Join Amazon Prime and ship Two-Day for free and Overnight for $3.99. Already a member? Sign in.

 

or
Sign in to turn on 1-Click ordering.
 
 
More Buying Choices
103 used & new from $0.01

Have one to sell? Sell yours here
 
   
Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing
 
 
Tell the Publisher!
I’d like to read this book on Kindle

Don’t have a Kindle? Get yours here.
 
  

Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (Hardcover)

by Margaret Atwood (Author) "Writing, Writers, The Writing Life - if this last is not an oxymoron..." (more)
Key Phrases: Childe Roland, Brown Owl, Isak Dinesen (more...)
3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)

List Price: $34.00
Price: $27.20 & this item ships for FREE with Super Saver Shipping. Details
You Save: $6.80 (20%)
o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o o
In Stock.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Want it delivered Monday, July 20? Choose One-Day Shipping at checkout. Details
34 new from $2.99 60 used from $0.01 9 collectible from $22.00
Also Available in: List Price: Our Price: Other Offers:
Paperback $14.00 $11.20 56 used & new from $1.13

Special Offers and Product Promotions


Frequently Bought Together

Customers buy this book with Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose--1983-2005 by Margaret Atwood

Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing + Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose--1983-2005

Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought

The Tent

The Tent

by Margaret Atwood
4.5 out of 5 stars (10)  $10.40
Waltzing Again: New & Selected Conversations with Margaret Atwood

Waltzing Again: New & Selected Conversations with Margaret Atwood

by Margaret Atwood
$13.22
Good Bones and Simple Murders

Good Bones and Simple Murders

by Margaret Atwood
Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose: 1983-2005

Writing with Intent: Essays, Reviews, Personal Prose: 1983-2005

by Margaret Atwood
5.0 out of 5 stars (1)  $14.41
Oryx and Crake

Oryx and Crake

by Margaret Atwood
3.8 out of 5 stars (316)  $10.17
Explore similar items

Product Details

  • Hardcover: 248 pages
  • Publisher: Cambridge University Press (March 7, 2002)
  • Language: English
  • ISBN-10: 0521662605
  • ISBN-13: 978-0521662604
  • Product Dimensions: 7.8 x 5 x 1 inches
  • Shipping Weight: 12.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
  • Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars See all reviews (22 customer reviews)
  • Amazon.com Sales Rank: #310,927 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

    Popular in this category: (What's this?)

    #37 in  Books > Literature & Fiction > Authors, A-Z > ( A ) > Atwood, Margaret

Inside This Book (learn more)


What Do Customers Ultimately Buy After Viewing This Item?


Tags Customers Associate with This Product

 (What's this?)
Click on a tag to find related items, discussions, and people.
Check the boxes next to the tags you consider relevant or enter your own tags in the field below.

Your tags: Add your first tag
 
Help others find this product — tag it for Amazon search
No one has tagged this product for Amazon search yet. Why not be the first to suggest a search for which it should appear?

Sell a Digital Version of This Book in the Kindle Store

If you are a publisher or author and hold the digital rights to a book, you can sell a digital version of it in our Kindle Store. Learn more

 

Customer Reviews

22 Reviews
5 star:
 (10)
4 star:
 (5)
3 star:
 (1)
2 star:
 (2)
1 star:
 (4)
 
 
 
 
 
Average Customer Review
3.7 out of 5 stars (22 customer reviews)
 
 
 
 
Share your thoughts with other customers:
Most Helpful Customer Reviews

 
79 of 80 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
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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
18 of 18 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
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.

Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)



 
17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars Part of a Great Tradition, April 24, 2003
By A Customer
You have to wonder if most of the previous reviewers of this book have actually read any of Atwood's fiction. If they had, they would have known the kinds of topics that interest her and that she might pursue in lectures about her career as a writer. It's hard to imagine, for example, criticizing Atwood for drawing references from 19th century literature. I see this book as following in the tradition of Virginia Woolf and Eudora Welty, by combining stories about the author's life as a woman with her reflections on what it has meant to write fiction of the highest order.
Comment Comment | Permalink | Was this review helpful to you? Yes No (Report this)


