{"product_id":"nightmares-of-the-national-imaginary-surveillance-and-sousveillance-in-canadian-literature-9781487564124","title":"Nightmares of the National Imaginary: Surveillance and Sousveillance in Canadian Literature","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNightmares of the National Imaginary\u003c\/em\u003e explores how Canadian literature challenges and complicates our national identity. Surveillance often sorts people into a series of reductive categories while downplaying or ignoring the complexities of their lived experience. Literature demands that readers spend prolonged periods of time with characters who may seem simple at first glance, but after investing time in the author's world, are revealed to be more than the categories they have been assigned.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003cem\u003eNightmares of the National Imaginary\u003c\/em\u003e examines the way narrative, poetry, and drama often demonstrate how people are more complex than the labels they have been constrained to. The book's analysis is steeped in works such as David Chariandy's Brother and Ken Babstock's On Malice which present an image of life in Canada that underwrites idealistic understandings of the country. The book features chapters that focus on marginalized groups such as migrants, people of colour, and LQBTQ+ Canadians, but it also appreciates the difficult work of policing. Furthermore, it considers the philosophical aspects of watching and being watched through the gaze of literary artists. \u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cp\u003eLiterature scholar Tom Halford argues that if surveillance is the CCTV camera on high, then sousveillance, or looking from below, is the complex inner worlds of the people being watched. In this sense, the book insists, writing from or about those inner worlds becomes a political act.\u003c\/p\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eAuthor:\u003c\/b\u003e Tom Halford\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eBinding Type:\u003c\/b\u003e Hardcover\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublisher:\u003c\/b\u003e University of Toronto Press\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublished:\u003c\/b\u003e 11\/25\/2025\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003ePages:\u003c\/b\u003e 216\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eWeight:\u003c\/b\u003e 1.05lbs\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eSize:\u003c\/b\u003e 9.14h x 6.07w x 0.88d\u003cbr\u003e\u003cb\u003eISBN:\u003c\/b\u003e 9781487564124","brand":"University of Toronto Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":45198998339721,"sku":"9781487564124","price":65.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0636\/9240\/6921\/files\/img_2891c678-2773-4717-a72b-150396fa34df.jpg?v=1769493467","url":"https:\/\/sonsanddaughtersbooks.com\/products\/nightmares-of-the-national-imaginary-surveillance-and-sousveillance-in-canadian-literature-9781487564124","provider":"Sons and Daughters Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}