Margret Atwood- Prediction

 Just to clarify I don’t know a lot about Margaret Atwood but I have heard one or two things about her and let me present to you what I think of her as a candidate for the Nobel Prize.

  She deals in big ideas.  This is a major plus when considering a reasonable candidate.  Her most famous novel is ‘The Handmaiden’s Tale’, which I believe is about a dystopian society and is up there with other similar fiction.  I’ve never read any of her novels but it seems to me that she writes big full blooded Literary novels dealing with complicated characters and fascinating ideas.  Her recent apocalyptic novels, ‘Oryx and Crake’ and ‘The Year of the Flood’ seem to have her at an imaginative high and she does seem boundless, exhilarated by the rush of words and the structure of narrative, which is highly commendable personality traits for a writer of Nobel Prize caliber.  Remember it’s not always about having one excellent book.  A candidate will need to have a few excellent books for the committee to be able to choose from.

  Being prolific is also a plus in this game as it gives the committee a good idea at how consistent she is in her writing and also follow her development as an artist.  She’s written fiction: ‘Surfacing’, ‘Lady Oracle’, ‘Cat’s Eye’, short fiction: ‘Dancing Girls’, ‘Bluebeard’s Egg’, ‘Good Bones’, Poetry: ‘The Circle Game’, ‘The Animals in That Country’, ‘Power Politics’ and non-fiction: ‘Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature’ ‘Days of Rebels’ and ‘Second Words’.  Her output is vast and there seems to be very little that she will not touch.  Another great personality trait for a writer: fearlessness. 

  That she is a woman is an important feature for books such as ‘The Handmaiden’s Tale’ but it is not necessarily to her advantage, in fact it is difficult to discern if gender has a role with the Nobel Prize.  It probably does but I think it is more about how you use your gender or how you transcend it.  Women such as Herta Müller and Toni Morrison have won it so it is not impossible for her to win it.  In fact her chances appear, on paper, to be pretty good. 

  She seems to have a great range in her work and includes almost everything in it and saying everything that could be said.  Not only does she cover wide ground but she also produces big books that surely contain some gargantuan epics.  I can imagine her books to be whirlwind adventures with very thoughtful descriptions and scathing critique on society.  This gives a better chance at getting the Nobel Prize as candidates often have many interests and are not so narrow minded when writing over the course of most of their life.  No doubt she has enough raw material to work from and her inspiration seems to be never ending much to the jealousy of other writers and so if she carries on like this, (and with the hope that she will be with us for a while yet) I would think it very likely for her to win the Prize in the next few years.

  If she does win it it would make her the first Canadian to ever have the Nobel Prize, which would be a scoop.

Does Marget Atwood deserve the Nobel Prize?  Let me know in the comments.

Next week I look at Paul Auster.