The Imperialist

The Imperialist, novel by Sara Jeannette Duncan (Toronto, 1904), is set in Elgin, Ontario (modelled on Duncan's native Brantford). The Imperialist conducts its exploration of Canadian attitudes toward the mother country through the development of 2 romances. One involves Lorne Murchison, a fervent imperialist, with the pretty but shallow Dora Milburn, who eventually marries an asinine Englishman; the other pairs Lorne's sister Advena with Reverend Hugh Finlay, who was already engaged to an older woman before he immigrated to Canada, but submits to New World imperatives and his love for Advena. The novel is at once a delightful comedy of manners and a thoroughgoing analysis of Canadian society as it looks back to England, south to the US and into its own evolving idea of itself.