Selected Letters of Margaret Laurence and Adele Wiseman

Patricia Morley is professor emerita of English and Canadian studies at
Concordia University, and the author of Kurlek, Margaret Laurence: The
Long Journey Home, and As Though Life Mattered: Leo Kennedy’s Story.

These selected letters of Margaret Laurence and Adele Wiseman extend
over almost 40 years (1947–86), covering a period during which these
two writers produced several classic novels and coped with a host of
problems. Far more of Laurence’s letters have survived, and the
editors’ selection reflects this imbalance.

In their fine introduction, which brims with valuable insights on both
writers, the editors note that the most frequently repeated phrase in
the correspondence was “Please write.” The letters, a lifeline for
both women, explore the competing demands of family and their vocation
as writers, along with anxieties about making a living. Laurence’s
early letters are descriptive and decorous. By the 1960s, her style has
become colloquial, often profane, and sometimes comic. As the editors
observe, “[t]he intensity remained, but it was complemented by
hard-won inner strength.” Wiseman’s letters reveal a keen intellect,
although she sometimes mocks her “little metaphysical rambles.”

This book sheds considerable light on the personal and professional
lives of these two major writers.