The Wild Animal’s Story: Nonhuman Protagonists in Twentieth-Century Canadian Literature through the Lens of Practical Zoocriticism

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The Wild Animal’s Story:
Nonhuman Protagonists in Twentieth-Century Canadian 
Literature through the Lens of Practical Zoocriticism 
Submitted by Candice Allmark-Kent to the University of Exeter
as a thesis for the degree of
Doctor of Philosophy in English
in July 2015 
This thesis is available for Library use on the understanding that it is copyright 
material and that no quotation from the thesis may be published without proper 
acknowledgement. 
I certify that all material in this thesis which is not my own work has been 
identified and that no material has previously been submitted and approved for 
the award of a degree by this or any other University 
Signature: ……………………………………………………………………………….. 

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Abstract 
Despite the characteristic cross-disciplinarity of animal studies, interactions 
between literary and scientific researchers have been negligible. In response, 
this project develops a framework of 
practical zoocriticism
, an interdisciplinary 
lens which synthesizes methodologies from science, animal advocacy, and 
literature. A primary focus of this model is the complex relationship between 
literary representations of animals, scientific studies of animal cognition, and 
practical and theoretical work advocating animal protection. This thesis 
proposes that the Canadian wild animal stories of Ernest Thompson Seton and 
Charles G.D. Roberts operate at an intersection of these three factors. Their 
potential for facilitating reciprocal communication has not been recognized, 
however, due to their damaged representation within Canadian literature as a 
consequence of the Nature Fakers controversy. By re-contextualizing and re-
evaluating these texts this project illuminates the unique contributions made by 
these authors. It also offers new evidence of the intersecting discourses and 
ideologies that stimulated the controversy. Re-defining the genre has enabled 
this project to uncover a selection of twentieth-century Canadian texts that 
perpetuate its core aims and characteristics. This project suggests that after the 
Nature Fakers controversy, the wild animal story diverged into two new forms: 
‘realistic’ and ‘speculative.’ By placing the wild animal story in relation to a 
broader canon of Canadian literature, this thesis identifies three distinct modes 
of animal representation. These methods of relating to literary animals in the 
Canadian context are the 
fantasy of knowing
the animal, the 
failure of knowing
the animal, and the 
acceptance of not-knowing
the animal. This novel 
characterization of Canadian literature is a product of the diverse, 
interdisciplinary approaches offered by the practical zoocriticism framework.