David Creelman examines the works of Maritime writers between 1920 and 2000 and traces the ways these fictions have been shaped by the region's history and culture. He shows that realism arrived comparatively late to the Maritime provinces and argues that the emergence of a realist style corresponded with a dramatic period of economic and cultural disruption during which the Eastern provinces were transformed from one of Canada's most developed, prosperous and promising regions into one characterized by chronic underemployment and underdevelopment. The region is thus torn between its memory...