The Other Country: Patterns in the Writing of Alice Munro

796 Pages·1993·7.87 MB·English

by  James Carscallen

J A M E S C A R S C A L L E N

FOREWORD . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vii
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS . . . . . . . . . . . X
Part r
INTRODUCTION: Munro's Presentation . . . . . . I I: Truth and Reality . . . . . . . .
. . I
Ii: Epiphany . 6
III: Narrative and Meditation . . . . . . . 12
IV: Invasion . . . . . . . . . . . . 22
CHAPTER I: Names . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
I : Sign-Posts . . . . . . . . . . . . 44
ii: Mary . . . . . . . . . . . . . 49
III: Elizabeth . . . . . . . . . . . . 66
Iv: Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . 75
V: Relations . . . . . . . . . . . . 83
CHAPTER 2: Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . 103
I : Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . 103
II: Simple Figures . . . . . . . . . . I I I
I. Point . . . . . . . . . . . I I I
z. Line . . . . . . . . . . . 119
3. Circle . . . . . . . . . . . r 12-
III: Typology . . . . . . . . . . . . 125
IV: The Comforter . . . . . . . . . . 140
v: Recognition . . . . . . . . . . . 145
Part i r
INTRODUCTION: Books as Stories . . . . . . . . 163
CHAPTER I: The Foundry Disease . . . . . . . . 179
I: Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . 179
II: In the Beginning . 18q
III: The Falling Titan . . . . . . . . . . 196
IV: Wilderness . . . . . . . . . . . . z04
V: Stories . . . . . . . . . . . . 217
VI: At the Door . . . . . . . . . . . zz9
vii: The Loony Lady . . . . . . . . . . 240
CHAPTER 2: The Shining House . . . . . . . . 260
A. Interlude: The Pied Piper . . . . . . . . z6o
B. The Central Phase . . . . . . . . . . 2.75
I: Kingdoms of the World . . . . . . 275
II: The King and His Realm . . . . . z88
III: Pranksters and Barbarians . . . . . 302
Iv: The Living Body . . . . . . . . 314
v: Stories . . . . . . . . . . . 318
VI: Mummies . . . . . . . . . . 329
CHAPTER 3: The Man in the Fire . . . . . . . . 350
A. Exodus . . . . . . . . . . . . . 350
I: Introduction . . . . . . . . . 350
II: The Exodus World . . . . . . . 354
III: Pairs . . . . . . . . . . . . 36z
Iv: Stories . . . . . . . . . . . 369
V: Wisdom . . . . . . . . . . . 373
B. Passion . . . . . . . . . . . . . 379
I: Introduction . . . . . . . . . 379
II: The Dying God . . . . . . . . 388
III: A Last Chance . . . . . . . . . 401
Iv: Three Tries . . . . . . . . . . 407
v: Story and Crisis . . . . . . . . 410
vi: The Baptism of Fire . . . . . . . 4z9
vii: Real Life . . . . . . . . . . . 435
CHAPTER 4: A Link Beyond the Usual . . . . . . 461
A. The Apocalypse . . . . . . . . . . 461
I: Introduction . . . . . . . . . 461
II: The Restored Temple . . . . . . . 466
III: The Thief in the Night . . . . . . 474
Iv: The Tragic Cycle . . . . . . . . 478
v: The Messenger . . . . . . . . . 485
B. Unrefined Flour . . . . . . . . . . 494
I: The Bonds of Death . . . . . . . 494
II: Mrs. Carbuncle . . . . . . . . 505
c. Taking Your Life . . . . . . . . . . 511
I: Believe Me . . . . . . . . . . 52.1
II: A Whole Word . . . . . . . . 531
CONTENTS OF MUNRO'S BOOKS . . . . . . . 548
WRITINGS REFERRED TO . . . . . . . . . 551
INDEX OF TITLES AND CHARACTERS . . . . . . 555
INDEX OF WRITERS ON MUNRO REFERRED TO 581
The following book is offered, not just to Munro specialists, but to anyone who
has found her work enjoyable and moving. For this
reason among others I have tried to write in plain English, even if in places I
have had to stipulate a special meaning for a word or phrase.
Similarly, I have not counted on knowledge that a general reader
would not possess or have readily available. Munro's uncollected
stories are no doubt hard to get at, not to mention her unpublished ones. Where I
have felt the need to refer to these, I have tried to supply necessary information;
in any case they play no great part in my
argument. Draft materials play even less: the different versions of Munro's work
merit a thorough study, but trying to incorporate one into this book would have
produced chaos, as would unwillingness
to posit that a Munro story is whatever it finally became. I have also stuck pretty
closely to the stories themselves as my evidence, believing that a study of the
present kind cannot depend on an author's
conscious intentions. Thus I have used Munro's comments on her
work only sparingly and never to settle a matter; I have consulted her personally
only on a couple of factual points. Except simply as the author of her writing,
she is not responsible for any of my interpretations, and has given none of them
her certification. Anyone with Munro's books on hand is hence in much the same
position as I have chosen for myself.
Part i of my study sets out my interpretative model as it applies to individual
stories. To some extent this has meant going over familiar ground, much of it
covered more thoroughly by others; to some
extent my model differs from ones commonly used for Munro. What