FABClub (Female Authors Book Club) discussion

And here we have Margaret Atwood discussing "the imaginative mystique of the wilderness of the Canadian North."

Haha oh the good ol' Canadian North! :)

One thing I've really learned from this project is how important Canadian identity and Canadian literature is to her!

I'm just now starting this. It's a collection of four essays she gave at Oxford about Canadian literature. Her speaking voice is really funny! (I mean what she says, not how she sounds! She seems to me to use a lot more humor here than I ever particularly noticed in her fiction.)

I'm thinking that in one sense this is exactly what Surfacing was about.

I'm amused by the fact that I find her non-fiction to be a much less demanding read than her fiction. That's not typical for me! But this reads like she's just sitting there chatting with you, and she makes her points quite clearly, no enigmatic meanings to go searching for.

I'm about halfway through this and am really enjoying the wit and imagery. One of the things that has struck me is that, despite being Canadian, the North plays very little role in my psyche or that of most people I know. I'm wondering if the Arctic seems farther away for people in the West, as opposed to those in Central Canada?

Taylor, what do you think?

Just finished this - my favorite essay was the last (about women's views of the north). So much of this is woven throughout her poetry (and of course Surfacing!).

Alexa wrote: "Just finished this - my favorite essay was the last (about women's views of the north). So much of this is woven throughout her poetry (and of course Surfacing!)."

That was my fav. too, especially the bits about Catherine Parr Trail.

My review of this:
This is a great collection of essays, showing Atwood’s humor and wit and joy in the themes of Canadian literature. It’s an interesting analysis of many of the same themes that can be seen running through her own work – and it’s a lot of fun to read just for the sense of connection it gave me to Atwood the real person (who wears earrings that match her lecture topic!).