David Adams Richards, Lives of Short Duration

David Barrick (University of Western Ontario)
Download PDF Add to Bookshelf Report an Error
Lives of Short Duration

(1981) is the final book in David Adams Richards’s first trilogy of novels about a fictionalized community living along New Brunswick’s Miramichi river. Set during the late spring of 1980, this ambitious work uses a fragmented timeline to describe several generations of the Terri family, whose deterioration exemplifies the larger cultural and economic decay that has afflicted their community. Many of the primary characters have accepted, or succumbed to, the glamour of American materialism and pop culture at the expense of their Maritime identity and heritage. While they sense that something is gravely wrong in their lives, they continue to fill their spiritual void with alcohol, casual sex, and cheap consumer products which “make life, if not bearable, at…

2055 words

Citation: Barrick, David. "Lives of Short Duration". The Literary Encyclopedia. First published 08 May 2012 [https://www.litencyc.com/php/sworks.php?rec=true&UID=30428, accessed 19 March 2024.]

30428 Lives of Short Duration 3 Historical context notes are intended to give basic and preliminary information on a topic. In some cases they will be expanded into longer entries as the Literary Encyclopedia evolves.

Save this article

If you need to create a new bookshelf to save this article in, please make sure that you are logged in, then go to your 'Account' here

Leave Feedback

The Literary Encyclopedia is a living community of scholars. We welcome comments which will help us improve.