian writers, Kiss of the Fur Queen by Tomson Highway and Ravensong by Lee Maracle. The main focus of the analysis is the representation of time in the texts. The paper examinates specific examples from the novels, where time is depicted as being circular rather than linear. Circular time is measured by cyclical events: passing seasons, migrations of animals, or births and deaths. The past determines the future and provides guidance for the present. The Western linear time may be therefore seen as less natural, a broken circle, stretched out in a straight line to accommodate for the precise though unrepeatable dates. The paper identifies the techniques and strategies used by the authors to depict the circular time in the novels. It also raises questions about the possible purposes of introducing the circular perception of time into a narrative.