en

sister ought to The preferred Hermes brown imitation Kelly handbag full of temperament from zroessgs viesoess's blog

Victoria novelist Tricia Dower explores sorrows of marriage

By Tricia DowerThe phrase "The Marriage Plot," if you are a graduate student in English literature, will remind you of Jane Austen and other 18th and 19th century novelists whose stories turned on the misunderstandings and obstacles between a woman and the how much is a hermes handbag man who courts her. (Spoiler alert. No matter how fierce the misunderstandings or daunting the obstacles, the marriage is usually represented as the happy ending of these tales.) Austen may be the quintessential mistress of the marriage plot, and is certainly one of its most accomplished and witty champions.

"The marriage plot" is a term of art in literary criticism that refers to the many tales of middle class courtship and its discontents that filled bookshelves and reading tables during the long 19th century, when the novel was as much a central figure in mass culture as Netflix or HBO are now.

But since the rise of second wave feminism in the middle of the 20th century, another body of literature has emerged which could also be gathered under the rubric of "The Marriage Plot." The "plot" in this group of novels and polemics is conspiratorial, not narrative, and it references the many ways that marriage under patriarchy is a rigged game designed to hold women and children under the clammy, often clumsy and always oppressive dominance of husbands and fathers.

Some of the most powerful and eloquent Canadian novelists of the 20th and 21st century belong to this tradition, including Margaret Atwood, Margaret Lawrence and Ethel Wilson.

This impressive new book is the second volume in a planned trilogy that began with Dower's first novel, Stony River, in 2008. That book, in turn, elaborates and extends one of the short stories from her first book length publication, the story collection Silent Girl.

Dower, who came to fiction in mid life after an early retirement from a corporate career, is clearly at work here on a complex weave of interconnected narrative that follows her protagonist, Linda Wise from a childhood in New Jersey through a coming of age narrative that strips away the '50s illusions of untroubled suburban life to reveal some of the horrors beneath the surface, including a young woman held as a sex slave in a neighbour's house, a knife wielding attacker and the lurid local gossip that blames and shames the victims. But Dower, with a keen eye for period detail, especially clothing and pop music, and a gift for creating believable characters with distinctive voices, insists on the human particularity of her characters.

Although her characters illustrate some of the iconic moments experienced by an American generation, including the civil rights movement, the Vietnam War, draft resistance, emerging feminism and all the bewildering and thrilling chaos of the '60s, they are never simply vehicles for abstract politics or cultural commentary. They are fully realized characters who evoke genuine empathy in the reader.

In the trilogy's next instalment, Becoming Lin, the protagonist experiences a disillusioning marriage to an idealistic young husband who turns out to be more dedicated to the freedom of distant others than that of his own wife.

Like so many women of her generation, Linda Wise soon begins to understand the constraints imposed by sexism (a term that does not appear in the book itself) at home, at work and in the church, and begins to fight back

Moving, well crafted and thoughtful, Becoming Lin is a novel of ideas and of politics in the very best sense. Dower shows us the tectonic shifts that undergird a culture in transition while respecting and bringing to life the fine grain human details of the characters living out their own poignant stories on that shifting ground.

By the end of the novel, Linda Wise has become Lin, and is well on her way to an adult, autonomous identity, the one thing the culture surrounding her was designed to make impossible. She has begun to come to terms with replica hermes handbags outlet her difficult past and has discovered the healing powers of female friendship. And all of this is accomplished without any of the slogan mongering and cardboard characters that mar too many earnest attempts at political fiction.

Readers who enjoyed Dower's earlier work will welcome this latest offering, and first time readers are in for a genuine, pleasurable discovery.

Tom Sandborn lives fake hermes leather handbags and writes in Vancouver. He is grateful to the feminists of his generation for their challenge and instruction.

A family affair: St Viateur Bagel celebrates 60 yearsBagels are the great equalizer. Everybody eats them, everybody loves them and everybody is invited to the bagel factory's block party on Sunday.

Daphne Bramham: Rumana Monzur's courageous and graceful triumph over abuseRumana Monzur hoped that she wouldn't cry Wednesday when she spoke at convocation, received her law .

Vaughn Palmer: Vote verdict in Comox will clear political pictureTuesday saw the NDP lead trimmed to 12, then the Liberals pulled ahead by three and, as counting ended.

Daphne Bramham: Preserving Chinatown should be a local and national priorityGreat cities have texture. They have buildings, places and communities that reflect their unique character.

{ displayName Different hermes bag fake }

Postmedia wants to improve your reading experience as well as share the best deals and promotions from our advertisers with you. The information below will be used to optimize the content and make ads across the network more relevant to you. You can always change the information you share with us by editing your profile.

The Wall

No comments
You need to sign in to comment