Margaret Laurence's epic imagination / Paul Comeau.

Format:

Book

Author/Creator:

Comeau, Paul, 1951-

Language:

English

Subjects (All):

Laurence, Margaret--Criticism and interpretation.

Laurence, Margaret.

Criticism and interpretation.

Physical Description:

xviii, 186 pages ; 23 cm

Edition:

First edition.

Place of Publication:

Edmonton : University of Alberta Press, [2005]

Summary:

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 epic voice from its tentative beginnings in her African fiction to its culmination in the Manawaka Cycle. He argues that it was Laurence's ability to illustrate the epic dimension in her character's strengths and weaknesses that has ensured her a lasting place among great Canadian writers.

Contents:

Part 1 Epic Beginnings

I This Side Jordan: Epic Conflict 3

II The Tomorrow-Tamer: Patterns of Exile 17

Part 2 The Comedy of the Soul

III The Stone Angel: Hagar in Hell 45

IV A Jest of God and The Fire-Dwellers: Purgatorial Progress 71

V Jason's Quest and A Bird in the House: Epic Dialogue 97

VI The Diviners: Heaven on Earth 115

VII Epic Epilogue 139.

Notes:

Includes bibliographical references (pages 161-170) and index.

ISBN:

0888644515 :

OCLC:

61478171