When We Pretend that We're Dead
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What makes someone a writer? What's the role of the writer in the world today? Should she write just for Art's sake or does she have a social responsibility? Is there a third way? And is there an underlying (and universal) psychological reason behind every writer's desire to put words to paper? Margaret Atwood answers all these questions, and more, in six essays which were originally lectures given at Cambridge University.
The great thing about Atwood is that she doesn't place herself, or anyone else, on a pedestal. Her tone is warm, familiar, self-deprecating and very witty. She weaves quotes and poems into her explanations which give you a better understanding of those original works and even make you wish to go out and buy some of them (I've added Carol Shield's "Mary Swann" to my wish list.) This is the second time I read this book and I feel that I've gained new insight into what happens inside my head when I write. If you are a writer, this book is a must
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One of the worst books
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This is one of the worst books I've read. I struggled from beginning until page 149 and gave up because I could remember none of it. It's like one of those sociology textbooks, lots of quotations from other authors. I bought it because of Dinah Lee King's review in this thread and frankly, that review tells you all that's in the book. You don't need to read the rest. I wish I hadn't bought it.
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'All writers are double' - some are simply magnificent
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The amount of drivel written on writing has to be experienced to be believed. It is significant that many of the authors of this tripe are not to be found on any best seller list. They're hacks. Their words are tired. Their advice inane. Why any publisher produces their unhelpful prose is a mystery this writer cannot understand. What joy then to read Margaret Atwood's book. It will not give you 36 points on how to become a best selling novelist/poet/non-fiction writer/grafitti artist. It may not help you to write a single line at all. What it will display is great writing, sly wit, it will open a little, the door into the lives of writers and writing. It should inspire you. It should encourage you. It will definitely cause the occasional chuckle, among my favourites: "Wanting to meet an author because you like his work is like wanting to meet a duck because you like pate." And, "all writers are double, for the simple reason you cannot meet the author of the book you just read. Too much time has elapsed between composition and publication, and the person who wrote the book is now a different person." It's worth being a different person. Read this book.
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Magical insights from a master novelist
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If you love Margaret Atwood's novels then please buy this book. It has the same qualities you will have treasured before - every paragraph has a shaft of humour, an original insight, and a poetic use of language.
I've hesitated before to move from Margaret Atwood's novels into the short stories and poetry - a mistake i'll be rectifying soon. The writing and the level of intelligence in this set of reflections on the artist's life and motivations are as one with the rest of her captivating work.
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Author regards this as The Tome for the soul of any writer
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This book was like finding treasure. My own copy is dogeared and underlined; how many times have I read her passage about Brown Owl, the original reader of her young career, as a reminder that it is knowing exactly who your own ideal reader is and none other that directs the inner voice successfully onto the page? I've read many times her examination of the process of digging into the subconscious, the transition where the writer is no longer herself, but someone permitting herself to plunder, commit larceny, explore the truth all around. She reminds us of Keats' advice to ensure our books have the "negative capability" for the reader to enter, she explores the strange duality of the writer, (wherein no reader ever meets on the page the terrestrial who walks the dog or eats bran for regularity, but instead encounters a shadowy personage who occupies the same body but "commits" the writing.) She is brutally honest about the purloining, cannibalizing, reclamation and social responsibilities all encountered by any writer tackling her story with serious intent, although Atwood is hardly to be held responsible when some of us falter. And it helps that this book started as a series of lectures sponsored by the Cambridge University Press, which means that Atwood is not only engaging, but also entertaining. The asides and humorous quips alone are worth the read. She generously quotes from many authors of all genres, Elmore Leonard to Borges to Voltaire, and reminds us, citing Alice Munro's story, "Who Do You Think You Are?" that no writer started out a published writer or an acknowledged writer, but that any writer has a journey to travel to the place where stories are hidden away and mined to the surface, and that this strange exhumation without a guide is one of the things that makes the writer special.
I would strongly recommend this book for that narrow shelf of trusted tomes that are opened at moments of frustration and disappointment, a rare companion bringing wisdom and patience and needed humour. Better than a dozen books with titles like "How to Plot" or "How to Get a Literary Agent."
Dinah Lee Küng "A Visit From Voltaire" "Under Their Skin"
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