The Diviners
by Margaret Laurence | Literature & Fiction | This book has not been rated.
ISBN: 0226469352 Global Overview for this book
ISBN: 0226469352 Global Overview for this book
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Perhaps the best known and most loved of all Margaret Laurence's novels, The Diviners was also her last novel and the final entry in her Manawaka sequence. Laurence, who saw The Diviners as her own fictional autobiography, tells the story of 48-year-old Morag Gunn as she struggles to finish another novel. As she works, she reminisces about her life. It's her story but it's also the story of the men and women who have fostered her, for good and bad: her parents, who died when she was five; her eccentric stepfather and his reclusive wife; her overbearing and repressive husband, who tried to smother her dreams to write; and the sensuous but unreliable Native lover who inspires her, with whom she bears a daughter and with whom she is never happy.
The Diviners is Laurence at her most inventive. She incorporates flashbacks, personal reminiscences, imaginary conversations, and philosophical meditations, shifting between narrative and digression to give readers a sense of Morag's thought processes. The novel also incorporates the themes that mattered most to Laurence: racial and gender equality, the validity of the Canadian literary experience, and the importance of artistic expression in society. The Diviners, which brought Laurence her second Governor General's Award in 1974, is a rich and striking novel, a fitting finale for Laurence's portrait of Manawaka.
Perhaps the best known and most loved of all Margaret Laurence's novels, The Diviners was also her last novel and the final entry in her Manawaka sequence. Laurence, who saw The Diviners as her own fictional autobiography, tells the story of 48-year-old Morag Gunn as she struggles to finish another novel. As she works, she reminisces about her life. It's her story but it's also the story of the men and women who have fostered her, for good and bad: her parents, who died when she was five; her eccentric stepfather and his reclusive wife; her overbearing and repressive husband, who tried to smother her dreams to write; and the sensuous but unreliable Native lover who inspires her, with whom she bears a daughter and with whom she is never happy.
The Diviners is Laurence at her most inventive. She incorporates flashbacks, personal reminiscences, imaginary conversations, and philosophical meditations, shifting between narrative and digression to give readers a sense of Morag's thought processes. The novel also incorporates the themes that mattered most to Laurence: racial and gender equality, the validity of the Canadian literary experience, and the importance of artistic expression in society. The Diviners, which brought Laurence her second Governor General's Award in 1974, is a rich and striking novel, a fitting finale for Laurence's portrait of Manawaka.
Journal Entry 2 by fracula at Royal Canadian Legion 264 in Calgary, Alberta Canada on Tuesday, June 26, 2012
Released 11 yrs ago (6/25/2012 UTC) at Royal Canadian Legion 264 in Calgary, Alberta Canada
WILD RELEASE NOTES:
2012 Canada Release Challenge
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DEAR FINDER,
You have not only found yourself a good book, but a whole community of book lovers dedicated to sharing books with each other and the world.
Not sure what to do? Follow these steps!
1) You may continue as an Anonymous Finder. Or, Register as a member , then you too will receive future journal entries on this book and track its journey around the world! It's free and spam-free, as you are only known by your chosen nick name and no one is ever given your e-mail address. (If you do choose to join, I hope you'll consider using me, Fracula, as your referring member.)
2) Make a journal entry on this book to let us know how you found it!
3) If you choose to read the book, please make another journal entry when you finish it to let us know what you thought!
4) Ready to pass the book on? Click on "make release notes" to let us know where it's going! Leave the book in a public place or give it to a friend! It's good book karma!
Are you in the Calgary area and interested in meeting up with other Calgary BookCrossers? Please check out our Facebook group, "BookCrossing Calgary" for details. Meeting are held on the second Saturday of every month at the Joshua Tree Cafe starting at 11am. New Crossers are always welcome.
