SOURCE: Williams, David. “Cyberwriting and the Borders of Identity: ‘What's in a Name’ in Kroetsch's The Puppeteer and Mistry's Such a Long Journey.” Canadian Literature, no. 149 (summer 1996): 55-71.

In the following essay, Williams asserts that Such a Long Journey and Robert Kroetsch's The Puppeteer are examples of a shift in metaphoric borders, both in writing strategies and real cultural identity.

Borders are fast disappearing in the new Europe, along the information highway, and in the mega-channel universe. Hong Kong's Star Satellite, carrying five television channels to fifty-three countries, has already changed the face of Asia. In India, a new generation openly celebrates the country's “Californication,” while their elders debate “The Challenge of the Open Skies” (Joseph) to a state broadcast monopoly. Given such a fundamental shift in the mode of information, we might ask whether the nation state, or local culture, or even the concept of a substantial...