The Island Motif in the Fiction of L. M. Montgomery, Margaret Laurence, Margaret Atwood, and Other Canadian Women Novelists / Edition 1

by Theodore F. Sheckels, Jr.

Overview

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.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780820467924
Publisher:	Peter Lang Inc., International Academic Publishers
Publication date:	09/24/2003
Series:	Studies on Themes and Motifs in Literature , #68
Pages:	208
Product dimensions:	6.30(w) x 9.06(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

The Author: Theodore F. Sheckels is Professor of English and Communication at Randolph-Macon College. He holds a Ph.D. from the Pennsylvania State University. He is the author of Debating: Applied Rhetorical Theory; The Lion on the Freeway: A Thematic Introduction to Contemporary South African Literature in English (Peter Lang, 1996); When Congress Debates: A Bakhtinian Paradigm; and Celluloid Heroes Down Under: Australian Cinema, 1970-2000, as well as articles in literature and communication journals.

Table of Contents

	Preface	ix
	Permissions	xiii
1.	Introduction	1
2.	Redemptive Retreats: L. M. Montgomery's "Anne Books"; L. M. Montgomery's Jane of Lantern Hill; Marian Engel's Bear	19
3.	Holding Patterns: Margaret Laurence's The Diviners; Audrey Thomas's Intertidal Life	45
4.	The Most Puzzling Island of All: Margaret Atwood's Surfacing	75
5.	Small-Town Traps: Margaret Laurence's A Jest of God; Alice Munro's Lives of Girls and Women	107
6.	Trapped in Fantasy: L. M. Montgomery's "Pat Books"; L. M. Montgomery's Magic for Marigold	133
7.	Dangerous Idylls: Gabrielle Roy's The Tin Flute; Margaret Atwood's Bodily Harm; Marie-Claire Blais's These Festive Nights	149
8.	Once More to the Island	181
	Bibliography	191
	Index	203