Okay, what is it about Margaret Atwood that produces such negative comment? I know a few people who almost shudder when her name is mentioned; recently Margaret Wente wrote what I thought was a very vitriolic column dissing Atwood in the Globe.
Don’t think I’m an Atwood apologist – I’ve only read three of her recent books: The Handmaid’s Tale (enjoyed); Alias Grace (thought was fine but couldn’t remember details a week after reading); Oryx and Crake (meh.) I don’t know anything about her place in literature (not being “up” on current fiction as a whole) or her personality.
Is it that she’s always the top one cited when the subject is “Can-Lit” and people resent that? Is she seen as a hack who gets too many critical kudos/too much money? Does she have a horrible ego? Clue me in!
a) I think a lot of people resented having to read The Edible Woman in high school. I’ve never heard anyone say they enjoyed the book.
b) I think Canadians dislike seeing their fellow citizens becoming rich and famous, and are eager to tear down their celebrity brethren (or sistren). I know I do. Celebrities are undemocratic, and serve us best when their successes are tempered by failure and humiliation. Conrad Black is a fine example.
c) Exceptions to b) include hockey players and John Candy.
-Andy
Interesting! I was never forced to read much Can Lit in school so I never thought of that aspect…
I’ve been trying to think of other authors (Canadian, to keep the playing field level) who have also generated a lot of dislike, and mainly come up with Mowat or Richler (and I imagine the dislike is for their outspoken views more than their writing for the most part).
Being dead seems to temper criticism, which supports your John Candy view: witness Robertson Davies (now there’s an overrated author, in my view) and Carol Shields.
I think Conrad Black is a special case: he’s reviled because he’s a bastard, not just because he’s rich. I don’t think there was nearly as much schadenfreude being flung around when the Reichmanns’ Olympia & York empire collapsed.
I can take her or leave her.
Whether she actually lives there or not, she’s often put up in an Ivory Tower with the Intellectualentsia, and that’s off-putting for me.
I did speak to her a few times on the phone in the early 90s about a project I was working on and she seemed quite down-to-earth.
Can’t agree with the celebrity thing, Andy. That’s a truism that doesn’t really apply. Especially if I’ve met them…
Ditto on The Edible Woman, though. Never got it, never liked it. Not a high school/CanLit English thing, I quite liked Duddy Kravitz.
She’s impossible to listen to when she reads in public. That’s a downer. I heard her at Harbourfront years ago and it put me off her for years. Still working.
And I don’t need to read any more novels about Canadian Middle Aged Neurotics, past, present or future. I *am* one, and I know a lot. Present company accepted.
=;]