Congratulations, Alice Munro!

Derek Shapton/McClelland and Stewart photo borrowed from Globe and Mail article. 

How I wish I had time to write up a quick post chortling about Alice Munro’s Nobel Prize! I’d tell you which of her books I loved most (could I really choose?); remember when my mom gave me a copy of Lives of Girls and Women; try to capture the sense of those wonderful CBC interviews I heard, chats between her and Don Harron and then Peter Gzowski, back in the Morningside Days; describe how magical it was to see her speak, hear her read, a few years ago  (2009) at the Vancouver International Writers Festival.

I haven’t the time, sadly. I must go do the work I get paid for — and I’ll be sure to chortle and tell and remember and try to capture and describe to my poor students, of course. But you might want to read this, in the meantime, or, if you have time, work your way through these wonderful CBC audio archives. Oh, her voice! And then perhaps you could leave some of your lovely comments for me to read when I get back from my day. Have you read Munro’s work? Have you been reading it much of your adult life, as I have, or were you lucky enough to have discovered it when there was already this large treasure of work to disappear into? Do you have a favourite?

15 Comments

  1. hostess of the humble bungalow
    10 October 2013 / 6:30 pm

    Yes she has a wonderful gift and a voice that resonates with me.
    I am fortunate to have met her socially and can say that she is a very unassuming and humble writer. I was thrilled when I heard that she won!
    Chortle loudly to your students mater!…perhaps they will be inspired to read some of her works.

    • materfamilias
      11 October 2013 / 4:36 am

      You are fortunate to have met here. One of my colleagues shared a story of meeting her years ago, in Victoria, at an event also attended by Timothy Findley.

  2. Madame Là-bas
    10 October 2013 / 9:04 pm

    Lives of Girls and Women was my first Alice Munro book as well. What an honour for a "nonpolitical" Canadian author to win a Nobel Prize for Literature! Margaret Laurence, Audrey Thomas, Jane Rule Gabrielle Roy, Margaret Atwood, Carol Shields,
    Marie-Claire Blais, Anne Hébert and so many more…For a country our size, we have produced so many great women fiction writers! To have world recognition is encouraging to all those who aspire to write.

    • materfamilias
      11 October 2013 / 4:38 am

      We do have a wealth of writers — and many, many of these are women. Lovely to see them getting the recognition they deserve. Munro has long been lauded internationally, it seems to me, but this is a clear reminder to Canadians of her value.

  3. Alison Watt
    11 October 2013 / 2:36 am

    my favourite story is The Albanian Virgin

  4. materfamilias
    11 October 2013 / 4:35 am

    And can you believe that was first published in '94?

  5. Duchesse
    11 October 2013 / 1:22 pm

    A lifelong reader; impossible to pick a favourite story. She did not make it to the Toronto PEN event last summer; her agent cited health reasons. I hope she can make the trip to Oslo. Like you, I am thrilled about her Nobel.

    • materfamilias
      11 October 2013 / 3:31 pm

      I'd find it impossible as well to pick a favourite. As for the travel, I'm crossing my fingers for her as well — she was born the same year as my mother. . . .

  6. Patricia
    11 October 2013 / 2:30 pm

    Mater, just popping in to send you a link to a blog I read. Louise, the blogger, was also at the Festival des Metiers and got a photo of the 'bag lady' – although you can't see the piercings and tatoos!

    ingredientsofstyle.com/2013/10/hermes-festival-des-metiers.html

    • materfamilias
      11 October 2013 / 3:31 pm

      Oooh, there are some scrumptious photos there — thank you! the colours of those leathers, so rich, saturated. . . thanks for sharing the link.

  7. 60GoingOn16
    11 October 2013 / 2:58 pm

    There was deep joy in this small corner of England at the news of Alice Munro's Nobel Prize. Am a huge admirer of her work and I would, I am sure, regret it immediately if I singled out a particular story as a favourite.

    • materfamilias
      11 October 2013 / 3:33 pm

      With you and Duchesse, above, I'd not be able to point to any one story, but I think of that oddly shimmering sense of epiphany one gets from her work.. . .I do just want to hole up and reread now. . .

  8. Miss Cavendish
    12 October 2013 / 5:19 am

    One line of Munro's, which I cannot quote exactly, and may have mentioned elsewhere, move me to tears every time–it's something about children trusting their parents' actions. If I am impatient, I think of that and melt. My ugrad mentor is BFFs with Ms. Munro; have never met her, but so admire her stories.

    • materfamilias
      13 October 2013 / 1:00 am

      Strikes me as a line that might well belong to Moons of Jupiter….

  9. Unknown
    14 October 2013 / 5:29 pm

    I was very happy to hear that she won. It makes me want to re-read her stories.

Copyright

Unless otherwise stated, all words and photographs in this blog are my own. If you wish to use any of them, please give me credit for my work. And it should go without saying, but apparently needs to be said: Do not publish entire posts as your own. I will take the necessary action to stop such theft. Thanks.