Can it really be a year since I picked up Margaret Atwood’s wonderful non-fiction collection “Writing with Intent – Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose 1983-2005“? Well, yes it is! I chose to explore the first section for last year’s Margaret Atwood Reading Month and absolutely loved it; so I deliberately left the book out on my Book Table with the intention of returning to it asap. Needless to say, it’s sat there for a year! But the nudging of this year’s #MARM sent me scurrying off to pick it up, and I spent some happy hours exploring the next section of the book, which covers the years from 1990-1999. As you might expect, they made fascinating reading!
Atwood is always a wonderful and engaging commentator, and as I’ve probably mentioned before, whenever I read her non-fiction I can’t help but hear her very individual voice in my head! She has the most marvellous dry humour, and way of getting straight to the point, and these pieces covered a wide variety of topics.
The writings in this section range from book reviews of authors such as Marina Warner, Angela Carter and Hilary Mantel; lectures on Canadian historical fiction and writing villainesses; and writings on film plus an autobiographical piece. Each entry displays Atwood’s wit and erudition, and I must admit when I got to the end of this section of the collection I was sorely tempted to continue reading.
And there you have it, the difference between literature—at least literature as embodied in plays and novels—and life. Something else has to happen. In life we may ask for nothing more than a kind of eternal breakfast—it happens to be my favorite meal, and certainly it is the most hopeful one, since we don’t yet know what atrocities the day may choose to visit upon us—but if we are going to sit still for two or three hours in a theater, or wade through two or three hundred pages of a book, we certainly expect something more than breakfast.
As usual, I do struggle to pick favourites when I love a whole collection, but I’ll select a few standouts. “The Grunge Look” is the autobiographical essay, dealing as it does with Atwood’s time in Europe in 1964. She gives a wonderful insight into the place and period, which is particularly interesting to see through Canadian eyes; Britain, in particular, sounds so very backward!! She also seems to encounter men trying to pick her up, thinking she’s American, wherever she goes – and I wonder if that kind of attempt would be done more subtly nowadays…
I enjoyed Atwood’s takes on Marina Warner and Angela Carter, two favourite authors of mine; her discussion of their work is generous and informed. Her piece on Hilary Mantel was fascinating, too, at a time when she was not perhaps the major figure she became.
Of particular interest were the two lectures which had bearings on her own writing. The piece on writing wicked women was particularly pithy, exploring how complex it could be in the climate of the times to have your characters less than perfect. The feminist movement had rejected cliched portrayals of female characters, but Atwood is arguing that writers can’t just write ‘nice’ or ‘perfect’ women – they have to cover all kinds of people. “In Search of Alias Grace” was equally fascinating, as Atwood looked at not only her process in writing about Grace over the years, but also the whole concept of Canadian historical fiction as related to the national identity. “Alias Grace” is one my favourite Atwood novels so it was really interesting to see her explore her process.
Those are some of my favourites but really, all of her writing is wonderful. I’ve read her novels, short stories, poetry and non-fiction for several decades now and always love her way with words, her distinctive voice and her view of literature – and indeed the world! Thanks so much to Buried in Print for hosting #MARM and giving me the push I needed to get back to this volume – I’ll try to get to the third part before next year’s event… 🙄
Margot Kinberg
Nov 20, 2023 @ 12:19:16
Margaret Atwood is such a rare talent, in my opinion. She’s got a lot of wisdom in general, too, and her non-fiction is a great way to get to know her writing. I’m very glad you took the time to read it. She’s offered so much in terms of her writing, her support of other writers, and so on. Can you tell I’m a fan?
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 20, 2023 @ 15:46:35
I agree Margot – she has such a distinctive voice and whatever genre she writes in, she’s always fascinating. I’m very much a fan too!!!
ellenandjim
Nov 20, 2023 @ 13:48:52
I have this one and have dipped into it over the years. I can’t specify just now but this does me good in reminding me to return to her. I prefer her non-fiction and poetry to some of her fiction (I’m no science fiction reader).
