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Margaret Atwood.
Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002.
BY SHERRILL CHEDA
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Once upon a time, like the Bronte siblings, Margaret Atwood and her brother made up fanciful stories and told them to each other as children. And from these narrative beginnings came the writer, we, as readers, think we know today. This dazzling book of six essays about the writing life, both erudite and witty, down to earth while literary, insightful, and practical, began life as the Epson lectures at Cambridge University. This is a book about what Atwood has learned from other writers, both living and dead. As in her fiction, her brilliant thinking and sense of humour make this a joy to read.
Atwood points out that all authors are doubles because they live with two people: their everyday selves and their writer selves. Both of these selves need...