The Burgess Shale: The Canadian Writing Landscape of the 1960s

Margaret Atwood

Mar 2017 · University of Alberta

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“Atwood provides a window into her own early writing days . . . a treasure for readers interested in Canadian literature because this is where it all began.” —Prairie Fire Review of Books

“The outburst of cultural energy that took place in the 1960s was in part a product of the two decades that came before. It’s always difficult for young people to see their own time in perspective: when you’re in your teens, a decade earlier feels like ancient history and the present moment seems normal: what exists now is surely what has always existed.”

In this short work, Margaret Atwood, author of The Handmaid’s Tale and “Canada’s most famous writer” (The New Yorker), compares the Canadian literary landscape of the 1960s to the Burgess Shale, a geological formation that contains the fossils of many strange prehistoric life forms. The Burgess Shale is not entirely about writing itself, however: Atwood also provides some insight into the meager writing infrastructure of that time, taking a lighthearted look at the early days of the institutions we take for granted today—from writers’ organizations, prizes, and grant programs to book tours and festivals.

“Allows the reader a brief glimpse into the mind of a great writer and her perspective and experience living through what would now seem to many the Stone Age of the Canadian writing scene . . . invaluable and very readable.” —Canadian Literature

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Atwood Margaret : Margaret Atwood is known internationally for her award-winning novels, poetry, and short stories. She was born in Ottawa in 1939, and spent much of her childhood in northern Ontario and Quebec. She has lived, studied, and worked in Toronto, Montreal, Edmonton, Vancouver, Alliston, and Boston, as well as England, Scotland, Ireland, France, Italy, and Germany.Carrière Marie : Marie Carrière is the Director of the Canadian Literature Centre/Centre de littérature canadienne and teaches French, English, and Comparative Literature at the University of Alberta. Her research focuses on contemporary women's writing and the theory and history of feminism.