Unequivocally the greatest short story writer alive. Well I like her because her characters are so engaging - heroic each in their own small way without the need for a huge drama to carry them forward in their story. Characters who "so resemble ourselves that reading about them, at times, is emotionally risky".
Of course one can only engage Alice by reading her. And About her. My favourite collection of Alice Munro critique is that of the New York Times It includes Joyce Carol Oates' review of "The Progress of Love" in which the above quote sets the tone for a remarkable collection of anecdotes peopled with "capable women who are nonetheless attractive to men."
Go on ... read about what her peers think. Check out the Paris Review's interview with Alice in 1994. Or that of the Virginia Quarterly Review of 2006. She does give good interview for a recluse.
So who is Alice Munro. Enigmatic but personal. Rooted in her southwestern Ontario heritage but worldly in her portrayal of human experience.
No doubt unfazed by the prospect of a lost sister
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