Laurence, Saint: see Lawrence, Saint.

Laurence, Margaret (Jean Margaret Laurence), 1926-87, Canadian novelist, b. Manitoba. She lived in Somaliland, Ghana, and England and many of her early works had an African setting. Laurence was particularly concerned with character, and her writings usually focused on women struggling to overcome the limitations of small town life. Among her novels are This Side Jordan (1960), The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), upon which the film Rachel, Rachel (1968) was based, The Fire-Dwellers (1969), and The Diviners (1974). In addition, Laurence published works on African literature, notably A Tree for Poverty (1954), a collection of Somali folktales and poetry, and Long Drums and Cannons: Nigerian Dramatists and Novelists (1968), a critical evaluation.

Oliphant, Laurence, 1829-88, British author, b. Capetown, South Africa. Although he wrote some valuable travel books, he is probably best remembered for his fascinating life. The son of a judge, he became a lawyer and later secretary to Lord Elgin. He was a correspondent for the London Times during the Crimean War, went with Elgin to China, was an associate of Garibaldi, and traveled all over the world. In 1867 he became a disciple of Thomas Lake Harris in a religious community at Brocton, N.Y. His writings include several travel books, notably A Journey to Katmandu (1852); two novels, Piccadilly (1866) and Altiora Peto (1883); an autobiography, Episodes in a Life of Adventure (1887); and Scientific Religion (1888). He and his first wife, Alice Le Strange, wrote a curious book, Sympneumata: Evolutionary Forces Now Active in Man (1885), inspired by Harris and supposedly dictated by a spirit. After Alice's death Oliphant married (1888) Rosamond Dale Owen, granddaughter of Robert Owen. They established a colony of Jews in Palestine.

Gronlund, Laurence, 1846-99, American Socialist, b. Denmark, educated at the Univ. of Copenhagen. He emigrated to the United States in 1867 and became a lawyer in Chicago. His Cooperative Commonwealth (1884), the first adequate exposition in the English language of German socialism, went through many editions and was influential both in the United States and in England. He wrote Our Destiny (1891), The New Economy (1898), Socializing a State (1898), and a number of pamphlets against the single-tax doctrines of Henry George. He lectured in all parts of the country and, for a time, was an executive of the Socialist Labor party.

Housman, Laurence, 1865-1959, English author; brother of A. E. Housman. He achieved success as the anonymous author of An Englishwoman's Love Letters (1900). Best known as a dramatist, he wrote Little Plays of St. Francis (1922-35) and Palace Plays (1930-33). His most famous play, Victoria Regina (1934), adapted from his Palace Plays, was banned from the English stage for representing living members of the royal family, but an American production with Helen Hayes in 1935 was highly successful.

Minot, Laurence, fl. 1333-52, English poet. He was the author of fervently patriotic war poems about Halidon Hill, the siege of Calais, and other battles. Probably a Yorkshireman, he may have been a soldier or a professional minstrel.

Sterne, Laurence, 1713-68, English author, b. Ireland. Educated at Cambridge, he entered the Anglican church and was given the living of Sutton-in-the-Forest, Yorkshire, in 1738, where he remained until 1759. He came to London the following year and was a great social success. Unhappily married, he was involved with various women during his lifetime, most notably Mrs. Eliza Draper, for whom he wrote the Journal to Eliza (1767). He led a somewhat dissolute life and much of the time was plagued by ill health, dying finally of tuberculosis. In 1760 the first volume of his masterpiece Tristram Shandy appeared. Although it was denounced on moral and literary grounds by Dr. Johnson, Horace Walpole, and others, the book was a popular success and eight subsequent volumes followed (1761-67). As a result of his travels to the Continent (1762-66) he wrote, but left unfinished, A Sentimental Journey (1768). He also published in his lifetime several volumes of sermons. One of the most entertaining and original literary works in English, Tristram Shandy is, in a sense, a parody of a novel. It is a hodgepodge of character sketches, blank pages, dramatic action, transposed chapters, and various digressions. Sterne constantly obtrudes himself into the novel and is by turns witty, satiric, sentimental, knowledgeable, and obscene. Beneath this apparent chaos, however, is a structure based on the association of ideas. In Tristram Shandy Sterne enlarged the scope of the novel from the mere recording of external incidents to the depiction of a complex of internal impressions, thoughts, and feelings.

(born Nov. 24, 1713, Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ire.—died March 18, 1768, London, Eng.) English novelist and humorist. Sterne was a clergyman in York for many years before his talents became apparent when he wrote a Swiftian satire in support of his dean in a church squabble. Turning his parishes over to a curate, he began to write Tristram Shandy (1759–67), an experimental novel issued in nine parts in which the story is subordinate to its narrator's free associations and digressions. It is considered one of the most important ancestors of psychological and stream of consciousness fiction. Long afflicted with tuberculosis, Sterne fled the damp air of England and undertook the travels that inspired his unfinished Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768), a comic novel that defies conventional expectations of a travel book.

