Tossing Pebbles in the Stream

This blog is my place to sit and toss pebbles into the stream. The stream of Life relentlessly passing before us. We can affect it little. For the most part I just watch it passing and follow the flow. Occasionally, I need to comment on its passing, tossing a pebble at it to enjoy the ripple affect upon Life's surface.

Thursday, October 10, 2013

Alice Munro wins the Nobel Prize for Literature

Today it was announced that Alice Munro, a Canadian short story writer, was awarded the Nobel Prize for Literature. Here you will find a wonderful essay on Alice Munro and her writing. It is written by that other giant in Canadian literature, Margaret Atwood. http://www.theguardian.com/books/2008/oct/11/alice-munro

All of Canada has a right to be proud. She is one of the many writers that have been a part of Canada's cultural maturing since the early 50's.(over my lifetime) One could argue that Canada now has become one of the major Nations to produce fine literature in English. She wrote a lot about small town Canada in which she grew up. Small town Canada was beginning to disappear about this time. It was in the early 50's that Canada shifted from being a predominately small town rural country to become an urban society to the point that now most Canadians live in large metropolitan cities. Her stories will live on to inform us of our Canadian roots and the complexity of Canadians even in small towns. Before Alice Munro I can only think of two Canadian woman writers of note (I am no literary scholar so I may offend someone) Lucy Maud Montgomery of Anne of Green Gables books and Mazo de la Roche who wrote the Jalna novels..

I hope this Nobel prize will inspire more people, particularly Canadians to read more of Alice Munro's writing. I for one will be reading some more of her works.

5 Comments:

At 1:32 p.m., possum said...: OK, I will give her a try. Just ordered a book from amazon. We shall see how it goes.
I have gotten picky about what I read in my old age. If a book makes me cry - I don't buy that author anymore. If the author uses the F word, I am done. I was so disappointed with Rowling's first non- Harry Potter book. I had pre-ordered it - there it was the F word on probably the first page. Threw the book straight in the trash. End of Rowling.
I figure I don't need to read about war, either. So, we shall see how Munro holds up!
At 9:00 p.m., KGMom said...: Philip--I was thrilled to hear the news. Early on, the news was touting a Japanense writer, so when Alice Munro won, I was so happy AND surprised.
I heard Alice Munro on the news commenting on her win--sounds as though she too was surprised.
At 9:01 a.m., Ginnie said...: I am very happy that Alice Munro is the winner. Everything that I've read by her has been excellent and now I will be sure to read even more.
At 8:32 a.m., possum said...: Runaway arrived yesterday - started reading last night, but fell asleep after only a few pages. Not the author's fault, I was just exhausted after a crazy day. However, I think I have found a "new" author! Thanks, Philip!
At 9:26 p.m., J C said...: I just got her "Something I've Been Meaning To Tell You"....13 short stories. I'm betting I will like it.