Share your thoughts with other customers: Create your own review
 
 
Ad
 
Most Recent Customer Reviews

3.0 out of 5 stars Not what I was expecting
As a high school English teacher, I wanted to perfect my craft of teaching writing to my students. Who better to know writing than a real writer, right? Read more
Published 1 month ago by H2Steacher

5.0 out of 5 stars Luminous and Illuminating
Perhaps the greatest book ever written on the creative process. A treat for writers and non writers alike. Read more
Published on November 28, 2006 by Steven W. Mccornack

5.0 out of 5 stars some books just make you smart
so, some books just make you smart. just like some people can't help but be smart. one such person, who demonstrates her intelligence through authorship, is margaret atwood... Read more
Published on October 29, 2006 by elizabeth benson-udom

5.0 out of 5 stars The pen is mightier than the sword...
This is my first book reading experience by Maraget Atwood. It is a personable memoir that opened my eyes to the value, importance and creativity of writing. Read more
Published on August 5, 2005 by Michael J. Armijo

5.0 out of 5 stars Brimful of brilliant!
I just finished reading this book and I must say, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I feel that anyone who truly ponders the intricacies involved in the process of writing, anyone who has... Read more
Published on July 17, 2005 by Cipriano

4.0 out of 5 stars Negotiating with the writer
A very entertaining, ultimately serious work about the various relationships between a writer, a work of literature and the reader - and the ethical and motivational issues that... Read more
Published on April 2, 2005 by Charlus

4.0 out of 5 stars Just finished and need to read it again
I love the new perspectives I gained from Atwood. She provides her view of the relationship between the text and the reader, the author and the text, and the reader and the... Read more
Published on July 21, 2004 by A. George

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant, a thinking person's book.
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. Read more
Published on May 12, 2004 by a.

4.0 out of 5 stars Far beyond the "step-by-step" approach...
"Who are you writing for? Why do you do it? Where does it come from?"

It is hard to make a generalization about "Negotiating With the Dead," but the quote above (via... Read more

Published on April 13, 2004 by HORN

5.0 out of 5 stars beautiful
Writing is a very delicate and complex subject. It would cheapen the craft to present it in the way of many writers on writing; general oppinons on the craft surrounded by tips... Read more
Published on December 17, 2003

Only search this product's reviews



Customer Discussions

 Beta (What's this?)
New! See all customer communities, and bookmark your communities to keep track of them.
This product's forum (0 discussions)
  Discussion Replies Latest Post
  No discussions yet

Ask questions, Share opinions, Gain insight
Start a new discussion
Topic:
First post:
Prompts for sign-in
  [Cancel]

   
Related forums


Product Information from the Amapedia Community

Beta (What's this?)



Look for Similar Items by Category


Perfect Programming

Shop for programmable thermostats

Install a programmable thermostat to help reduce heating costs by ensuring your home is heated optimally. Shop for name-brand thermostats, including Honeywell and Lux, in Home Improvement.

Shop all programmable thermostats

 

Big Savings in Books

Bargain Books
Find great titles at fantastic prices in our Bargain Books Store.
 

Buy Three Books, Get a Fourth Free

4-for-3 Books
Order any four eligible books under $10 and get the lowest-price book free in our 4-for-3 Books Store. See more details.
 

Best Books

Best of the Month
See our editors' picks and more of the best new books on our Best of the Month page.
 
Ad

 

Feedback

If you need help or have a question for Customer Service, contact us.
 Would you like to update product info or give feedback on images?
Is there any other feedback you would like to provide?

Your comments can help make our site better for everyone.


Where's My Stuff?

Shipping & Returns

Need Help?

Your Recent History

  (What's this?)
You have no recently viewed items or searches.

After viewing product detail pages or search results, look here to find an easy way to navigate back to pages you are interested in.

Look to the right column to find helpful suggestions for your shopping session.

Continue shopping: Top Sellers
Free
Free by Chris Anderson
Paranoia
Paranoia by Joseph Finder
My Soul to Lose
My Soul to Lose by Rachel Vincent
Glenn Beck's Common Sense

Conditions of Use | Privacy Notice © 1996-2009, Amazon.com, Inc. or its affiliates