Underground, unseen, unknown: negotiating Toronto in Maggie Helwig's Girls Fall Down

In reading about geographically differentiated spaces, we might heed Masseys conclusion that the "specificity of place ... derives from the fact that each place is the focus of a distinct mixture of wider and more local social relations" (156). Since social relations are constantly made an...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Canadian literature 2013-03 (216), p.101
Main Author: Lesk, Andrew
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Brand, Dionne (1953- )
Canadian literature
Caribbean literature
Cities
Cities and towns
Helwig, Maggie
Helwig, Maggie (1961- )
Interpersonal relations
Literary criticism
Negotiation
Novels
Portrayals
Social aspects
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Summary:In reading about geographically differentiated spaces, we might heed Masseys conclusion that the "specificity of place ... derives from the fact that each place is the focus of a distinct mixture of wider and more local social relations" (156). Since social relations are constantly made and remade most intensely in urban spaces, it is unsurprising that cities-including their ostensibly inert elements, such as parks and ravinespossess the potential for random public explosions. The dangers that circulate through the city's networks are never fully apparent- until they happen, often without much warning. [...]Helwig's narrator observes that "[t]his is the nature of safety in the measured world-you can be certain of the presence of danger, but you can never guarantee its absence.
ISSN:0008-4360