Littera Deusto

Modern Languages, Basque Studies and Humanities

Gathering Together Two Generations.

enero 17th, 2014 · No hay Comentarios

Daughter of a farmer and a teacher, born in the center of Ontario (Canada) and a failure on the college, gets a Novel Prize at the age of 82. These two lines are the shortest summary of the life of Alice Ann Munro. This time, and in order to write my third post on this blog, I have chosen this writer whose life does not hide much secret, but who creates huge short-stories; which both me and my mother have enjoyed reading for long times together.

Alice Ann Munro

In 1968 Alice Ann Munro published her first book, it was called “Dance of the Happy Shades”, and it was a collection of some different short-stories written by the author herself. Since then, and thanks to her success, Alice Munro has never written anything else but short-stories. That’s the reason why she has won the Novel Prize of Literature, but all the critics too.

Alice Munro’s short-stories are supposed to be easy to read and understand, and they definitely are; not only because the way they are written, but also for the story itself, the way they are told and the way readers feel reading them. They stories are normally situated on small villages with characters living on their daily life but always, always, having to take an important decision.

Alice Munro shows how strange, perilous, and extraordinary ordinary life can be. Review of her Dear Life book

It was her second book which made her become known, that book is called “Lives of Girls and Women” and was published on 1971. I wasn´t born yet, and my mother was just a teenager on those years, so obviously, none of read it after a lot of years later. As the name suggests, the short stories on it talk about girls and women, about the sexuality, self-discover, self-assertion and gender power.

lives of girls and women

The last Munro’s work my mother and I have read is her “Dear Life” from 2012. In these last short-stories which take place in Lake Huron point the moment a person is forever changed for a decision not taken, for a chance of fate or for a chance. The typically normal lives of a soldier avoiding his fiancée, a wealthy woman, an adulterous woman and her children, and a young teacher twist in every direction with those changes of face, chance and decisions.

Finally, and as I have told through all this post, Alice Ann Munro get to gather together me and my mother in an amazing world between reality and fiction for the first time, because as we keep reading those stories, we compare and talk about them every time we were together. That’s why I admire this writer, because I am sure, that not only me and my mother, but she has also relate lots of people all around the world.

So, thanks Alice, thanks for gathering together two dofferent generation and for showing me how things chance with little twists of life.

REFERENCES:

Alice Munro. Wikipedian the Free Encyclopedia. (Last edited Jan, 16. 2014) Last viewed Jan. 17. 2014 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alice_Munro

Alice Ann Munro, Premio Novel de la Literatura 2013 on Europapress. published on Oct. 10th in Madrid. http://www.europapress.es/cultura/libros-00132/noticia-alice-ann-munro-premio-nobel-literatura-2013-20131010130801.html

Where DO I Start With Alice Munro on Slate.com. published on Oct. 10th by Lowen Liu. http://www.slate.com/blogs/browbeat/2013/10/10/alice_munro_best_stories_to_read_first_by_new_nobel_prize_winner.html

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