taking sides: munro vs atwood

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they were pals with carol shields as well.

damn, i had no idea she passed. RIP.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 9 October 2006 11:53 (seventeen years ago) link

Lives of... is structurally a bunch of vignettes/short stories, though. We tried it in my reading group, which is devoted to novels, and ended up agreeing that her editor almost certainly told her she wouldn't be taken seriously unless she wrote a full-length, and so she did. I had not the patience for it.

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 9 October 2006 12:50 (seventeen years ago) link

I think that's the one she literally stopped the presses for, and did a complete overhaul of the structure, changed the main characters etc., at the last minute, at her own expense.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Monday, 9 October 2006 15:24 (seventeen years ago) link

Speaking as a production manager, I hope it cost her a shitload of money.

― Laurel (Laurel), Monday, 9 October 2006 15:28 (seventeen years ago) link

what's a good munro story to start with? if it's online all the better, but if not there is always the library.

Though shouldn't canadians not be allowed to write? Kofi Annan should get on this shit, post haste.

― askance johnson (sdownes), Monday, 9 October 2006 21:41 (seventeen years ago) link

"Carried Away" is probably my favourite.

― jed_ (jed), Monday, 9 October 2006 21:51 (seventeen years ago) link

carried away is great. the last page especially is munrovian(?) prose at its best.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 00:52 (seventeen years ago) link

the new yorker has a few of her stories online. there's a movie coming out based on "the bear came over the mountain," which might be why that link is down:

http://www.newyorker.com/search/results?query=%22alice+munro%22&page=1

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 01:55 (seventeen years ago) link

I am a total Atwood and Shields fan but can't recall reading any Munro, strange as I'm also a short story fan. I don't think she is marketed in Australia so much - whereas Atwood has been to Tassie twice in the last decade on promotional junkets. My favourite is Alias Grace. I agree with Anthony that the mechanics are effortless. What you have to remember about her early books which were written in the sixties and early seventies is that the gender stuff needed spelling out back then.

― sandy mc (sandy mc), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 04:15 (seventeen years ago) link

yes- take a pass on" the edible woman", which is just hamhanded. a great big anvil to the head.

her short stories are marvellous, though, as are the novels i've read, esp. 'life before man' and 'surfacing.' 'lady oracle' is nice, but not essential. i am still waiting to read 'cat's eye.'

― derrick (derrick), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 08:56 (seventeen years ago) link

I've not read either yet, but just wanted to mention that The bear that came over the mountain is online. For some reason the search result just gave a slightly incorrect URL.

Thanks for posting the link, Mecha-ant, I could swear I'd been looking for a way of searching the New Yorker archive before, but was unable to find it. Of course, now I see there's a search bar on the front page, so either it's a recent addition, or I should feel very embarrassed indeed.

― Øystein (Øystein), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 10:50 (seventeen years ago) link

(minus "that" in the title)

― Øystein (Øystein), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 10:52 (seventeen years ago) link

hey, thanks back. i wanted to read that one.

― A Giant Mechanical Ant (The Giant Mechanical Ant), Tuesday, 10 October 2006 17:23 (seventeen years ago) link

Atwood all the way, and not just for the usual books.

Cat's Eye is lovely. Life Before Man and Surfacing have charms as well. She's also done some neat things with poems.

Munro has never grabbed me but it's possible I haven't read the right things.

― The Mad Puffin (The Mad Puffin), Thursday, 12 October 2006 17:15 (seventeen years ago) link

six years pass...

atwood frustrated?

― nostormo, Thursday, 10 October 2013 12:05 (ten years ago) link

haha I would imagine not? it's funny that Munro and Atwood get lumped together because Canadian but I see few similarities otherwise... I've always thought Atwood and Iain Banks were more of the same cloth

― you and me against the board (flamboyant goon tie included), Thursday, 10 October 2013 12:38 (ten years ago) link

she's hiding it well on Twitter if she is frustrated.

― woof, Thursday, 10 October 2013 12:52 (ten years ago) link

Oh wow, amazing! I never even considered this for some reason.

― Ismael Klata, Thursday, 10 October 2013 12:54 (ten years ago) link

Atwood on Munro:

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2013/oct/10/alice-munro-nobel-literature-prize-margaret-atwood

― Lover (Eazy), Saturday, 12 October 2013 00:40 (ten years ago) link

eight years pass...

fuckin write a novel alice

― mookieproof, Saturday, 9 April 2022 03:22 (two years ago) link

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