Alice Munro

[Jozanny]

JBI, can you tell me about this author? I have one of her kindle editions on my wishlist, and seem to recall her from Poets & Writers, when I was, unfortunately, among my own colleagues, as opposed to La Grande Play Pen here.

Seriously, I ask you because you know Canadian Literature, and I am rather tired of Atwood, and would hope my sympathies would find more reward in Munro's direction.

Any words to the wise?

[JBI]

JBI, can you tell me about this author? I have one of her kindle editions on my wishlist, and seem to recall her from Poets & Writers, when I was, unfortunately, among my own colleagues, as opposed to La Grande Play Pen here.

Seriously, I ask you because you know Canadian Literature, and I am rather tired of Atwood, and would hope my sympathies would find more reward in Munro's direction.

Any words to the wise?

Depends which collection - she is very modern, but has many interesting layers, both metafictionally and thematically, and is also highly ironic.

Which collection are you thinking of getting?

Generally her stories are good, and Chekhovesque in style, with additional elements, and a distinctly Canadian personality.

She is generally well renowned (rightfully so) and seems I would argue one of the best Short Story authors I have encountered (she comes from a well grounded tradition of women short story authors in Canada) and is rooted in the traditions of, I would argue, Robertson Davies and Margaret Lawrence, in terms of conceptualizing setting and plot.

In truth, I would compare her to a Canadian, small-town oriented (though not provincial), post-modernly informed Katherine Mansfield, though I think she is perhaps a better writer than Mansfield.

[mayneverhave]

I would recommend her as well Joz, though I've only read one of her works. She impressed me quite a bit, and that's saying something as I rarely read contemporary authors (at least until I finish the "classics").

[papayahed]

There's a thread around here somewhere about Munro recommendations.

[Jozanny]

I am not sure how this page (http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_ss?url=node%3D133141011&field-keywords=Alice+Munro&x=14&y=21) will translate, since I am now involved in the Amazon community under my real name, but these are her kindle titles, as well as her author's page. I put "Too Much Happiness" on Wishlist; it seems like my kind of thing, but I am not familiar with Munro-- not as I might have been with other contemporaries.