RISK, MORTALITY, AND MEMORY - THE GLOBAL IMAGINARIES OF CHERIE DIMALINE’S THE MARROW THIEVES, M.G. VASSANJI’S NOSTALGIA, AND ANDRÉ ALEXIS’S FIFTEEN DOGS

Sep 22, 2026

This paper examines three contemporary Canadian novels that depict global risk society through speculative fiction structured around “What if?”. Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves (2017) and M.G. Vassanji’s Nostalgia (2016) present dystopias shaped by climate change to critique humanist ideals of Progress. André Alexis’s Fifteen Dogs (2015) uses an animal fable to explore what it means to be a mortal animal. Across all three, risk awareness reshapes agency and ethics via memory, creativity, and alternative forms of subjectivity and community that support survival through imagining otherwise.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryLiterature

FormatPDF

Pages16

Reading Time25 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Global risk society in contemporary Canadian novels

The role of postcolonial critical theory

Analysis scope and narrative questions

RISK, MORTALITY, AND MEMORY: THE GLOBAL IMAGINARIES OF CHERIE DIMALINE’S THE MARROW THIEVES, M.G. VASSANJI’S NOSTALGIA, AND ANDRÉ ALEXIS’S FIFTEEN DOGS* Diana Brydon University of Manitoba Abstract This paper examines three contemporary Canadian novels that depict global risk society through a speculative fictional form that asks the question “What if?” Cherie Dimaline’s TheMarrow Thieves (2017) and M.G Vassanji’s Nostalgia (2016) imagine dystopian worlds ravaged by climate change to critique humanist ideals of Progress. André Alexis’s Fifteen Dogs (2015) uses the animal fable to address what it means to be a mortal animal. Each asks what an awareness of risk means for agency and ethics: for Indigenous people in TheMarrow Thieves; for Torontonians in the context of a heightened global apartheid in Nostalgia; and for dogs wrestling with a god-granted human intelligence in the contemporary Toronto of Fifteen Dogs. In negotiating risk, each fiction turns to the roles of memory, creativity, and alternative forms of subjectivity and community in ensuring survival. Each novel finds fragile yet necessary steps toward alternative futures in the ability to imagine otherwise. Keywords: global Imaginaries, risk society, mortality, memory, community, art, Canadian speculative fiction. RIESGO, MORTALIDAD Y MEMORIA: LOS IMAGINARIOS GLOBALES DE CHERIE DIMALINE EN THEMARROW THIEVES, M.G. VASSANJIEN NOSTALGIA Y ANDRÉ ALEXIS EN FIFTEEN DOGS Resumen Este artículo examina tres novelas canadienses contemporáneas basadas en la sociedad del riesgo global usando un modo ficticio especulativo que inquiere: «¿Qué pasaría si?» The Marrow Thieves (2017), de Cherie Dimaline, y Nostalgia (2016), de M.G. Vassanji, imaginan sociedades distópicas devastadas por el cambio climático para analizar los ideales humanistas del Progreso. Fifteen Dogs (2015), de André Alexis, usa la fábula animal para abordar qué significa ser un animal mortal. Cada una profundiza en las implicaciones de una conciencia de riesgo para la agentividad y la ética: para los pueblos indígenas en The Marrow Thieves; para los habitantes de Toronto en el contexto de un apartheid global intensificado en Nostalgia; y para los perros que luchan con una inteligencia humana otorgada por Dios en el Toronto contemporáneo de Fifteen Dogs. Al negociar el riesgo, cada ficción recurre al papel de la memoria, la creatividad y las formas alternativas de subjetividad y comunidad para garantizar la supervivencia. Las tres narrativas dan pasos sutiles, aunque necesarios, hacia futuros alternativos con la habilidad de imaginar de una forma distinta. Palabras clave: imaginarios globales, sociedad del riesgo, mortalidad, memoria, comunidad, arte, ficción especulativa canadiense. DOI: [https://doi.org/10.25145/j.recaesin.2019.78.07](https://doi.org/10.25145/j.recaesin.2019.78.07)[ ](https://doi.org/10.25145/j.recaesin.2019.78.07)Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses, 78; April 2019, pp. 97-112; ISSN: e-2530-8335 1. INTRODUCTION This paper examines three contemporary Canadian novels to consider the ways they depict global risk society (as theorized by Ulrich Beck) in relation to key issues of enduring concern for Canadian society that are taking new forms as a result of changing world dynamics. Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves (2017) is a post-Truth and Reconciliation dystopia that addresses the continuing heritage of settler colonialism and its residential school system to locate survival for Indigenous communities in a restoration of community and language through a renewed relation to the land. M.G. Vassanji’s Nostalgia (2016), also a dystopia, addresses the post-9/11 security state in the context of shifting border imaginaries, intensified internet surveillance, and multicultural religious engagements with human mortality, reincarnation, and promises of immortality both religious and technological. André Alexis subtitles Fifteen Dogs (2015)“an apologue”, locating its story within the

FAQs

Which novels does the paper analyze, and what common theme connects them?

The paper analyzes Cherie Dimaline’s The Marrow Thieves, M.G. Vassanji’s Nostalgia, and André Alexis’s Fifteen Dogs. They are connected by depictions of global risk society through speculative and fable-like fictional forms.

How does the paper link risk awareness to agency and ethics?

Each novel is said to show how an awareness of risk affects agency and ethical relations. The focus differs by text: Indigenous survival and community, Torontonians within heightened global apartheid, and dogs confronting mortal self-consciousness.

What roles do memory and creativity play in ensuring survival across the three novels?

The paper argues that negotiating risk in each fiction turns to memory and creativity, along with alternative subjectivities and community forms. Together they enable fragile yet necessary steps toward alternative futures.

Sep 22, 2026

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