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Review
'Consistently enlivening … Margaret Atwood's excellent book performs [that] vital function … Her audience … would have had no hesitation in according her the distinguished status thus implied.' Spectator
'A witty and profound rumination about writing.' The Times
'Wearing her learning lightly, Atwood allows her wit to shine on almost every page.' Library Journal
'This interesting and compelling book is as wise as it is charming, and it is very charming indeed.' Washington Post Book World
'… finds its truth and its title in the insight that, whether the prose is deathless or merely breathless, the goad to all narrative is mortality.' San Antonio Express News
'This book shines like the sun or moon or whatever you like best in the shine line.If you have the slightest interest in fiction as reader or critic, get this book as soon as you can. If you are a writer, get it today.' Irish Times
'The most enjoyable aspect of the book is not, ultimately, any profound critical statement, but its author's refreshing display of erudition.' The Sunday Times
'… a valuable metafictional commentary on Atwood's own writing.' British Journal of Canadian Studies
'In this lively and illuminating book [Attwood] digs deep and quests far.' Writing in Education
'A witty and profound rumination about writing.' The Times
'Wearing her learning lightly, Atwood allows her wit to shine on almost every page.' Library Journal
'This interesting and compelling book is as wise as it is charming, and it is very charming indeed.' Washington Post Book World
'… finds its truth and its title in the insight that, whether the prose is deathless or merely breathless, the goad to all narrative is mortality.' San Antonio Express News
'This book shines like the sun or moon or whatever you like best in the shine line.If you have the slightest interest in fiction as reader or critic, get this book as soon as you can. If you are a writer, get it today.' Irish Times
'The most enjoyable aspect of the book is not, ultimately, any profound critical statement, but its author's refreshing display of erudition.' The Sunday Times
'… a valuable metafictional commentary on Atwood's own writing.' British Journal of Canadian Studies
'In this lively and illuminating book [Attwood] digs deep and quests far.' Writing in Education
Rupert Winchester, The Telegraph
‘witty, erudite and thoughtful’
--This text refers to the
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Writing, Writers, The Writing Life - if this last is not an oxymoron. Read the first page
Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
Writing, Writers, The Writing Life - if this last is not an oxymoron. Read the first page
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Front Cover | Copyright | Table of Contents | Excerpt | Index | Back Cover
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Customer Reviews
Most Helpful Customer Reviews
54 of 55 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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"
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"
17 of 17 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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
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
19 of 22 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
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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Most Recent Customer Reviews
Thought Provoking
Based on a lecture series given by Margaret Attwood, this book tackles the philosophical questions of why write? does a writer have to suffer for his or her art? who is the reader? Read more
Published 5 months ago by Calypso
Not up to what I expected.
I'm afraid my high hopes of Atwood have come rather crashing down. I should have known better I suppose as my son warned me (two English teachers in the same house, eh?). Read more
Published 11 months ago by Scampo
One of the worst books
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. Read more
Published on 25 Jan 2008 by P. Bird
Magical insights from a master novelist
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... Read more
Published on 14 April 2007 by Baggy
Excellent
Worth reading for recreation or for research, this book makes literary criticism fun! Negotiating With The Dead is of interest to anyone who has ever wondered what it really means... Read more
Published on 15 Nov 2003 by Kristine Johnston
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