Leading the charge was Reverend Sam Buick of Peterborough's Dublin Street Pentecostal Church, who considered The Diviners blasphemous, adulterous, and profane. Did his ire have something to do with his similarity to the novel's Reverend Jake Flood? He never addressed the issue.
My first Margaret Laurence book, A Jest of God, was a gift from my uncle, David Busby, a canon in the Anglican Church. It was also my first signed book. Published in 1978, it's part of a series of Seal reissues which I would argue are the most attractive mass market paperbacks ever published in this country.
Starting out in the book trade, I was surprised to find that Laurence, whose novels were so ubiquitous as to be found in drug stores, were out of print in the United States. When they did return, it was with an academic press. My English cousins had easier access through Virago.
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Missing is The Stone Angel, her masterpiece, but that's only because I couldn't find a decent image online.
Ah, what the hell. Here's a copy being offered on Ebay.
Starting out in the book trade, I was surprised to find that Laurence, whose novels were so ubiquitous as to be found in drug stores, were out of print in the United States. When they did return, it was with an academic press. My English cousins had easier access through Virago.
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| American and British reissues of A Jest of God: University of Chicago Press (1993) and Virago (1987) |
For years I worried that Margaret Laurence would fade from Canadian consciousness, but her name is still strong. True, we don't see her books sold in drug stores, but then books are no longer sold in drug stores. I see Laurence lauded by English bloggers, most notably Simon at (Stuck in a Book) and Ali (Heavenali), and sense that her profile has actually risen in UK.
Wishful thinking, perhaps, but it warms the heart of this stranger.
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| Jean Margaret Laurence (née Wemysse) 18 July 1926, Neepawa, Manitoba - 5 January 1987, Lakeside, Ontario RIP |
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