Margaret Atwood reminds us "historical context matters" Arts and Lectures Series, San Francisco
Margaret Atwood appeared here in San Francisco for her new book in the Arts and Lecture series It was good to see her again.
Margaret Atwood kept reminding the audience that historical context is important. ( For instance,
she saves her friends' birthdays on a William Morris calendar), She charts the births and the ages of her characters as they progress through the novel, so they are congruent with the time period of the novel. She does not know in advance how the plot will evolve; she says it is "just not her" to be that "organized". She always throws out controlled plots. She emphasizes that she wants to know how old people are, and how they age, and what they experience in their life's history. MA still has her wonderful wisdom and wit.
Margaret Atwood's status and stature was inadequately respected by her interviewer, -- Margaret Atwood told this interviewer that it would be fine for her to keep talking about one book with her,(for nearly 20 minutes) if she were a graduate student, but that there was an audience, and they might like to hear about something else from her! Clearly the interviewer had not read the new book as she asked her nothing about the new book. !! ?? She also seemed to know little about Atwood or she would have scripted the interview in advance, if she had been more professional and less self promotional.
One audience member audaciously asked Margaret Atwood if she was a witch, and MA replied that if she were a witch, she would not tell the questioner. She recited an instance when she was a child, and entertained friends on the 30th of October, dressed as a witch. She said if she were a witch she would be a benevolent one. Another audience member asked her if she is ever going to write about "now" rather than the past or the future, to which she replied that she does write about the present in her essays and poetry.
MA emphasized s that geography matters when thinking of Canada. When people think about sending them immigrants, Canada has very little land above the timber line, but rock, and that the whole population of Canada despite landmass is about the same size as that of greater Los Angeles. Some teachers of her work ask questions, which were mostly answered by referring to her former work, for instance, SURVIVAL, written in the 70s when Canada had no literature per se. Canadian publishers would not publish anyone, unless they had a co - contract in the USA or in England. The audience for reading was too small. Now that has changed. For the literature prize, 150 novelists were brought to her attention.
Repeatedly, Margaret emphasizes how context is important. She says there were no feminists writing when she began writing her novels, as the Womens Movement had not yet taken place.
To the question, as to whether she will write about the present, she says there is a story on the New Yorker blog, that she wrote about the Arctic. Her husband gave her the plot, as they had discussed, how could one commit a murder in the Arctic and get away with it. Graeme, she says, has a great criminal mind. He told her that one could use a wood that has been fossilized there since the beginning of time...and breaking it would produce a jagged edge, a perfect weapon. She says the other two stories she has written about the present are equally cheerful.
When asked if poetry informs her prose, she replies that poetry is another "state" of being, than prose. She says she has always written both poetry and the novel; she was first published as a poet, because novelists were not publishable in Canada, as she has explained, previously. She tells a quip about an interviewer asking he why she is so "prosaic", meaning to ask, why she is so "prolific". She says she is not prolific; she is very old and alot of writing has accumulated. She cites Joyce Carol Oates as being "prolific". She ends and signs books.
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| Margaret Atwood on the stage at Arts and Lectures in SF Most recently I have read her Penelopiad, a take on the wife of Oddysseus as he returns home, contemporanizing it and employing her wit in the story being told by Penelope. I also finished "Writing with Intention" which is a catalogue of book reviews and interviews published through the years. I read her book based on the Christmas Carol, "The Shadow Side of Wealth" about debt as it is treated in literature, a long essay which was delivered as a series of essays. The only book of poems of hers which I had with me was "The Door", which has a CD of her reading each poem. Of poetry, she says, it is another "state of being'; no, it does not "inform " her fiction. She started writing as a poet, as there were no novelists being published in Canada. To publish fiction in Canada, it was necessary to have a co publisher in the US or in England. It was dubious that there was enough readership in Canada but now that has changed, with 150 novelists being presented for review for a current award. Her central message was that one must always remember the historical context of a writer and of each work. She says it is also important to consider in readers, as if you tell her how old you are, she knows what history you have experienced in your times. |
she saves her friends' birthdays on a William Morris calendar), She charts the births and the ages of her characters as they progress through the novel, so they are congruent with the time period of the novel. She does not know in advance how the plot will evolve; she says it is "just not her" to be that "organized". She always throws out controlled plots. She emphasizes that she wants to know how old people are, and how they age, and what they experience in their life's history. MA still has her wonderful wisdom and wit.
Margaret Atwood's status and stature was inadequately respected by her interviewer, -- Margaret Atwood told this interviewer that it would be fine for her to keep talking about one book with her,(for nearly 20 minutes) if she were a graduate student, but that there was an audience, and they might like to hear about something else from her! Clearly the interviewer had not read the new book as she asked her nothing about the new book. !! ?? She also seemed to know little about Atwood or she would have scripted the interview in advance, if she had been more professional and less self promotional.
One audience member audaciously asked Margaret Atwood if she was a witch, and MA replied that if she were a witch, she would not tell the questioner. She recited an instance when she was a child, and entertained friends on the 30th of October, dressed as a witch. She said if she were a witch she would be a benevolent one. Another audience member asked her if she is ever going to write about "now" rather than the past or the future, to which she replied that she does write about the present in her essays and poetry.
MA emphasized s that geography matters when thinking of Canada. When people think about sending them immigrants, Canada has very little land above the timber line, but rock, and that the whole population of Canada despite landmass is about the same size as that of greater Los Angeles. Some teachers of her work ask questions, which were mostly answered by referring to her former work, for instance, SURVIVAL, written in the 70s when Canada had no literature per se. Canadian publishers would not publish anyone, unless they had a co - contract in the USA or in England. The audience for reading was too small. Now that has changed. For the literature prize, 150 novelists were brought to her attention.
Repeatedly, Margaret emphasizes how context is important. She says there were no feminists writing when she began writing her novels, as the Womens Movement had not yet taken place.
To the question, as to whether she will write about the present, she says there is a story on the New Yorker blog, that she wrote about the Arctic. Her husband gave her the plot, as they had discussed, how could one commit a murder in the Arctic and get away with it. Graeme, she says, has a great criminal mind. He told her that one could use a wood that has been fossilized there since the beginning of time...and breaking it would produce a jagged edge, a perfect weapon. She says the other two stories she has written about the present are equally cheerful.
When asked if poetry informs her prose, she replies that poetry is another "state" of being, than prose. She says she has always written both poetry and the novel; she was first published as a poet, because novelists were not publishable in Canada, as she has explained, previously. She tells a quip about an interviewer asking he why she is so "prosaic", meaning to ask, why she is so "prolific". She says she is not prolific; she is very old and alot of writing has accumulated. She cites Joyce Carol Oates as being "prolific". She ends and signs books.
Margaret Atwood and her daughter Jess and husband Graeme and I spent some time together in Colorado. Jess and Margaret and I went on a horseback ride together through the Rockies. Graeme and I went on a bird watching walk together as he is a great orthinologist or bird watcher, a member of the international society. I had met and talked with Margaret Atwood on several occasions in Manhattan, at writers conferences, and in Philadelphia, at her readings and panels .
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