ABSTRACT
In 1883, the pseudonymous ‘Ralph Centennius’ published a euphoric Canadian eutopia entitled The Dominion in 1983. Writing from the point of view of the ‘present advanced and happy times’,1 the narrative propounds to take a retrospective glance at the major political events and struggles of the past hundred years. The account is largely based on perceived differences between ‘corrupt’ America and ‘sturdy’ Canada, the latter saved from American consumer culture by the rigor of the youthful ‘Dominion’ which survived the (fictitious) ‘great crisis’ of 1888 to re-emerge as a purified state. Europe has been devastated by ‘fire and sword’, while English has become the chief language spoken from ‘Beirut to Bombay’; seat of the new ‘Imperial Government’ is London.
