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THE RESONANCE OF MANAWAKA: LANDSCAPES OF RECONCILIATION
shaping multicultural perceptions of Canadian national identity and her cri¬
tigue of patriarchy, more recent studies have explored the thematic depth of
her works from a global perspective and their relevance in contemporary
discourse. This article aims to trace how Laurence employs various landscapes,
whether Prairie, mythological, ancestral, or imaginary, as potent instruments
aiding the protagonists — and metaphorically also Canada itself - in the pro¬
cess oftransformation and liberation. These landscapes also symbolize recon¬
ciliation with nature, colonial history, and Indigenous heritage.
While each book within the Manawaka series can stand on its own, their
full power lies in the collective message of reconciliation that the story arc
conveys when taken as a whole. However, due to the limitations of space, this
article discusses primarily the opening and concluding novels, The Stone Angel
(1964) and The Diviners (1974), which provide a concentrated exploration of
the transformative power of landscapes, both physical and metaphorical, on
the protagonists. Ihe intention is to offer a targeted analysis of specific nar¬
ratives that encapsulate the essence of reconciliation, conceived in this context
as the process of acknowledging and addressing historical conflicts, disparities,
and injustices, with a particular emphasis on the relationship between indi¬
viduals and their environment. The Stone Angel (1964), challenges the pride
and superiority of settlers not only over others but also over nature, landscape,
and wilderness. In contrast, the final book, The Diviners (1974), reveals (post-)
colonial traumas and emerging multiculturalism. Focusing on the landscape-rich
narratives of these two novels, the article argues that it is the narrative thread
of reconciliation on both personal and national levels that binds the pieces of
the Manawaka series together. Margaret Laurence’s vision of Canada’s future
as a coexistence of Indigenous peoples, immigrants of diverse backgrounds,
and descendants of the Pioneers, with a strong emphasis on humanity, remains
highly relevant today.
EVOLVING PERCEPTION OF PLACE
During the 1960s and 1970s, Canada grappled with issues of cultural identity,
multiculturalism, and a re-examination of its colonial past as both the colonizer
and colonized subject. Canadian cultural identity, as it was then articulated,
was torn between the desire to form a respected but culturally distinguishable
presence in the global cultural arena and a postcolonial sense of cultural
! To mention a few, Andreea Topor-Constantin (2013) seeks parallelism between life and fiction
in Laurence’s work, while Laura K. Davis (2017) scrutinizes Laurence’s involvement in the
politics of decolonization and her imaginative reconceptualization of both Africa and Canada.
Nora Foster Stovel (2020) focuses on Laurence’s non-fictional texts and introduces Laurence
not only as a crafted and versatile writer but also as an activist engaged in socio-political issues.
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