Saturday, May 8, 2010

My hero / Margaret Atwood by Caroline Lucas

 

Margaret Atwood


My hero: 

Margaret Atwood 

by Caroline Lucas


'Atwood always poses more questions than she answers. She takes pleasure in demolishing received wisdom'


Caroline Lucas
Saturday 8 May 2010

I

nevitably, the demands of work mean that I don't get to read anywhere near as much as I'd like. But no matter how little time I have, or how many new authors I become acquainted with, I always find myself coming back to the Canadian author, critic, poet and social campaigner Margaret Atwood.

Atwood is well known as an outspoken campaigner for human rights, the environment and social justice and her deep commitment to these causes provides the emotional foundations for much of her work. But, politics aside, she also stands out in my mind as one of the leading wordsmiths of her generation.

She is an expert in crafting rich, sensuous, almost magical landscapes – then populating them with vibrant and complex characters, displaying an almost uncanny understanding of human nature. She takes on everything from the fantastical, using science fiction as her inspiration, to the historical, embellishing her novels with meticulously researched detail. Atwood isn't always easy to read. Her eclectic narratives can take a while to get your head around. But once you do, you are endlessly rewarded.

The Handmaid's Tale is a dystopian masterpiece about a terrifying totalitarian future and confirms the author's place as a visionary, as well as revealing a distinctly feminist streak. Her 1996 novel, Alias Grace, shows her at her most mischievous, continuously blurring the line between "truth" and "fiction" and challenging the reader to make his or her own judgments. The author's wit and self-awareness make her a true pleasure to read.

Like any great writer, Atwood always poses more questions than she answers. She takes pleasure in demolishing received wisdom. She is brave, subversive and, quite simply, a marvellous storyteller.


THE GUARDIAN





2009
001 My hero / Oscar Wilde by Michael Holroyd
002 My hero / Harley Granville-Barker by Richard Eyre
003 My hero / Edward Goldsmith by Zac Goldsmith
004 My hero / Fridtjof Nansen by Sara Wheeler 
005 My hero / Mother Mercedes Lawler IBVM by Antonia Fraser
007 My hero / Ernest Shepard by Richard Holmes
008 My hero / JG Ballard by Will Self
009 My hero / Alan Ross by William Boyd
010 My hero / Ben the labrador by John Banville
011 My hero / Vicent van Gogh by Margaret Drabble
012 My hero / Franz Marek by Eric Hobsbawm

2010

017 My hero / Jack Yeats by Colm Tóibín
018 My hero / Francisco Goya by Diana Athill
019 My hero / Max Stafford-Clark by Sebastian Barry
020 My hero / Arthur Holmes by Richard Fortey

036 My hero / Robert Lowell by Jonathan Raban
037 My hero / Beryl Bainbridge by Michael Holroyd
038 My hero / Charles Schulz by Jenny Colgan
039 My hero / Oliver Knussen by Adam Foulds
040 My hero / Annie Proulx by Alan Warner

041 My hero / David Lynch by Paul Murray
042 My hero / Edwin Morgan by Robert Crawford
043 My hero / Anne Lister by Emma Donoghue
044 My hero / Jane Helen Harrinson by Mary Beard
045 My hero / Edmund Burke by David Marquand
046 My hero / Shelagh Deleaney by Jeanette Winterson
047 My hero / Christopher Marlowe by Val McDermid
048 My hero / Gwen John by Anne Enright
049 My hero / Michael Mayne by Susan Hill
050 My hero / Stanley Spencer by Howard Jacobson

051 My hero / William Beveridge by Will Hutton
052 My hero / Jean McConville by Amanda Foreman
053 My hero / Alexander Pushkin by Elaine Feinstein
058 My hero / Cy Twombly by Edmund de Waal

2011
079 My hero / Gene Wolfe by Neil Gaiman
087 My hero / Alberto Moravia by John Burnside
096 My hero / Isaac Babel by AD Miller
097 Lucian Freud by Esi Edugyan
100 Thomas Tranströmer by Robin Robertson
102 My hero / David Hockney by Susan Hill

2012

190 My hero / Iris Murdoch by Charlotte Mendelson
194 My hero / René Descartes by James Kelman
199 My hero / Albert Camus by Geoff Dyer

2015
2016





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