"Meaning is what you're after, resonance, some strange beauty" - Alice Munro speaking at Trinity College, Dublin, on 25 June 2009 as she accepted the International Man Booker Prize.
How to write about Alice Munro, one of the greatest living writers and one of the greatest of all short story writers? A writer who can be compared to Anton Chekhov without exaggerating (Cynthia Ozick did it), Munro adds lustre to any prize she receives and stature to her chosen metier by practicing it.I have often thought of Alice Munro together with Joyce Carol Oates, a fellow 
nominee for this year's Prize. Munro was born in southwestern Ontario (1931), and Oates was born in western New York State (1938), only a few hundred miles and a few years apart. In one respect they embody the stereotypes of their respective nations: Munro writes with measured understatement while Oates employs a heightened sense of drama. Between them they have created a panoramic witness to almost a half century. Their work shares a movement out from the self to explore the world. Today, I wish I could remember which philosopher said that some people look out at the world and can see only reflections of themselves, while others look into themselves and find the world.
nominee for this year's Prize. Munro was born in southwestern Ontario (1931), and Oates was born in western New York State (1938), only a few hundred miles and a few years apart. In one respect they embody the stereotypes of their respective nations: Munro writes with measured understatement while Oates employs a heightened sense of drama. Between them they have created a panoramic witness to almost a half century. Their work shares a movement out from the self to explore the world. Today, I wish I could remember which philosopher said that some people look out at the world and can see only reflections of themselves, while others look into themselves and find the world. Alice Munro's new book of stories, Too Much Happiness, will be published in the fall of 2009.
Images are woodblock prints by Walter J. Phillips, Canadian artist, from the website http://www.sharecom.ca/phillips.
2 comments:
Congratulations Alice Munro! Thanks Jane, for this post.
Reuben, according to Margaret Atwood, the painter Greg Curnoe nicknamed the southwestern portion of Ontario province, home of Alice Munro, as "Sowesto". I took the liberty of using the Phillips prints, although they are scenes of Manitoba, they remind me of Ontario. Atwood has also described the Munro syndrome or effect, wherein the writer acknowledged as the best is thought to be too good to need awards or prizes, and is routinely passed over in favor of lesser mortals. But not this time!
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