{"product_id":"9780887556739","title":"Writing Grief: Margaret Laurence and the Work of Mourning","description":"\u003cp\u003eMargaret Laurence's much admired Manawaka fiction—\u003ci\u003eThe Stone Angel\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Jest of God\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eThe Fire-Dwellers\u003c\/i\u003e, \u003ci\u003eA Bird in the House\u003c\/i\u003e, and \u003ci\u003eThe Diviners\u003c\/i\u003e—has achieved remarkable recognition for its compassionate portrayal of the attempt to find meaning and peace in ordinary life. In\u003ci\u003e Writing Grief\u003c\/i\u003e, Christian Riegel argues that the protagonists in these books achieve resolution through acts of mourning, placing this fiction within the larger tradition of writing that explores the nuances and strategies of mourning.\u003cbr\u003e      Riegel's analysis alludes to sociological and literary antecedants of the study of mourning, including the tradition of elegy, from Derrida and Lacan to Freud, van Gennep, and Milton. The \"work\" of mourning is necessary to move from a state of emotional paralysis to one of acceptance and active engagement. Laurence's characters \"perform the work of mourning...returning over and over again to the key issues relating to loss,\" and, as Riegel's close examination of the texts suggests, are changed thereafter fundamentally and significantly.\u003cbr\u003e      As an important study of one aspect of Laurence's oeuvre, \u003ci\u003eWriting Gri\u003c\/i\u003eef not only illustrates how Laurence's own preoccupations with mourning are figured, but also how different ways of working through grief result in renewed potential for consolation and connection, and \"a renewed definition of self.\"\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"University of Manitoba Press","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47022603469040,"sku":"9780887556739","price":22.95,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/9780887556739_p0.jpg?v=1763850262","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/9780887556739","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}