Thomas·C·Haliburton(1796-1865)establishes a literary fame as“the first Canadian writer to establish an international reputation”and a great humorist,with the publication of his masterpiece The Clockmaker(1836).Centering on Nova Scotia,the origin place of Canadian literature and the first British colony in Canada,the book conveys deep concerns on local reality under the British colonization in the 1830s.Haliburton as a Loyalist firmly opposes violent revolution against the British Empire whereas promotes gradual evolution in the colony.This is a typical demonstration of ideological contradictions in colonies.Greenblatt’s Cultural Poetics generally explores political consciousness and ideology in literary texts.It surpasses the dichotomy mode of Western radical ideology and never views the relationship between domination and resistance as a simple confrontation.From the perspective of Greenblatt’s Culture Poetics,this essay interprets the process of“improvisation of power”,“subversion”and“containment”in the colony reflected in The Clockmaker in order to explore Nova Scotians’awakening of independence awareness in the 1830s.
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