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or Saint Laurence

(died 258, Rome; feast day August 10) Roman martyr. He was one of seven deacons in Rome during the papacy of Sixtus II. When the pope was executed during the persecution of Christians under Valerian, the authorities asked Lawrence to surrender the churches' treasures to the state, and he responded by distributing the money to the poor, for which he was condemned to death. His fearless behavior at his execution was responsible for many conversions; according to one legend, he was roasted to death on a gridiron, remarking to his torturers, “I am cooked on that side; turn me over, and eat.”

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(born June 27, 1872, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 9, 1906, Dayton) U.S. author. The son of former slaves, Dunbar became the first African American writer to try to live by his writings and one of the first to attain national prominence. He wrote for a largely white readership, using black dialect and depicting the pre-Civil War South in pastoral, idyllic tones. His verse collections include Oak and Ivy (1893), Majors and Minors (1895), and Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896). His poems reached a wide readership, and he gave readings in the U.S. and England. He also published four short-story collections and four novels, including The Sport of the Gods (1902).

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orig. Jean Margaret Wemyss

(born July 18, 1926, Neepawa, Man., Can.—died Jan. 5, 1987, Lakefield, Ont.) Canadian writer. She lived in Africa with her engineer husband in the 1950s; her experiences there provided material for her early works. She is best known for depicting the lives of women struggling for self-realization in the male-dominated world of western Canada. Her works include the novels The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), and The Fire-Dwellers (1969) and the stories collected in A Bird in the House (1970) and The Diviners (1974). In the 1970s she turned to writing children's books.

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orig. Jean Margaret Wemyss

(born July 18, 1926, Neepawa, Man., Can.—died Jan. 5, 1987, Lakefield, Ont.) Canadian writer. She lived in Africa with her engineer husband in the 1950s; her experiences there provided material for her early works. She is best known for depicting the lives of women struggling for self-realization in the male-dominated world of western Canada. Her works include the novels The Stone Angel (1964), A Jest of God (1966), and The Fire-Dwellers (1969) and the stories collected in A Bird in the House (1970) and The Diviners (1974). In the 1970s she turned to writing children's books.

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(born Nov. 24, 1713, Clonmel, County Tipperary, Ire.—died March 18, 1768, London, Eng.) English novelist and humorist. Sterne was a clergyman in York for many years before his talents became apparent when he wrote a Swiftian satire in support of his dean in a church squabble. Turning his parishes over to a curate, he began to write Tristram Shandy (1759–67), an experimental novel issued in nine parts in which the story is subordinate to its narrator's free associations and digressions. It is considered one of the most important ancestors of psychological and stream of consciousness fiction. Long afflicted with tuberculosis, Sterne fled the damp air of England and undertook the travels that inspired his unfinished Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy (1768), a comic novel that defies conventional expectations of a travel book.

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(born Jan. 6, 1931, New York, N.Y., U.S.) U.S. novelist. Doctorow worked as an editor and has since taught at colleges and universities. His best-selling novels have often focused on the working class and the dispossessed of earlier decades in the U.S. The Book of Daniel (1971) concerned the Rosenberg spy case. Ragtime (1975; film, 1981) incorporates actual early 20th-century American figures. Loon Lake (1980), World's Fair (1985), and Billy Bathgate (1989; film, 1991) examine the Great Depression and its aftermath. City of God (2000), concerns the efforts of a New York City Episcopal minister to renew his faith.

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(born June 27, 1872, Dayton, Ohio, U.S.—died Feb. 9, 1906, Dayton) U.S. author. The son of former slaves, Dunbar became the first African American writer to try to live by his writings and one of the first to attain national prominence. He wrote for a largely white readership, using black dialect and depicting the pre-Civil War South in pastoral, idyllic tones. His verse collections include Oak and Ivy (1893), Majors and Minors (1895), and Lyrics of Lowly Life (1896). His poems reached a wide readership, and he gave readings in the U.S. and England. He also published four short-story collections and four novels, including The Sport of the Gods (1902).

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Laurence is an English male given name and surname. A female given name with identical spelling exists in French.

In all cases it is derived from the Roman given name, Laurentius, which can mean either "from Laurentum" or "wreathed/crowned with laurel".

Given name

• Laurence Fishburne, Academy Award-nominated American actor
• Laurence Godfrey (archer), athlete from the United Kingdom
• Laurence Godfrey (physics lecturer), regular and controversial contributor to the Usenet newsgroups 'soc.culture.british' and 'soc.culture.canada'
• Laurence Harvey, Lithuanian-born actor
• Laurence McKeown, Provisional Irish Republican Army member
• Laurence Olivier, prolific British stage and screen actor and director
• Laurence Rochat, Swiss cross-country skier who has competed since 1996
• Laurence Tribe, American professor of constitutional law
• Laurence Tureaud, American actor, motivational speaker, wrestler, humanitarian, and bodyguard
• St Laurence O'Toole, or Lorcán Ua Tuathail, Irish Roman Catholic Saint

Surname

• Laurence of Canterbury, the second Archbishop of Canterbury
• John Zachariah Laurence, English ophthalmologist
• Stephen Laurence, American philosopher

See also

• Larry
• Laurent
• Lawrence
• Saint-Laurent