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The Diviners
''The Diviners'' is a novel by Margaret Laurence. Published by McClelland & Stewart in 1974, it was Laurence's final novel, and is considered one of the classics of Canadian literature. The novel won the Governor General's Award for English-language fiction in 1974. The protagonist of the novel is Morag Gunn, a fiercely independent writer who grew up in Manawaka, Manitoba. Morag has a difficult relationship with her daughter Pique and her Métis lover Jules Tonnerre, and struggles to maintain her independence. '' The Diviners'' was adapted for television by Anne Wheeler, with a screenplay by Linda Svendsen, and aired on CBC Television in 1993. Sonja Smits starred as Morag, and Tom Jackson starred as Jules Tonnerre. The book has been repeatedly banned by school boards and high schools. It is a regularly featured book on the American Library Association's Freedom to Read campaign. Plot summary ''The Diviners'' follows the story of fictional Canadian novelist, Morag Gun ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Margaret Laurence
Jean Margaret Laurence (née Wemyss; July 18, 1926 – January 5, 1987) was a Canadian novelist and short story writer, and is one of the major figures in Canadian literature. She was also a founder of the Writers' Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada's writing community. Biography Early years Margaret Laurence was born Jean Margaret Wemyss on 18 July 1926 in Neepawa, Manitoba, the daughter of solicitor Robert Wemyss and Verna Jean Simpson. She was known as "Peggy" during her childhood. Her mother died when she was four, after which a maternal aunt, Margaret Simpson, came to take care of the family. A year later Margaret Simpson married Robert Wemyss, and in 1933 they adopted a son, Robert. In 1935, when Laurence was nine, Robert Wemyss Sr. died of pneumonia. Laurence then moved into her maternal grandfather's home with her stepmother and brother. She lived in Neepawa until she was 18. Education In 1944, Laurence attende ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Sonja Smits
Sonja Smits (born September 8, 1958) is a Canadian actress. She was nominated for two Genie Awards: for '' Videodrome'' (1983) and '' That's My Baby!'' (1984). On television, she starred in '' Street Legal'' (1987-1992) and '' Traders'' (1996-2000). Life and career Smits was born in the Ottawa Valley, Ontario, Canada. She went to Bell High School in Bells Corners, she also attended Woodroffe High School and South Carleton High School in Richmond, a village outside Ottawa. She studied acting at Ryerson Polytechnic Institute until she was invited to join the Centre Stage theatre company in London, Ontario. Smits has played roles in many television series, including ''Falcon Crest'', '' Airwolf'', ''Odyssey 5'', '' The Outer Limits'', '' Street Legal'', '' Traders'', '' The Best Laid Plans'' and '' The Eleventh Hour''. Smits also played Bianca O'Blivion in the David Cronenberg horror movie '' Videodrome'' (1983) and was lead actress in 2021 drama film '' Drifting Snow''. She ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Otonabee River
The Otonabee River is a river in Peterborough County in Central Ontario, Canada. The river flows from Katchewanooka Lake, at the north end of the community of Lakefield, through the city of Peterborough to Rice Lake. It is in the Great Lakes Basin and forms part of the Trent-Severn Waterway. Etymology The river is called ''Odoonabii-ziibi'' in the Ojibwe language. Otonabee comes from the words ''ode'' which means "heart" and ''odemgat'' that comes from "boiling water". It translates into "the river that beats like a heart in reference to the bubbling and boiling water of the rapids along the river". Course The river begins at Katchewanooka Lake on the north side of the community of Lakefield in the municipality of Selwyn, and flows south over the Lakefield (Trent-Severn lock 26) dams and locks. After leaving the community to the Peterborough city limits, the river forms the border between Selwyn and the municipality of Douro–Dummer. The river continues south, passing thro ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Frame Story
A frame story (also known as a frame tale, frame narrative, sandwich narrative, or intercalation) is a literary technique that serves as a companion piece to a story within a story, where an introductory or main narrative sets the stage either for a more emphasized second narrative or for a set of shorter stories. The frame story leads readers from a first story into one or more other stories within it. The frame story may also be used to inform readers about aspects of the secondary narrative(s) that may otherwise be hard to understand. This should not be confused with narrative structure. Notable examples are the ''1001 Nights'' and ''The Decameron''. Origins Some of the earliest frame stories are from ancient Egypt, including one in the Papyrus Westcar, the ''Tale of the Shipwrecked Sailor'', and ''The Eloquent Peasant''. Other early examples are from Indian literature, including the Indian epic poetry, Sanskrit epics ''Mahabharata'', ''Ramayana'', ''Panchatantra'', Syntipas ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Metafiction
Metafiction is a form of fiction that emphasizes its own narrative structure in a way that inherently reminds the audience that they are reading or viewing a fictional work. Metafiction is self-conscious about language, literary form, and storytelling, and works of metafiction directly or indirectly draw attention to their status as artifacts. Metafiction is frequently used as a form of parody or a tool to undermine literary conventions and explore the relationship between literature and reality, life and art. Although metafiction is most commonly associated with postmodern literature that developed in the mid-20th century, its use can be traced back to much earlier works of fiction, such as '' The Canterbury Tales'' (Geoffrey Chaucer, 1387), ''Don Quixote'' Part Two (Miguel de Cervantes, 1615), '' Chymical Wedding of Christian Rosenkreutz'' ( Johann Valentin Andreae, 1617), '' The Cloud Dream of the Nine'' ( Kim Man-jung, 1687), '' The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, G ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Portrait Of The Artist As A Young Man
