Canadian poet, novelist, and critic. Born in Ottawa, Ontario in November 18, 1943. Atwood grew up in the Canadian Wilderness. She went to Harvard University and the University of Toronto. Her family moved to when she was seven, but spent many years in the Canadian Wilderness. She married a man named , and has a daughter named Jess. Winning numerous awards and completing many honourary degrees, Atwood has established a significant name in Canadian literature .Her novels has been translated into more than twenty languages. Like Laurence, Atwood is an extremely talented writer. Both authors attended well-known schools and were very well educated. Also like Laurence, Atwood has moved around a lot living in places like Boston, Vancouver, Edmonton, Montreal, Berlin, Edinburgh, London, and the south of France. Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto, Ontario.
Writers are composed of a plethora of qualities, including one of the most important: the ability to distort clichés and realities. The most significant part of an author’s story is to be inspired by an experience that he\she could relate to. We know that by being able to distort that experience into something creative and compelling, the author has succeeded in fictitious writing. Margaret Laurence has established herself as one of Canada’s best literary voices. Laurence did not grow into her love for writing; instead she initially knew she was going to be a novelist. From being the editor of her school paper, to successfully graduating from the University of Winnipeg, Laurence utilized her many experiences to aid her in becoming a famous and extraordinary talent. Laurence had her share of obstacles. For example, numerous churches banned her work because her writing was said to be “unfit reading material”. Her experiences with people judging her negatively allowed her to use bad occurrences to her advantage. In this and many cases, the pen has proved to be mightier than the sword. Laurence also wrote about her experiences in Africa. Her African based stories symbolized her writing as a spectator while she used her experiences to an extent, being careful not to be a reporter, rather than a writer. With this technique, Laurence distorted her experience, but still used it to construct a readable story. Laurence is definitely a word artist. She paints her stories with extensive vitality and verve. She is able to do this through a writer’s most powerful tool: experience.
Margaret Atwood also employs her experiences to make her writing compelling and captivating. Besides having the same first name, Atwood and Laurence have many similar ideas and expressions. For example, Atwood’s writing was frowned upon by many of her relatives. Similarly, Laurence’s writing was frowned upon by her church. Both authors had to deal with their share of negative judgments, in different ways. Atwood grew up in the Canadian Wilderness where her father was an entomologist. The Atwoods’ were a mile away from the nearest village. There was no radio, television, or movie theater. Atwood was definitely enclosed in a microcosm of her own, which was another barrier to her writing. When Atwood decided to finally venture into the city, all social groups seemed equally bizarre. She reflected on this through her writings. Atwood also grew to become this century’s most feminist and near dystopian novelists. She was driven by her sense of social reform and her realistic view of a disrupted society to produce works such as The Handmaid’s Tale. Like Laurence, Atwood also utilized her experiences to produce a great story.
Laurence and Atwood have both left their marks as great Canadian writers. Their lives and experiences have shown many similarities, but like every great writer they both possess their own distinctive and individual talent. “We write to taste life twice, in the moment and in retrospection”. Both these authors have proven this saying correct. Writing serves two basic purposes. One is to tell a fictitious story, the other is to tell a factious story based on an experience that has occurred. Personally, Atwood and Laurence have matched my philosophy of the craft of writing. Their similar yet different styles have still corresponded with their lives and experiences, one of the most crucial aspects of content.
Comparative Essay: The works of Margaret Atwood and Margaret Laurence
Presented By: Abidah Lalani
Presented To: Mrs. Bennett
September 23, 2002
EWC 4U1
