“I was carried into the woods in a packsack when I was six months old.” Canadian Man Booker Prize winning author Margaret Atwood here describes her special relationship to the woods, and her first overwhelming meeting with the city.
The original meaning of the last name ‘Atwood’ is ‘of the woods’, and Atwood did indeed grow up in the forest. Her first meeting with the city was mind-boggling, and she was afraid of things such as vacuum cleaners and flush toilets – simply not understanding where things disappeared to. Her upbringing in the woods also meant that she was never “properly socialized” and felt somewhat untrained in understanding human interaction. This led her to view the world anthropologically, taking in her surroundings with curiosity and mystification: “I was always looking at them and thinking: That’s a very odd thing to do.”
Atwood still returns to the forest, where she likes to visit the different layers of it to explore its wide-ranging vegetation and wildlife. These different layers seem to represent the layers of her homeland Canada: “You can never say it’s Canadian and leave it at that.” Canada has never been an imperial power, never been “the big cheese”, and this, Atwood feels, has provided many Canadians with a healthy dose of irony and humour: “They have a reprehensible tendency to make fun of everything – themselves included.”
Margaret Eleanor Atwood (b. 1939) is a Canadian poet, novelist, literary critic, essayist and environmentalist activist. She has been shortlisted for the prestigious Man Booker Prize five times, winning once for ‘The Blind Assassin’ (2000), and was inducted into Canada’s Walk of Fame in 2001. Furthermore, she is a founder of the Writers’ Trust of Canada, a non-profit literary organization that seeks to encourage Canada’s writing community. Among her novels are ‘The Edible Woman’ (1969), ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’ (1985), ‘The Robber Bride’ (1994),‘The Blind Assassin’ (2000), ‘Oryx and Crake’ (2003), ‘The Year of the Flood’ (2009) and ‘MaddAddam’ (2013) – the last three forming a dystopian trilogy. While she is best known for her work as a novelist, she is also the author of children’s literature and has published several books of poetry inspired by myths and fairy tales.
Margaret Atwood was interviewed by Synne Rifbjerg at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Denmark in August 2014.
Camera: Mathias Nyholm
Edited by: Sonja Strange
Produced by: Marc-Christoph Wagner
Copyright: Louisiana Channel, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, 2015
Supported by Nordea-fonden
1 view
223
59
2 months ago 00:37:00 1
COMMENT SURVIVRE À LA FIN DU MONDE ?
3 months ago 00:18:11 1
How Similar Are Finnish and Estonian?
3 months ago 00:02:41 6
The Penelopiad | Full Cast Interview | Jennifer Morrison | March 2 - March 31 | Goodman Theatre
5 months ago 00:02:15 1
Trailer - DIE GESCHICHTE DER DIENERIN (1990, Natasha Richardson)
6 months ago 00:02:18 1
Alfred Enoch reads from ‘If I Survive You’ | The Booker Prize
6 months ago 00:00:22 3
Presenting the Booker Prize 2023 winner | The Booker Prize #shorts
6 months ago 00:07:54 1
ORYX AND CRAKE by MARGARET ATWOOD | Sci-Fi Book Review
7 months ago 00:10:59 1
Margaret Atwood: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale is being read very differently now’
7 months ago 00:12:13 1
Margaret Atwood Interview: The Woods Inside Me
7 months ago 00:02:57 1
A. S. Byatt Wins The Booker Prize for ’Possession: A Romance’ (1990) | The Booker Prize
7 months ago 00:03:20 1
The Handmaid’s Tale - Natural (by Imagine Dragons)
7 months ago 00:14:33 1
The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood - Book Discussion
9 months ago 11:06:16 1
The Handmaid’s Tale - A Rich and Complex Book by Margaret Atwood - Full Audiobook
9 months ago 00:22:06 2
Rick Rubin | A Guide to ’The Creative Act’ (book report, and key takeaways)
10 months ago 00:05:05 1
Why should you read “The Handmaid’s Tale“? - Naomi R. Mercer
12 months ago 00:49:52 1
Margaret Atwood on the Rise of Real World Authoritarians | Offline With Jon Favreau
12 months ago 00:04:54 2
The Handmaid’s Tale | Hanging scene
1 year ago 00:49:28 4
COMMENT VIVRE ET LUTTER FACE AU CAPITALISME DE SURVEILLANCE ? AVEC ALAIN DAMASIO
1 year ago 00:03:04 4
A Toast to the People: Lemn Sissay | 2021 International Festival
1 year ago 00:01:21 1
Sasha Alexander 13, April 2023
2 years ago 00:02:35 46
Dua Lipa on the life-changing power of reading | The Booker Prize
2 years ago 00:10:37 1
Margaret Atwood on Religion Part2/3
2 years ago 00:34:45 1
Margaret Atwood on her latest dystopian novel “The Heart Goes Last“