The Portrayal of the Polish-Lithuanian Peasantry in British Travel Memoirs, 1764-1795

Abstract

This article examines Margaret Atwood’s 1972 novel Surfacing as a complex narrative of self-discovery, conceptualized here as an ‘ecology of self’. The analysis posits that the unnamed protagonist’s psychological healing is achieved through an ecofeminist immersion in the Canadian wilderness, which functions as a simultaneous confrontation with repressed personal trauma and a postcolonial rejection of patriarchal, consumerist ideology, metaphorically termed ‘Americanism’. This study employs an integrated theoretical framework of ecofeminism, psychoanalysis, and postcolonialism to argue that these are not discrete but interlocking systems of oppression. The paper’s original contribution lies in its comparative analysis, which reveals profound thematic resonances between Atwood’s Canadian narrative and the cultural and historical experience of the Baltic states. By comparing the novel’s exploration of identity formation against a hegemonic neighbour, the role of nature in national resilience, and the recovery from collective trauma with the post-Soviet Baltic context, this study establishes Surfacing as a work of transnational significance, offering a powerful model for post-oppression identity formation relevant to the Baltic region.