The Malaysian Insider :: Books
The Malaysian Insider :: Books |
| With Nobel, Canadian literature finds place in world Posted: 10 Oct 2013 05:51 PM PDT Munro is arguably the first Canadian to receive the prize from Sweden's Nobel Academy - Montreal-born Saul Bellow moved to Chicago at age nine and is identified as an American author. And, with typical modesty, she said on accepting the award yesterday that she felt pleased not just for herself, but for the shot in the arm that the award gives writers throughout her home country. "I'm particularly glad that winning this award will please so many Canadians," Munro said. "I'm happy, too, that this will bring more attention to Canadian writing." Throughout Canada, Munro's compatriots basked in the world recognition now accorded to one of their own. "Alice Munro's Nobel Prize for Literature will give Canadian writers the worldwide recognition they have long deserved," tweeted Ted Arnott, a member of Canada's parliament. Canada has a flourishing literary tradition with luminaries such as Margaret Atwood, Michael Ondaatje and novelist Carol Shields, who was awarded a Pulitzer Prize. Prominent French language writers in the bilingual nation include Marie-Claire Blais, Anne Hebert, Gabrielle Roy and Michel Tremblay. Robert Sherman, director of the Canada Council for the Arts, told AFP that he was "over the moon" about the award - as much for his country as for the author herself. "Our sense is that Canada has been punching above its weight for many, many years now in the literary field, and we believe that this has been recognized internationally," said Sherman, noting that Munro has also been given Britain's esteemed Man Booker International Prize in 2009 and numerous other awards. "At the same time, there's something symbolic about the Nobel Prize - we can't deny it - and the fact that competition is particularly high on the global scale," said Sherman, whose organization is responsible for identifying and nurturing Canadian artistic talents. "There's just something very reaffirming about the fact that Canada finally - finally - gets its place among the many other nations of the world who can claim this particular distinction," Sherman said. On Twitter on Thursday, the hashtags #cancon - for "Canadian content" - and the equally popular #Canadianpride went viral in an uncharacteristically patriotic celebration of Munro's Nobel. The Swedish Nobel Academy hailed the 82-year old writer as a "master of the contemporary short story," a genre that has only rarely been honored with the world's most prestigious literary prize. Even as they trumpeted her achievement, Munro's countrymen said that there was something quiet, understated and, well, typically Canadian not only about her personal style, but also about the tone and subject matter of her works. She has rooted her writing in Canada, Sherman said, with stories that "could happen in Quebec as well as it could happen anywhere else in the country." "There's something common about the way that Alice Munro has grounded her voice in small town life. The word that I would use is modesty," he continued. "There's something extraordinarily modest about her choice of medium - the short story - her locating her place in small town reality," he said. "One can only assume that this has contributed to the power of her insights." – AFP, October 11, 2013. |
| Printers’ “Bridget Jones moment” leaves fans nonplused Posted: 10 Oct 2013 05:18 PM PDT "The printers have had a Bridget moment," said a spokeswoman for publishers Vintage. "A printing error has been detected in some of the very early copies of 'Bridget Jones: Mad About The Boy'," she explained. Readers were given an unexpected peak at a preview from the autobiography of David Jason, the much-loved star of BBC TV sitcom "Only Fools and Horses." Around 40 pages of his work found their way into early runs of Helen Fielding's latest book, the third in the Bridget Jones saga. "We are taking steps to remove these copies from sale and will be replacing misprinted stock as soon as possible," explained the spokeswoman. Fielding laughed off the glitch, calling it "so funny." "You are reading Bridget and suddenly you fall on David Jason," she told Sue MacGregor from BBC. "I really laughed, I thought it was great." After 14 years out of the limelight, Jones returned to British bookstores yesterday. The latest release follows Jones, now a mother of two, as she falls for a "toy boy" following the death of her husband Mark Darcy. Fielding urged fans to keep Darcy's death "in proportions" but revealed she was worried how Colin Firth, who played the character on the big screen, would react to the news. "The hardest was I had to ring up Colin and tell him, it was as if I was announcing someone's dead," she told MacGregor. "I asked him if he was sitting, if he was alone...were very upset but then we started laughing because in reality nobody died." – AFP, October 11, 2013. |
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