Speaking silences: (Lost) letters, houses and cars in ‘A Wilderness Station’

My article offers a reading of Alice Munro’s ‘A Wilderness Station’ (1994) that draws on material culture theory. Inspired by Munro’s own Scottish family settlement in colonial Ontario, Munro’s epistolary narrative spans a century in its reconstruction of Canadian history. My reading looks at three defining ‘things’ shaping the narrative conflicts: letters, houses, cars. It thus highlights the silences in history around women’s voices, symbolized here by Annie Herron’s three ‘lost’ letters, and Christena Mullen’s concluding letter. By inserting Annie’s narrative into the presumed biographical files on politician Treece Herron (Annie’s great-nephew), Christena’s letter creates a subversive supplement to history. With a focus also on houses, as well as Christena’s innovative ‘Stanley Steamer’ car, my article shows how colonization and capitalist consumerism typically depend upon the silencing of otherness.