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In this study of the Canadian novelist Margaret Laurence, recent narratological models provide the theoretical framework for a textual analysis that aims at complementing previous thematic critiques. The chief focus is on The Stone Angel and The Diviners, which the conclusion then presents in the context of the other novels in Laurence's Manawaka cycle. Consideration of the published works is rounded off with "genetic" comparison of the novelist's typescript drafts and an evaluation of the manuscript notes kept in the archives of McMaster and York Universities.
The central structural principle of The Stone Angel is its dovetailing of past and present scenes. Temporal arrangement, reflecting the frequency and duration of Hagar's memories, reveals the hold of memory over the central character and her attempts to suppress her fear of mortality. Hagar-as-narrator manipulates character-presentation and description to her own advantage. In a basically oppositional structure, her need for control is reflected in the neat ordering of the narrative. The verbal texture of the novel serves to establish a value system that insists on the superiority of imported culture over Western Canadian forms.
The Diviners shares a number of narrative similarities with The Stone Angel, but the latter's formal rigidity has yielded, by the time Laurence writes her last novel, to the concept of multiplicity - characters, time planes, perspectives and narrative voices (including metafictional commentaries). Textual coherence is secured via narrative strategies (including typography, generational paradigms, repetition, parallelism, intertextuality, and tropological patterning) that render the novel "readable" and present experience as ordered in a time of cultural flux and personal crisis.
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Canadian Fiction Studies are an answer to every librarian's, student's, and teacher's wishes. Each book, about 80 pages in length, contains clear, readable information on a major Canadian novel. These studies are carefully designed readings of the novels; they are not substitutes for reading them. Each book is attractively produced and follows the same format, so students will know exactly what to expect:

A chronology of the author's lifeThe importance of the bookCritical receptionReading of the textSelected list of works cited ... Read more

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Why are contemporary writers of fiction in Canada so obsessed with photography? Timothy Findley's The Wars, Michael Ondaatje's Coming Through Slaughter, Margaret Laurence's The Diviners, and Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women all present the photograph as a virtual analogue to the act of creating narrative. Lorraine York examines four Canadian writers of fiction whose works span the literary schools of modernism, magic realism, and postmodernism. For Canadian postmodernists, photography becomes a means of examining, in an acutely self-conscious way, their need to break out of the traditional confines of narrative form. ... Read more

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The magnificent and long-awaited biography of the beloved writer who gave us the Manawaka novels, including The Diviners and The Stone Angel.

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Margaret Laurence instinctively turned to the epic mode to create archetypal narratives of loss, exile, and redemption. Drawing on the Bible, Dante, and Milton, Laurence absorbed the epic structure and populated it with the Manawaka world of Hagar Shipley, Rachel Cameron, Stacey MacAindra, and Morag Gunn.Paul Comeau traces the development of Margaret Laurence's voice from its tentative beginnings in her African fiction to its culmination in the Manawaka Cycle. According to Comeau, Laurence’s ability to illustrate the epic dimension in her characters’ strengths and weaknesses has ensured her a lasting place among great Canadian writers. ... Read more

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Islands, both literal and figurative, recur in fiction authored by many prominent Canadian women writers. Using a critical lens based on Northrop Frye and Julia Kristeva, this book closely examines fourteen novels by eight twentieth-century authors, emphasizing works by L. M. Montgomery, Margaret Laurence, and Margaret Atwood. Several of the novels, such as Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, Laurence’s A Jest of God and The Diviners, Atwood’s Surfacing and Bodily Harm, Alice Munro’s The Lives of Girls and Women, and Gabrielle Roy’s The Tin Flute, are among Canada’s most well-known. Some of the works discussed present the island as a redemptive retreat, but in most cases the island’s role is ambiguous, ranging from a temporary respite from life’s pressures to a nightmarish trap. ... Read more

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Margaret Laurence is justly famous for her Manawaka cycle of Canadian novels, but her work extends from Canada to Africa and includes poetry and prose, children's and adult literature, memoir and travel-writing. Whereas previous studies focus on certain aspects of her work, "Divining Margaret Laurence" addresses all her important writings, including a final, unfinished manuscript - "Dance on the Earth: A Memoir". This comprehensive study of her writings, including archival material, allows Nora Stovel to trace the development of Laurence's Canadian identity, feminist sympathies, moral vision, and creative artistry. Twenty years after her death Margaret Laurence remains one of Canada's most esteemed and beloved writers. This new critical assessment of her work is not only a testament to her literary achievement but also a valuable contribution to Canadian, African, women's, children's, travel, and fiction writing. ... Read more

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A Bird in the House is a series of eight interconnected short stories narrated by Vanessa MacLeod as she matures from a child at age ten into a young woman at age twenty.Wise for her years, Vanessa reveals much about the adult world in which she lives.