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 20, 2023 @ 15:44:06
I’ve not read her sci fi, but I do like her fiction – particularly from the era of Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin. But I do love her non-fiction too. She’s such a distinctive author!
ellenandjim
Nov 20, 2023 @ 16:18:20
I don’t care for science fiction in general; I love her literary histories and her poetry (where she wrote a cycle as Susannah Moodie); I too love especially Alias Grace, and have read Cat’s Eye, Blind Assassin. Her Handmaid’s Tale is also all too correct and prophetic.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 20, 2023 @ 19:20:57
Yes, it scares me how prescient Handmaid was. And I’ve only recently started exploring her poetry – enjoy it very much!
mallikabooks15
Nov 20, 2023 @ 13:54:42
Atwood is an author I’m yet to read, and though there are few of her fiction titles I’d like to pick up, each time I read a review of her essays or other writings, I’m very tempted to start with those.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 20, 2023 @ 15:43:14
Her essays are really good, as are her short fictions, and there are quite a lot of volumes of these. They definitely could be a good place to start!
madamebibilophile
Nov 20, 2023 @ 14:06:21
This does sound wonderful. She’s such a witty and insightful commentator. I’d be really interested to read her thoughts on the authors you mention. I think I’ve got an earlier volume of her essays buried somewhere – you’ve encouraged me to have a hunt!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 20, 2023 @ 15:42:40
She’s so good isn’t she? Whatever she writes, really. When I think about it, I’ve read an awful lot of her non-fiction and it really is outstanding – definitely hunt her essays out!
Marcie McCauley
Dec 12, 2023 @ 02:42:57
You could very well have the same narrative under a different title: I do! (Why the need to change titles when it comes to essay collections, I wonder: I don’t recall any of her novels being published with different titles between the UK and NA.)
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 12, 2023 @ 15:50:15
It’s very confusing, definitely….
1streading
Nov 20, 2023 @ 19:35:45
I’ve read a lot of Atwood’s fiction (I started with Cat’s Eyes, still a favourite) but not her non-fiction – sounds like I need to give it a go.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 20, 2023 @ 19:52:57
I would say so, yes! There are some really interesting non-fiction collections out there – she’s such a prolific author.
heavenali
Nov 20, 2023 @ 20:00:04
How lovely to get back to this collection, I remember how highly you rated that first section. I haven’t read any of Margaret Atwood’s non fiction but having enjoyed her fiction immensely. I had hoped to read something for MARM this year but it looks like I won’t manage it. I find her very obvious wisdom comes across even in her fiction, so I really must get reading her essays.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 21, 2023 @ 08:18:16
It really is a lovely selection of her writings – her non-fiction is marvellous! 😀
Liz Dexter
Nov 28, 2023 @ 11:37:47
The book that keeps on giving, what a great idea to read it in successive MARMs!!
kaggsysbookishramblings
Nov 28, 2023 @ 13:56:48
LOL, yes, it really is a wonderful collection. I wonder if I can hold out on reading the next section until next November??
Marcie McCauley
Dec 12, 2023 @ 02:46:16
It’s a treat to have your company during MARM (which has extended spontaneously because I’ve been feeling poorly for about three weeks) and I’m so glad you enjoyed the next section of essays as much as you enjoyed the first section. Even though I’m sure it would be wonderful to read along in the collection, while you’re in the mood, it will also keep. When I started reading just a few stories from Dancing Girls in an earlier MARM, I was surprised how quickly the time passed before there was another MARM and another few stories to read, and so on. It’s made for a curious and distinct reading experience indeed. Do you have the newest collection on hand, too? I seem to remember you do.
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 12, 2023 @ 15:49:40
She’s such a compelling author, and it would be easy to keep on reading all of this collection but I suspect next year’s MARM will come around before I know it. And I do have the latest collection, but only as an ebook and I basically hate that format, so I may have to track down a physical one!
Marcie McCauley
Dec 15, 2023 @ 19:16:45
Ahhh, that might be why it was tentative in my memory too, as though if it’s not a print copy, it doesn’t quite count.
Yes, to next year! 😀
kaggsysbookishramblings
Dec 15, 2023 @ 20:39:48
I’m the same – e-books are not quite real books for me!!