NEGOTIATING WITH THE DEAD - A Writer on Writing [Paperback]

Margaret Atwood (Author)

Product Details

• Paperback
• Publisher: Cambridge University Press; First Softcover Edition edition (2002)
• ASIN: B002MJNRES
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (23 customer reviews)

More About the Author

MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in over thirty-five countries, is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays. In addition to The Handmaid's Tale, her novels include Cat's Eye, shortlisted for the Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; and her most recent, Oryx and Crake, shortlisted for the 2003 Booker Prize. She lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

88 of 89 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Margaret Laurence, NOT Margaret Atwood..., July 1, 2002

By 

jp (Chicago, IL United States) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (The Empson Lectures) (Hardcover)

I feel the need to respond to reader "Liz," who believes that the author's "alcholism" [sic] was to blame for her disappointment in this book. Liz clearly confuses Margaret Atwood for Margaret LAURENCE, the brilliant and troubled Canadian writer who committed suicide in 1983. Atwood is alive, well, and (according to all reliable reports) in no way suffering from "alcholism." I would respectfully suggest that a little more scholarship and considerably less judgmental commentary (not to mention careful proofreading) are in order before posting reviews on Amazon.com.

As a longtime fan of Atwood's work and as a writer myself, I found her insight fascinating, though I can understand the disappointment some readers felt; this is not a handbook or a how-to, it's an intellectual memoir and will consequently be a let-down for many. But if you are curious about analysis and process more than in absolutes, there is much here to interest and entertain. Atwood-the-writer can seem remote in her fiction; here she is personable and humane. Anyone who has put pen to paper will recognize and value much that is to be found in this volume.

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Graduate-level Course in 220 pages, August 30, 2003

By A Customer

This review is from: Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (The Empson Lectures) (Hardcover)

I just finished reading this book--twice!--and may just read it again. An intelligent, provocative, and very funny discussion of life lived in the writing realm. Each of Atwood's chapters could support a book-length volume of its own. Her ability to cross the boundaries of time, genres, genders, the human and the divine is astonishing. She is genius.

The back matter--notes, bibliography, acknowledgments, and index--are invaluable, and if you'd like you could launch a lifetime of study just using her references as the guidepost. This book has gotten me excited again about literature--a dive deep into the profound waters, far from the frothy, frivolous "acclaimed" writing that has increasingly made me feel so discouraged and alienated.

No, this is not a how-to. This is a wondering-how-and-why.

17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, a thinking person's book., May 12, 2004

By 

a. "devoted reader" (NY) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (Paperback)

I agree that this is a graduate level course in one book, and I think the reader who wanted to give it zero stars was probably over her head. It is brilliant, philosophical and witty, as no doubt the author is also, but it is not an easy read memoir. Although there are elements of memoir, it's really a fascinating glimpse into the mind of a literary writer. Yes, these -- the problem of the double in myth and literature, the demonic/godlike sources of inspiration, the moral responsibilities of the artist, the meaning of the book as go-between of author and reader, and the different historical answers to all of the above -- these are the thoughts that occupy this writer. While the rest of us are absorbing entertainment, she is analyzing civilization and here she tells us what she thinks. A most valuable book! I also recommend her novels, especially Oryx and Crake, and The Blind Assassin.