What We’re Reading: Margaret Atwood
Words at WAM is over, but here at Hazel & Wren we’re gearing up for another event, albeit one further afield than the Weisman Art Museum. In a mere seven days we will be sitting in Chicago, with hundreds of other writers and writerly-folk, listening to Margaret Atwood, one of the foremost voices in English literature, deliver the keynote address of the 2012 Association of Writers & Writing Programs (AWP) Conference. AWP holds this conference annually, though this will be my first time going and I couldn’t be more excited to attend.
Of Atwood’s writing, I have read a measly novel and a half—The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and, currently, The Blind Assassin (2000)—as well as a number of her poems and short stories. Atwood is, in a word, prolific, having published over 35 collections in various genres and styles, including poetry, novels, children’s literature, and non-fiction. Though I first encountered her work while in college, it wasn’t until last spring that I worked up the nerve to begin tackling her bibliography.
Atwood’s work is tightly crafted, deeply thought out, and highly ambitious. The Handmaid’s Tale is an unsettling dystopian novel set in a theocratic state after a “terrorist” attack, purported to be carried out by Islamic extremists. Atwood’s major feat is in taking to extremes some of the contemporary problems the Western world faces, then making those extremes sound probable, even reasonable. 25 years after its publication, The Handmaid’s Tale remains a relevant and powerful cautionary story about combating extremism with extremism.
Though I haven’t yet finished The Blind Assassin, I feel I can say that Atwood has become a stronger, more confident writer. One of the most impressive features of the novel, from a writing standpoint, is that it contains a novel within it (also titled The Blind Assassin), which, in turn, contains a long form story told by one of the characters. Atwood dexterously juggles the main story of Iris Chase with the novel attributed to Laura Chase, Iris’ sister. Keeping track of stories within stories, as a writer, is a difficult task, even if those stories are wildly different, as in The Blind Assassin. It’s not simply a matter of varying voices, but also of making sure each detail is released in the proper order for the greatest effect.
I’ve just begun digging into Atwood’s extensive catalogue of work, but I can tell that she’s the kind of writer whose work will stick with me. Atwood’s poetry is next on my to do list, as most of what I’ve read has been in anthology or piecemeal on the internet. I’m excited to hear her speak in Chicago next week, and excited to meet all of the other bookish people who are going to AWP.
Will you be at AWP? Who are you excited to hear speak or read? What panels will you be attending? Don’t forget to come say hello at the Hazel & Wren / Midway Journal table!
*Lots.
Sadly, this is one of those moments when every aspect of my life has decided to team up and orchestrate a giant dumping of crap-I-have-to-get-done-asap all over my best intentions. Needless to say, in my frantic scurrying around from this to that, I have NOT had time to finish a book.I have, however, stared longingly at my books in-progress, which form a small, yet alarmingly fast-growing mound at the side of my bed. In my feverish moments of down time, I’ve picked them up and read a chapter more here and there, attempting to digest a whole book, but alas, this is not that week. I will not let that stop me, however. In the spirit of not letting endless to-do lists bog us down, I am carrying on with this week’s post featuring three quality, wonderful books I am indeed reading (and you should, too) but, erm, have yet to finish.
White Teeth by Zadie Smith (Vintage International 2000)
I love this book. But it’s taking me a while to get through it. British author Smith is an excellent writer, making her characters and plot in her debut 2000 novel so real, yet so funny, yet so gut-wrenching. Is one writer allowed to do all those things in one novel… successfully? Because I think that’s just not fair. While these characters aren’t the most lovable in the history of characters, I am somehow completely invested in their lives. I’m blaming it on the fact that I gravitate towards novels that encompass generations of families (see One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel García Márquez), as this one spans three generations of different families connected by the friendship of two men, Archie Jones and Samal Iqbal. Although to call it a friendship in the usual sense of the word may be going too far — rather, they fought together in wartime, and after years of not seeing each other, eventually got lumped back together by life, and decided to call it friendship. Their lives and children intermingle, making this a multi-faceted story with layer upon layer of individual and familial history.
Perfect Dragonfly edited by Scott King (Red Dragonfly Press 2011)
I’ve had this poetry anthology for a while. As soon as I got it, I sat down and did the obvious thing: I thumbed through to my favorite poets and read those first. I’ve slowly been working my way through all the rest since (and have discovered some new favorite poets along the way). I’ve also been to multiple readings with poets from this anthology over recent months (including one last night as part of the Birchbark Reading Series), and have really enjoyed experiencing this book through these haphazard readings I’ve attended. There’s always something intimately memorable about hearing a writer read from their own work, rather than reading it on the page. An anthology of every poet Red Dragonfly Press has published in the last fifteen years, this is an excellent collection of writers, including Todd Boss, Lightsey Darst, Dave Etter, Dorianne Laux, James Lenfestey, Nancy Paddock, and many more.
The Robber Bride by Margaret Atwood (Bantam Books 1993)
We at Hazel & Wren are venturing down to Chicago for AWP at the end of this month, where the marvelous Margaret Atwood will be the keynote speaker. So this recent adventure into The Robber Bride is to brush up on my Atwood in anticipation. Atwood’s care with detail and depth when crafting her characters is phenomenal. She also has the talent of writing beautifully about normal people, while at the same time creating an overarching saga of manipulation, compassion, and heartbreak. The book is revolves around three women, Roz, Charis, and Tony, whose lives and relationships with their men have all been disrupted by Zenia. Zenia supposedly has died, but one day, on a lunch date, the three women encounter what seems to be Zenia. Here, they say, is where the plot thickens. And here is where I am stuck until I sneak in another free moment.
What books are crying themselves to sleep because you haven’t paid them enough attention lately?
