By the author of The Handmaid's Tale & Alias Grace What is the role of the writer? Prophet? High Priest of Art? Court Jester? Or witness to the real world? Looking back on her own childhood & the development of her writing career Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction & poetry have used to explain
- or excuse!
- their activities looking at what costumes they have seen fit to assume what roles they have chosen to play In her final chapter she takes up the challenge of the book's title if a writer is to be seen as 'gifted' who is doing the giving & what are the terms of the gift? Margaret Atwood's wide & eclectic reference to other writers living & dead is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences as a writer both in Canada & on the international scene The lightness of her touch is underlined by a seriousness about the purpose & the pleasures of writing & by a deep familiarity with the myths & traditions of western literature