Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing "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 and writing career, Margaret Atwood examines the metaphors which writers of fiction and poetry have used to explain — or excuse! — their activities, looking at what costumes they have assumed, what roles they have chosen to play. In her final chapter she takes up the challenge of the title: if a writer is to be seen as "gifted", who is doing the giving and what are the terms of the gift? Atwood's wide reference to other writers, living and dead, is balanced by anecdotes from her own experiences, both in Canada and elsewhere. The lightness of her touch is offset by a seriousness about the purpose and the pleasures of writing, and by a deep familiarity with the myths and traditions of western literature."  —The Publisher. Home Biography Novels Short Fiction Poetry Site Awards Excerpts from Negotiating with the Dead Excerpt: "What is 'a writer,' and how did I become one? - Amazon.com Extract: "When I was a student of English literature" - Virago Book Reviews The Telegraph, 2002 Cercles, 2002 Contemporary Review, 2002 Quill and Quire, 2002 The Hindu, 2002 "A Reader's Journal", 2002 to Margaret Atwood's Non-fiction Works to Margaret Atwood Luminarium Copyright ©1996-2007 Anniina Jokinen. All Rights Reserved. Book cover images remain under the copyright of their respective copyright owners. This page created on December 22, 2006 by Anniina Jokinen. Last updated January 3, 2007. About this Website | Luminarium Privacy Statement. Margaret Atwood has gone on to become not just a major Canadian Writer, and a woman writer (whom some would call a Feminist Writer), but an award-winning author of English literature. Her works include novels, short stories, poetry, non-fiction, children's books, etc.