The Stone Angel Phoenix Fiction Series by Margaret Laurence - Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night

The Stone Angel (Phoenix Fiction

Series) by Margaret Laurence









Do Not Go Gentle Into That Good Night.





The Stone Angel, The Diviners, and A Bird in the House are three of the

five books in Margaret Laurences renowned Manawaka series, named for

the small Canadian prairie town in which they take place. Each of these

books is narrated by a strong woman growing up in the town and

struggling with physical and emotional isolation. In The Stone Angel,

Hagar Shipley, age ninety, tells the story of her life, and in doing so tries to

come to terms with how the very qualities which sustained her have

deprived her of joy. Mingling past and present, she maintains pride in the

face of senility, while recalling the life she led as a rebellious young bride,

and later as a grieving mother. Laurence gives us in Hagar a woman who

is funny, infuriating, and heartbreakingly poignant. It is [Laurences]

admirable achievement to strike, with an equally sure touch, the peculiar

note and the universal; she gives us a portrait of a remarkable character

and at the same time the picture of old age itself, with the pain, the

weariness, the terror, the impotent angers and physical mishaps, the

realization that others are waiting and wishing for an end.--Honor Tracy,

The New Republic



Features:



This is essential CanLit 101.

Iconic!

For the longest time I have intended to read Margaret Laurence, and this is

where I have started. I now know that I will continue on and read more of

her work, especially the other Manawaka books in the series.

I think we are looking at some essential Canadian literature here, and yet,

nearly every high school student from St John's to Victoria would rise up

and say "What? Are you nuts?" As much as this book is inflicted upon the

high-schoolers of Canada, it sure has not gained a welcome reception by

that age group! For the Canadian teenager, seeing The Stone Angel on

the English syllabus has become the equivalent of.... hmmm what would

one say? Having a radio that is locked on the CBC station?

I believe this is because The Stone Angel is a book that is all about the

"interior" and to truly love the book the reader must have an appreciation of

the life processes involved in becoming an elderly person. From start to

finish we are on the inside of this character Hagar Shipley. It is not the

realm of the exciting pace and involved plotline. This book is rather a very

somber, brooding, introspective look at a proud and uncompromising

woman in her nineties. She is a woman who does not (in the slightest)

want to succumb to the realities, adjustments, and inconveniences of aging

and dying. As she faces the combined trauma of diminished health and

loss of meaningful relationships, she has to come to terms with who she

really is.

How far will her incessant pride and irritable cra nkiness get her in this last

year of her life? How can she escape from those who try to make it all

easier for her? Will she confess her unmitigated (and inevitable) need of

others... of those who truly, and undauntingly, care for her well-being? Will

she break down or remain haughty?

Laurence is simply brilliant in that she weaves a seamless web between

the present and the past, between Hagar's current experience and her

memories.

It is not easy, the transition[s] that we who will live on into old age wil l have

to make if we are to succeed at being old. This book pulls no punches with

how difficult the process can be, especially for the type "A" personality.

It is no accident that the book begins with the lines from Dylan Thomas:

Do not go gentle into that good night.

Rage, rage against the dying of the light.

It is a story about a woman who raged. And yet (in my opinion)there is not

one real angry tirade in it! It is (I think) a different sort of "raging" that is

being dealt with here in the story, as with the poem by Thomas. It is not the

kind of raging that is with gritted teeth and defiance, [denial] it is the kind of

raging that is mingled with profound sadness and regret... yes, anger too I

suppose, but anger only because one has to leave behind so muc h of what

one loves.

Here is the realistic journey of a woman who has to come to terms with the

fact that "what's going to happen can't be delayed indefinitely."

I think the book is somewhat of a masterpiece. Voraciously, I read it.





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