''A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man'' is the second book and first novel of Irish writer James Joyce, published in 1916. A ''Künstlerroman'' written in a modernist style, it traces the religious and intellectual awakening of young Stephen Dedalus, Joyce's fictional alter ego, whose surname alludes to Daedalus, Greek mythology's consummate craftsman. Stephen questions and rebels against the Catholic and Irish conventions under which he has grown, culminating in his self-exile from Ireland to Europe. The work uses techniques that Joyce developed more fully in '' Ulysses'' (1922) and ''Finnegans Wake'' (1939). ''A Portrait'' began life in 1904 as '' Stephen Hero''—a projected 63-chapter autobiographical novel in a realistic style. After 25 chapters, Joyce abandoned ''Stephen Hero'' in 1907 and set to reworking its themes and protagonist into a condensed five-chapter novel, dispensing with strict realism and making extensive use of free indirect speech that allows th ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Künstlerroman
A ''Künstlerroman'' (; plural ''-ane''), meaning "artist's novel" in English, is a narrative about an artist's growth to maturity.Werlock, James P. (2010The Facts on File companion to the American short story Volume 2, p.387 It could be classified as a sub-category of ''Bildungsroman'': a coming of age, coming-of-age novel. According to ''Encyclopædia Britannica, Encyclopaedia Britannica'', one way a Künstlerroman may differ from a Bildungsroman is its ending, where a Künstlerroman hero rejects the everyday life, but a Bildungsroman hero settles for being an ordinary citizen. According to ''Oxford Reference'', the difference may lie in a longer view across the Künstlerroman hero's whole life, not just their childhood years. Examples by language German *Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's 1795 ''Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship'' *Ludwig Tieck's 1798 ''Franz Sternbalds Wanderungen'' *Novalis's 1802 ''Heinrich von Ofterdingen'' *Hermann Hesse's ''Demian'' (1919) and ''Klingsor's Last ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
A Bird In The House
''A Bird in the House'', first published in 1970, is a short story sequence written by Margaret Laurence. Noted by Laurence to be "semi-autobiographical", the series chronicles the growing up of a young agnostic writer, Vanessa MacLeod, in the fictional town of Manawaka, Manitoba. ''A Bird in the House'' was written from the perspective of Vanessa at age forty, while she recalls her childhood (with the exception of the final chapter ''Jericho's Brick Battlements'', when she revisits her childhood home). It is therefore impossible to tell if young Vanessa was truly able to understand the events unfolding around her, or if she gained that understanding later in life. Originally published as a series of independent short stories, Main characters Vanessa MacLeod: The protagonist, various ages throughout the novel. The character is a middle-aged woman who uses flashback to reveal lessons learned from her family as she grows up. Beth MacLeod, Vanessa's mother: Beth is a former nurs ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Louis Riel
Louis Riel (; ; 22 October 1844 – 16 November 1885) was a Canadian politician, a founder of the province of Manitoba, and a political leader of the Métis in Canada, Métis people. He led two resistance movements against the Government of Canada and its first prime minister John A. Macdonald. Riel sought to defend Métis rights and identity as the Northwest Territories came progressively under the Canadian sphere of influence. The first resistance movement led by Riel was the Red River Resistance of 1869–1870. The provisional government established by Riel ultimately negotiated the terms under which the new province of Manitoba entered the Canadian Confederation. However, while carrying out the resistance, Riel had a Canadian nationalist, Thomas Scott (Orangeman), Thomas Scott, executed. Riel soon fled to the United States to escape prosecution. He was elected three times as Member of Parliament (Canada), member of the House of Commons of Canada, House of Commons, but, f ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Catharine Parr Traill
Catharine Parr Traill (born Strickland; 9 January 1802 – 29 August 1899) was an English-Canadian author and naturalist who wrote about life in Canada, particularly what is now Ontario (then the colony of Upper Canada). In the 1830s, Canada covered an area considerably smaller than today. At the time, most of Upper Canada had not been explored by European settlers. Throughout her long life, Traill wrote to generate income in support of her family. She wrote 24 books covering topics ranging from her life as a settler in Ontario to natural history, especially botany. Traill is considered a pioneer of Canada's natural history. Through her writing, she related the colonial experience and described the natural environment of Upper Canada for English readers. Traill is considered an amateur botanist, because at the time, it was not possible for women to hold professional, paid positions. Early years Catharine Parr Strickland was born in the district of Rotherhithe in Southwark ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Social Class
A social class or social stratum is a grouping of people into a set of Dominance hierarchy, hierarchical social categories, the most common being the working class and the Bourgeoisie, capitalist class. Membership of a social class can for example be dependent on education, wealth, occupation, income, and belonging to a particular subculture or social network. Class is a subject of analysis for sociologists, political scientists, anthropologists and Social history, social historians. The term has a wide range of sometimes conflicting meanings, and there is no broad consensus on a definition of class. Some people argue that due to social mobility, class boundaries do not exist. In common parlance, the term social class is usually synonymous with Socioeconomic status, socioeconomic class, defined as "people having the same social, economic, cultural, political or educational status", e.g. the working class, "an emerging professional class" etc. However, academics distinguish socia ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Polio
Poliomyelitis ( ), commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 75% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe symptoms develop such as headache, neck stiffness, and paresthesia. These symptoms usually pass within one or two weeks. A less common symptom is permanent Flaccid paralysis, paralysis, and possible death in extreme cases.. Years after recovery, post-polio syndrome may occur, with a slow development of muscle weakness similar to what the person had during the initial infection. Polio occurs naturally only in humans. It is highly infectious, and is spread from person to person either through fecal–oral route, fecal–oral transmission (e.g. poor hygiene, or by ingestion of food or water contaminated by human feces), or via the oral–oral route. Those who are infected may spread the disease for up to six weeks even if no symptoms are pre ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