"A Bird in the House achieves the breadth of scope which we usually associate with the novel (and thereby is as psychologically valid as a good novel), and at the same time uses the techniques of the short story form to reveal the different aspects of the young Vanessa." --Kent Thompson, The Fiddlehead

One of Canada's most accomplished writers, Margaret Laurence (1926-87) was the recipient of many awards including Canada's prestigious Governor General's Literary Award on two separate occasions, once for The Diviners. ... Read more

Customer Reviews (11)

Not accetable for a teen
This book was the worst book i have ever read. I had to read it for an english project and man it was boring.It had no point to it at all and it was so confusing it didn't make any sense.I found that the prarie idea was a bad idea to write about becuase it doesnt capture a teen audience and it was so confusing becuase it jumped from year to year going back in years and then to two years alter and characters would leave and then never come back.The eight stories in one book just made it too much to take in at once.

A lesson for everyday life
I have read this book and the very first time, it is true that it gives an impression of overwhelming death and sorrow. The protagonist, Vanessa, comes into contact with life, that is REAL life and she just finds it hard to cope. But it is a story which is just so incredibly true-to-life that any one can identify themselves with the main character. It is only many, many years after that Vanessa understands what had confused her when she was 10 : her grandfather, so much feared and respected, and all the deaths which she had to endure in her family. If you have ever been at that stage, losing some of the people you loved in your heart of hearts, you will understand what Vanessa had to go through and see yourself in her position in front of new things as painful as death. It is not morbid at all, it just shows you that your family is there to help, but that in any case, everything's not hunky-dory!!!

I recommend this book
I really enjoyed this book. We studied it in school this year and at first I found it a bit slow but after a few pages I started to really get into it. It was easy to identify with the main character Vanessa and I really liked the way the rest of the characters were described, especially the grandfather. Here's a little example;"Well, Peter, you've brought the wood." It was his habit to begin conversations with a statement of the obvious, so that nothing except agreement was possible." I like this because it sums up the grandfather' character in two sentences, even though it's being developped throughout the entire novel. I can't really explain exactly why I enjoyed this book so much, I guess it's because of the subtle humor and the emotion involved. The sad parts are quite moving, and that's difficult to do without making the whole book depressing.

fields of wheat
Why are students constantly subjected to boring narratives about prairie boredom and depression? I live in the prairies and don't see why anyone would want to capture the soul-crushing essence of it all. If you are freereading, pick a book that will improve your state of well being rather thandragging you into the flat quagmire of prairie realism. However, asrequired reading there are definately worse books that professors couldassign you! ie. double hook!

This book isnt very good
i was forced to read this book by our public schools which are strongly influanced in theocracy i think that this book has too many references to"THE GREAT LORD" well i think this is wrong and obviously i didntenjoy this book it was too boring and really really slow at most parts itsa bunch of short stories which have been writen over a period of time.Margaret laurence isnt a good writer, i personally think that my review hasmore intelect and insight than any one of her novels ... Read more

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This beautiful book presents in large format the story of Margaret Tafoys's paramount place in the evolution of Tewa Pueblo pottery in Santa Clara, New Mexico. This monumental work is divided into four major sections examining a history of the Pueblo people, Margaret Tafoya's life, Santa Clara pottery making techniques, and the Tafoya family and descendants. Because Margaret Tafoya has adhered to the traditions of her pueblo in both her lifestyle and her ceramics, these traditions are now being passed on through her children and grandchildren. Margaret Tafoya demonstrates the very best in Tewa Pueblo pottery. Enhanced by the spectacular photographs-more than a hundred of which are in full color-this books presents a tribute to the Pueblo ceramic artisans in general and especially, to Margaret Tafoya-a living icon and vital bridge between Tewa past future. ... Read more

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Originally published in a small edition in 1954, A Tree for Poverty was Margaret Laurence's first published book. In this new edition, Laurence's collection of Somali poems and stories is accompanied with a discussion of her life in Africa, and her in-depth investigation of the oral tradition of Somali literature. ... Read more