The Rogue as an Artist in Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers

Hilde Staels

doi:10.18778/2083-2931.09.09

Authors

Hilde Staels University of Leuven

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.18778/2083-2931.09.09

Keywords:

Patrick deWitt, The Sisters Brothers, the reinvigorated rogue, parody, genre border crossing

Abstract

This article explores Eli Sisters as a reinvigorated rogue who finds his artistic calling in Patrick deWitt’s The Sisters Brothers, published in 2011. With the help of insights from narratology and genre theory, the article provides a textual analysis of Eli’s discourse, perspective and behaviour. Eli casts a critical light on the senseless violence, unbridled greed, ecological devastation, and hyper-masculinity inherent to America’s Frontier myth. As a reinvigorated rogue, he raises questions about what it means to be human and reflects upon morality. With hindsight, the rogue as an artist creates a generically hybrid narrative that parodically imitates and transforms the genre conventions of the Western and the picaresque tale. The article also draws attention to the power that Eli assigns to women in a story about male heroic conquest. These include otherworldly female figures from classical mythology and the brothers’ mother.

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Author Biography

Hilde Staels, University of Leuven

Hilde Staels is Associate Professor of English literature and literary theory at the University of Leuven in Belgium. As a visiting professor at Ghent University, she teaches a master course on contemporary English-Canadian fiction. Her publications mainly focus on the techniques and formal qualities of narrative fiction. In addition to her monograph and articles on Margaret Atwood’s novels, she has published articles on the Canadian authors Michael Ondaatje, Carol Shields, Ann- Marie MacDonald, Aritha van Herk, Barbara Gowdy and Rawi Hage.

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