|
Margaret ATWOOD's ninth novel (1996) is an extensively researched work of historical fiction. It centres on the mysterious figure of Grace Marks, who was convicted in 1843 at the age of 16 for the murders of Thomas Kinnear, her employer and a wealthy Upper Canadian living in Richmond Hill, and Nancy Montgomery, his housekeeper and mistress. Atwood was intrigued by Susanna MOODIE's chapter on Marks in Life in the Clearings (1853) and wrote a CBC television play about Marks, The Servant Girl (1974), based on Moodie's account.
Alias Grace calls into question Moodie's portrayal of Marks as a guilty madwoman. As Atwood reveals in the novel, public opinion was sharply divided on the question of Marks's role in the murders; reflecting 19th-century gender stereotypes, she was both demonized as a ruthless femme fatale and romanticized as a helpless victim. In Alias Grace, Dr. Simon Jordan, a specialist in the burgeoning field of mental illness, is engaged by a group of Marks's supporters in Kingston to help her recover her apparently repressed memories of the murders. The core of the novel consists of their patient/therapist dialogue, and as the narrative unfolds it is clear that both doctor and patient have split selves. More than an absorbing murder mystery, Alias Grace is brilliant social history. Atwood also explores mid-19th-century theories of mental illness, public fascination with spiritualism, medical interest in somnambulism, "neuro-hypnotism" and the significance of dreams. Shortlisted for the Governor General's Award and England's Booker Prize, the novel won the Giller Prize for fiction.
 Atwood, MargaretAtwood has explored the issues of our time, capturing them in the satirical, self-reflexive mode of the contemporary novel (photo by Graeme Gibson).
Author
COLIN BOYD
|
|
|
|
 |
|
| David Thompson was an outsider, struggling to find a foothold in the empire that had consumed his country... |
|
| Pierre Elliott Trudeau, politician, writer, constitutional lawyer, prime minister of Canada 1968-79 and 1980-84 (b at ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Louis Riel, Métis leader, founder of Manitoba, central figure in the NORTH-WEST REBELLION (b at Red River ... |
|
|
| Few countries were affected as severely as Canada by the worldwide Depression of the 1930s. It is estimated that ... |
|
|
| Evangelical Christian Church, often called the Christian Church (Christian Disciples), is a denomination stemming from ... |
|
|
| The Group of Seven was founded in 1920 as an organization of self-proclaimed modern artists. The original members - ... |
|
|
| Sears Canada Inc, headquartered in Toronto, is a Canadian retailer incorporated in 1952. In 1953 operating under the ... |
|
|
| John Ware, "Nigger John," horseman, rancher (b near Georgetown, SC 1845; d near Brooks, Alta 11 Sept 1905). ... |
|
|
| Land claims are dealt with by a process established by the federal government to enable INDIANS, INUIT and ... |
|
Browse the rich visual resources of The Canadian Encyclopedia through thematic galleries of Canadian Art, History, Nature, People, and Science and Technology.
Illustrations, lively text, animations, sounds and games help make learning about Canadian history, art, geography, architecture and other topics entertaining as well as informative.
The ultimate test of your knowledge of Canada, trivial and otherwise. You can choose from more than 60 dynamic quizzes with visual or text clues. Your scores depend on the speed with which you answer and the number of clues you need. Results are sent to you by email and high scores are posted on the site.
This unique resource includes more than 6000 events from Canadian and world history. It can be searched by era, subject, keyword or date. To find out what happened on your birthday, select the month and day of your birth.
This selection of the 100 "greatest" events in Canadian history was made by editor in chief James H. Marsh to draw attention to events that have left an indelible memory in the minds of later generations.
| THE ENCYCLOPEDIA OF MUSIC IN CANADA |
|
| 'Big' (Clarence Horatio) Miller. Singer, trombonist, actor, b Sioux City, Iowa, 18 Dec 1922, naturalized Canadian 1973, d Edmonton 9 Jun 1992, honorary D LITT (Athabasca) 1985. He began his career as a teenaged blues shouter in ... |
|
|
