Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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70 of 71 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Author regards this as The Tome for the soul of any writer, 1 Jun 2006
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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36 of 47 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Excellent, 15 Nov 2003
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 to be a writer, and its a page turner. Educational and interesting, what more could you ask for?!
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2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
When We Pretend that We're Dead, 21 May 2008
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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