Introduction

Transnational Identities 329
part of that community (SL 210). Nevertheless, he does not seem to highlight his
connections very much because he is too busy forging new belongings to pay
much attention to the old ones. As he says, “That was all he had time for in those
years. Language, customs, family, salaries” (SL 149). Nonetheless he is still located
in transnational space, which is cleverly depicted in his use of and history with the
bridge. Criglington thus points out, “Nicholas Temelcoff, the focal character in
‘The Bridge’ chapter, personifies the bridging metaphor” (134). He can literally be
seen to link and travel back and forth between two worlds. Yet, by not emphasizing
this he is only engaged in ways of being a part of transnational space.
However, Temelcoff changes during the course of the novel and eventually
develops ways of belonging, and he does so through narrative. This change is
induced by Patrick who finds out that Temelcoff worked on the bridge and confronts
him with his past thereby giving Temelcoff a “gift” which for him is an
”arrow into the past, [that] shows him the wealth in himself, how he has been
sewn into history. Now he will begin to tell stories” (SL 149; see also Criglington
135). In taking up the narrative, Temelcoff then begins to tell the story of his
‘self’, and reinforces his transnational self-understanding in the process. He
thereby changes from merely being transnational to transnational ways of belonging
since taking up the narrative is also a statement that identifies him with his
past and his Macedonian heritage.
Similarly, Patrick’s being part of the immigrant community is at first merely a
matter of being but turns into ways of belonging also, which nevertheless has its
setbacks and takes much longer than Temelcoff’s. Criglington states that “Patrick
is adopted by the immigrant community in Toronto’s east end, and he in turn
takes charge of Hana as his adoptive daughter” (147), the symbolic value of which
is even further emphasized by Branko Gorjups’ fitting assessment of Hana as “the
symbolic daughter of the entire community” (94). Even though adopting Hana is
a significant statement that aligns Patrick with his new ‘country’ of the immigrant
community in ways of belonging, he cannot entirely belong to it until he is able to
articulate it through language. Accordingly, there is a doubleness to his adoption
of Hana, which is linked to his use of language. He at first tells Alice that he wants
to “look after Hana […]. More formally” (SL 158) but eventually cannot accomplish
what is necessary by this quasi adoption of the girl. Ingelbien shows that
after Alice’s death Patrick relapses into silence as symbolized in his return to darkness
(35; see also Schumacher 15). Patrick clearly has not yet learned to produce
light of his own and relies on others to connect him to a community.
Accordingly, he cannot take up the responsibility for either his story or Hana’s
because he has not yet discovered a voice of his own. Strikingly, he leaves Hana
with Temelcoff when he goes off to burn down the Muskoka hotel, knowing full
well that he will probably be caught and imprisoned so that he will be unable to
fulfil his responsibility as her father (SL 211). Only when he manages to find a
voice and pass the space between him and community at the end of the novel, is