Film and Drama in Guy Vanderhaeghe’s The Englishman’s Boy

Abstract

This article analyzes Guy Vanderhaeghe’s novel The Englishman’s Boy, which explores how film and drama influence the perception of history in fiction. The novel alternates between the wild frontier of Montana and Saskatchewan in the 1870s and Hollywood in the 1920s, integrating techniques from both genres to immerse readers in historical experiences while exposing the limitations of examining historical fiction through a single discourse. Vanderhaeghe’s work suggests a longing to recreate rather than represent historical experiences, using filmic and dramatic modes to create a sense of immersion in two distinct time periods. The narrative addresses challenges of writing self-reflexive fiction that investigates history, or historiographic metafiction, through its use of filmic and dramatic techniques. This study examines Vanderhaeghe’s efforts to create sensory traces and a sense of presence in the novel, evaluating how modes of expression can influence the perception of stories and the larger world.

(The abstract and keywords were prepared retrospectively for indexing purposes using AI-assisted tools and editorial review, based on the original article. They did not appear in the original publication.)