Margaret Atwood and her life partner of 40 years Graeme Gibson read from their latest works at UNM this evening: The Year of The Flood, and The bedside book of beasts. Margaret kicked off the night with some music by Orville Stoeber, (who got his hands on Margaret’s manuscript through her literary agent Phoebe Larmore) that was directly inspired by her original hymns in The Year of The Flood. Margaret continued by joyfully reading some passages from her book that depicted a future full of questions about natural resources, biohazards , and the eating of meat! (Margaret is strictly Veg!) Margaret took to the mic with authority as she read to the audience: “Do you want to eat, or be eaten? Kill or be killed? Hunt or be hunted? Give or take? Because you see all these questions are the same.”
Graeme then took the stage reading passages from his book, which concerned itself with precisely the question of hunter and hunted, and natural law.
The floor was then opened up for questions, and Margaret and Graeme took turns answering. It seemed that most questions revolved around matters of the heart and politics: How will we renew our fallen natural resources?, is civilization killing the planet?, Is it possible to have a relationship and be a writer?, How do we motivate people to conserve and do more? (Margaret called this the question of hope.) This all made me ask myself “why are we looking to fiction authors to answer our questions of the heart, and our concerns about the future existence of our planet?” But then I realized we’ve always looked to them for answers, by reading, and letting them imagine our futures and heartaches for us. Is it possible, that by reading into Margaret Atwood’s fictional future where Texas is no longer apart of the US, it can leave room for us to make the future different? By reading The Sorrows of Young Wurther do we not learn caution in romantic obsessions?
When one brave audience member raised her hand and asked: “How do you make Love work?” Margaret thought for a bit, and said
“If you’re looking for the stuff in perfume ads, we’ve past that point (though it’s a good place to start), but when it come to getting along everyday it takes a lot of patience.” Graeme then took the microphone,”And I’m known for having lots of it.”
Margaret opened her reading by saying that people have raised questions about the pessimistic future she portrays in her novel. She said she always tells them, “This is a book, it has a front cover and a back cover, and when you close it, all that stuff stays inside the book. Keep it a book, and your life will be much happier.”
We’re with you Margaret.
-The Editorial Board
P.S. Wish Margaret a happy birthday on Wednesday!
P.P.S Visit Margaret Atwood’s Tweets! and her blog!
3 Comments
November 18, 2009 at 3:53 am
[...] for a “review” of the Atwood/Gibson reading, check out the Blue Mesa Review Blog. Possibly related posts: (automatically generated)Margaret Atwood at UNMMFA Students on winter [...]
November 18, 2009 at 3:55 am
it was a fun reading! and thanks for the write up.
–Jenn
November 18, 2009 at 4:06 am
Thank you for the tag team effort!
-Suz