 |
|
|
|
Lale Eskicioglu
Hagar's story begins from her childhood, going back and forth between her memories accumulated through the decades and her current life with her son and daughter-in-law. She is a strong-willed and proud person whose body is no longer obliging the orders from her brain. Even though Hagar is the narrator, thanks to the genius of Margaret Laurence, the novel gives us both sides of the story: the aging woman once so independent and her middle-aged children who are caring for her. Hagar is smart and witty while her son and daughter-in-law, although decent, well-meaning people, do not even come close to understanding what the old lady is going through.
The Stone Angel is probably the best novel ever written by a Canadian author however it has also been one of the most unfortunate of all books because it has been chosen as mandatory reading in many Canadian high-schools. It is not a book for teenagers. How can we expect high-school students to understand and enjoy a book about a dying woman's introspective self-analysis? Let us find more engaging books for our youth and leave this wonderful novel to adults. We would be doing a service both to our youth and to Canadian Literature. Non-fiction of the month: It's the Crude, Dude: Greed, Gas, War and the American Way by Linda McQuaig.
I will let journalist and author Linda McQuaig's book titles of her works on politics and economics do the introduction:
As you can see Linda McQuaig has been courageously taking on the establishment for a quarter of a century now. Her books are not only very well researched and detailed but very entertaining as well. Her first It's the Crude, Dude was published in 2004 and subtitled "War, Big Oil and the Fight for the Planet." She followed up with her second It's the Crude, Dude in 2006, this time establishing the connection to the Iraq war: "Greed, Gas, War and the American Way." What can we possibly add to what Noam Chomsky had to say about it: "McQuaig's perceptive inquiry into the world's energy system is an urgent wake-up call that should - that must - be read and acted upon, without delay.
|
|
| l | |
The
Stone Angel is one of the most brilliant novels in Canadian Literature
and its author Margaret Laurence (1926 - 1987) is one of
the most revered Canadian writers. The heroine of The Stone
Angel is Hagar, a woman who is 90 years old. When Margaret
Laurence wrote the story of Hagar, she herself was only 35 years
old. The fact that the author could have so much insight into the
mind, heart and emotions of a 90-years-old elderly is the brilliance
of Canada's most famous novel.
Margaret
Laurence herself never got to be 90 years old. At the age of
60, she was diagnosed with lung cancer. A decade after her death,
through a new biography written by James King, Canadians
were shocked to learn that Laurence had committed suicide
to put an end to her own suffering and to avoid becoming a burden
on her loved ones. Her diaries shared with biographer James King
by Laurence's daughter and son show that the most influential
writer in Canada had fears and sorrows just like the rest of us.
Behind
Closed Doors: How the Rich Won Control of Canada's Tax System ...
And Ended Up Richer (1987)
