Margaret Laurence: 100 Years

Margaret Laurence was born one hundred years ago today. Is recognition appropriate in a blog devoted to Canada's forgotten, neglected, and suppressed writing? I'd say so. Laurence was popular and celebrated in her day and remains so today, yet she was also a lightning rod for censors.Leading the charge was Reverend Sam Buick of Peterborough's Dublin Street Pentecostal Church, who considered The Diviners blasphemous, adulterous, and profane. Did his ire have something to do with his similarity to the novel's Reverend Jake Flood? He never addressed the issue.My first Margaret Laurence book, A Jest of God, was a gift from my uncle, David Busby, a canon in the Anglican Church. It was also my first signed book. Published in 1978, it's part of a series of Seal reissues of Laurence's books. which I would argue are the most attractive mass market paperbacks ever published in this country. Missing is The Stone Angel, her masterpiece, but that's only because I couldn't find a decent image…