You deffinatly need to get the story to screenplay book, the essay Proulx writes in it about her experence with Jack and Ennis is stunning. You are getting a taste of what this hammering is like. Imagine you are the only person on earth going thru it, with just a hand full of associates who have read parts of the story. I don't know how she got thru it.
I read all her published material this year, and highly recomend the book Postcards, Loyal Blood is another sad character that won't leave your mind anytime soon.