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On Writers and Writing
- Narrated by: Margaret Atwood
- Length: 6 hrs and 33 mins
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On Writers and Writing
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Summary
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? Atwood's wide reference to other writers, living and dead, is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences, both in Canada and elsewhere. The lightness of her touch is offset by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the myths and traditions of western literature.
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Quebec, Ontario, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College. Throughout her 30 years of writing, Atwood has received numerous awards and honorary degrees. Hew novel The Blind Assassin won the 2000 Booker Prize for Fiction. She is the author of more than 25 volumes of poetry, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include Alias Grace (1996), The Robber Bride (1994), Cat's Eye (1988), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), Surfacing (1972) and The Edible Woman (1970). Acclaimed for her talent for portraying both personal lives and worldly problems of universal concern, Atwood's work has been published in more than 35 languages, including Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic, and Estonian.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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Story5 out of 5 stars
- A Falconer
- 07-03-23
An insight into Margaret's world
If you're looking for a motivational book full of bullet point lists of writing tips - this is not your book.
If you want a glimpse into Margaret's world including writers who've inspired her - then this is your book.
I loved it - I had to listen at 1.25 speed which was absolutely fine. I like Margaret's voice and enjoyed hearing her throughout.
I could listen to this again it was so packed with interesting thoughts on the bizarre world of writers and writing.
You'll enjoy this more if you are a little familiar with classic literature. I'm new to literature but still was able to vaguely know something about at least some of Margaret's references from writers of the past. I didn't think it hugely mattered that I wasn't familiar with them all - if anything I learned something.
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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- Kizzia Mildmay
- 12-06-23
A meditation on writing
These six essays, originally written to be delivered as the Empson Lectures at the University of Cambridge in the year 2000 and then fleshed out into this book, are both philosophical and fascinating. The six sections of the book are titled Orientation, Duplicity, Dedication, Temptation, Communion and Descent, each tantalisingly nebulous at first glance but each, once Margaret has got going on them, deeply specific and the latter topics woven deftly around the earlier ones.
This is not a how to guide to writing. Each section is a meditation on an aspect of writing combined with a lesson in the history of english liturature and some insights into Margaret as both person and author. As someone with a degree in philosophy I found it engaging, captivating and revitalising. As a writer, I found it illuminating and my journal pages over the days I listened to this book reflect how deeply some of her words struck home.
Margaret narrates the audiobook of this herself and I felt this almost brought the work full circle, since it was originally created to be given as six speeches rather than read. I thoroughly recommend the experience.
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Ben
- 01-06-24
Brilliant
I like MA’s voice. It’s brilliant, just like her writing voice. This is an excellent book where she shares with you the story of her writing life. It’s gold dust. Listen to it. You won’t be sorry.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Amazon Customer
- 27-05-21
Margaret is amazing
I loved this, I throughly enjoy her understanding that there is no prescription for becoming a great writer. her choice of examples are spot on and very much food for thought as a writer with a little W
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall4 out of 5 stars
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Performance3 out of 5 stars
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- C. D. GRIFFITHS
- 29-11-20
Good content, but didn't love the narration.
Whilst the contents of this book is good, a great author does not always equal a great narrator. A professional reader would have greatly improved this work in my view.
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4 people found this helpful
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- JAA
- 04-08-22
Educational
A must read. Beautifully read and frighteningly honest. As I approach my Masters in Creative Writing, I now do so with trepidation, but more importantly, knowledge.
Added boon was the fact that it is narrated by Margaret Atwood herself.
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Overall5 out of 5 stars
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- Allison Wright
- 17-07-21
Atwood at her distilled best
Thoughtful, provocative and quietly humorous treatment of a huge subject. Atwood's descriptive powers fascinate me.
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2 people found this helpful
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- brianpwharton@yahoo.co.uk
- 01-01-22
A must for all Atwood fans
Love all her work. very informative and delivered with the authors dry warm witt
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1 person found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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- TDP
- 22-02-21
Disappointing
If you’re looking for a book in which Margaret Atwood gives you some of her own personal gems of wisdom on How To Write, then you will be disappointed and I advise you to stick with such books as Stephen King’s ‘On Writing’.
This is more a collection of musings.
I’m nearly at the end of this audiobook and I honestly can’t think of a single concept worth remembering. That may be down to me not connecting with the material, in which case I hope you find what I didn’t.
In any case, the area where this book really falls down is the narration, which was already challenging after the first 20 seconds. She may be a skilled writer, but she is NOT a skilled orator. With just five levels of monotonous delivery, the fact that she was chosen to read this audiobook makes it a tedious endurance test.
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11 people found this helpful
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Overall2 out of 5 stars
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Performance1 out of 5 stars
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- Aimee Elizabeth Cooper
- 19-11-22
Dreary and monotonous
Was looking for something inspirational, not cynical and depressing. The performance was terrible. Atwood mumbled at times, her monotonous dreary tone made it impossible to finish this book. I might be able to dissect some nuggets of wisdom from the paperback but I'm put off trying. Very disappointed in this book as I had high hopes for it.
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