Product Description

What is the role of the writer? Prophet? High Priest of Art? Court Jester? Or witness to the real world? Looking back on her own childhood and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain - or excuse! - their activities, looking at what costumes they have assumed, what roles they have chosen to play. In her final chapter she takes up the challenge of the title: if a writer is to be seen as ‘gifted’, who is doing the giving and what are the terms of the gift? Margaret Atwood’s wide reference to other writers is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences, both in Canada and on the international scene. The lightness of her touch is underlined by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the myths and traditions of Western literature.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #95241 in Books
• Published on: 2002-03-06
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Hardcover
• 248 pages

Review
'Juggling well worn subjects which "get murky or pretentious", this is a streetwise, erudite suggestive enquiry into problems and myths of the writer's role. Her light touch on hard thoughts, her humour and eclectic quotations, lend enchantment to an argument that has as many undulating tentacles as a well developed sea anemone.' THE INDEPENDENT 'Her witty, occasionally self-depracating and always ingenious approach is a delight' Culture, SUNDAY TIMES 'A witty and profound rumination about writing' THE TIMES 'A playful, informed and briskly sensible discussion of the writing life.' SUNDAY TELEGRAPH 'A pleasure to read: erudite, talky, with a beady humour.' DAILY TELEGRAPH 'Thought-provoking arguments adroitly stitched together in a patchwork pattern.' THE HERALD 'Highly enjoyable little book' SCOTLAND ON SUNDAY

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

The Guardian
‘a masterclass in comic writing’

Customer Reviews

Author regards this as The Tome for the soul of any writer
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"

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 to be a writer, and its a page turner. Educational and interesting, what more could you ask for?!

When We Pretend that We're Dead
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