A curious pursuit
Curious pursuits
Margaret Atwood
Margaret Atwood is not a writer who says things interestingly, or says interesting things - yet this collection is compulsive, principally because she writes with sincerity of voice and momentum of sentence. We see the former in her constant use of confessional asides and irreverancies; things like: “I began writing poems that didn’t rhyme and had coffee cups in them, which may have had something to do with Eliot or… the fact that I was killing far too much time in the coffee shop.
The latter is often used quite instrumentally at the start of her essays, for instance in Northrop Frye Observed. Here the opening sentence punches out in short clauses that move the reader inexorably forwards: “This is not Frye objectified, but Frye subjectified, a mini-memoir, if you like, by one of his former students whose ambition it was to become a writer.
But the beginning of this essay also demonstrates a dislikeable use of such a prose-style which hints that Atwood might not have attained her ambition just yet. Following the opening sentence, the piece dramatically drops down to a digression on a new paragraph. The reader is given no time or space to stop and think or digest; they are actually wrenched physically onwards.
This is a side of Atwood’s writing which is much in evidence in Curious Pursuits; a side which is always seeking to distract from itself. We see it here, and we see it in the aforementioned asides. You might enjoy these bits • they are a distraction and distractions can be pleasant.
But they are distracting from an essentially valueless and empty core which says absolutely nothing; and they ensure that a lot of the essays are only interesting if you find it interesting that Margaret Atwood is writing them. But I suppose that’s the point. The trouble is, Orwell and other great essayists avoid the necessity of this; or at least do it irregularly and turn it back onto their subject; whereas Atwood is always doing it, and doing it irrelevantly.
And if you read Curious Pursuits to find out about her, it’s unfortunately the autobiographical equivalent of eating a slice of bread by gradually piecing together thousands of little crumbs. Ultimately, like all vanity projects, this is going to appeal most to the established fans of the writer; for these Curious Pursuits is well worth a read, but it’s not likely to win any new converts.
5th Oct 2005