The conflict between the generations in 'The Diviners'

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Literature, grade: 2,7, Johannes Gutenberg University Mainz (Amerikanistik, Anglistik und Anglophonie), course: Settling the Prairies: History and Myth- Making in the United States and Canada, language: English, abstract: This paper deals with the conflict between the generations in Margaret Laurence's novel The Diviners. As this book is partly autobiographical, the first chapter gives a short biography of the author Margaret Laurence. Her life and experiences had a great influence on her writing and several parallels between her own life and the one of the novel's hero Morag Gunn can be identified. After a short summary of the plot in chapter 3, the paper deals with the different relationships between the generations in the novel. For this paper, the main character Morag Gunn and the character Jules Tonnerre are of special interest. Therefore their relationships to their parents' generation and their child Pique are described in detail. This paper is completed by a short conclusion.