July 27, 2011

Margaret Atwood? Never heard of her.

by

Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood has always been at the cutting edge as a writer and as a celebrity. She invented a device that allowed her to sign books abroad from her Toronto based home. She did that for her novel Oryx and Crake, which is largely considered one of the finest science fiction novels published in the last couple decades. Add in the awards and near-universal respect and you have one of the best known and celebrated authors of our times. So one would think that if Margaret Atwood sent a communication asking city council to revisit their plan to close some of Toronto’s 99 libraries a councilperson would at least take pause to say something tactful in response. Not to mention maybe listening to her.

CBCNews reports that something contrary to such logic is in fact what happened when Atwood’s plea arrived in Tornto’s City Council:

Coun. Doug Ford has dismissed Canadian literary icon Margaret Atwood’s attempts to save the Toronto Public Library system from future budget cuts.

“If she walked by me, I wouldn’t have a clue who she is,” Ford was quoted as saying on Tuesday, referring to one of the most celebrated literary personalities in the country.

Later on he added a bit of advice for Atwood, should she want to find her audience:

Ford said if Atwood ran for office and got elected, then he would “sit down and listen to her.”

What’s important to note in this story, besides the level of anti-intellectualism achieved by Councilman Doug Ford, is that this is exactly the kind of heedless and uninformed decision-making involved in library cuts. Never mind the famous author, who perhaps you could harness for library fundraising purposes, and instead go headlong into reducing community services that could potentially provide help to the unemployed and marginally employed in those communities.

But apparently the art of tactful response just doesn’t run in the Ford family. Seems Doug’s brother, Rob Ford, who happens to be Mayor of Toronto, has made a a gaff of his own recently. CBC reports:

In another development Tuesday, the mayor responded to accusations that he gave the finger to a woman in downtown Toronto last week, after she accosted him for allegedly talking on his cellphone while driving.

“A story published that while I was on the phone I made a rude gesture to a fellow driver is not accurate. This is a misunderstanding,” Ford tweeted.

Paul Oliver is the marketing manager of Melville House. Previously he was co-owner of Wolfgang Books in Philadelphia.

  • August

    “which is largely considered one of the finest science fiction novels published in the last couple decades.”

    …by people who don’t read science fiction. Biggest spit take of the week. I”ll be chuckling all day, thanks!  I’m going to quote book blogger (and dystopian aficionado) James Morrison:

    “her science-fiction (which she goes out of her way to pretend isn’t science-fiction)
    is usually awful: it has the self-satisfied unoriginality of somebody
    who hasn’t read anything in the genre from the last 50 years, and so
    thinks that their daft cliches are new and exciting.”

    Here in Toronto the Ford brothers are known to be about equal to GW Bush in terms of wit, articulation, grasp of economics, and commitment to supporting public services (particularly for the poor, or those interested in the arts or environment). These are the same idiots who recently refused to hire two new public health workers, even though the province was going to pay for their contracts, and they wouldn’t have cost the city a dime.

    • http://whaddayameandoihaveroomfordessert.wordpress.com/ whaddayamean

      YES, August, thank you for saying this re: “is largely considered one of the finest science fiction novels published in the last couple decades.” Come now, Paul. I know you can do better than that.

  • August

    “which is largely considered one of the finest science fiction novels published in the last couple decades.”

    …by people who don’t read science fiction. Biggest spit take of the week. I”ll be chuckling all day, thanks!  I’m going to quote book blogger (and dystopian aficionado) James Morrison:

    “her science-fiction (which she goes out of her way to pretend isn’t science-fiction)
    is usually awful: it has the self-satisfied unoriginality of somebody
    who hasn’t read anything in the genre from the last 50 years, and so
    thinks that their daft cliches are new and exciting.”

    Here in Toronto the Ford brothers are known to be about equal to GW Bush in terms of wit, articulation, grasp of economics, and commitment to supporting public services (particularly for the poor, or those interested in the arts or environment). These are the same idiots who recently refused to hire two new public health workers, even though the province was going to pay for their contracts, and they wouldn’t have cost the city a dime.

    • http://whaddayameandoihaveroomfordessert.wordpress.com/ whaddayamean

      YES, August, thank you for saying this re: “is largely considered one of the finest science fiction novels published in the last couple decades.” Come now, Paul. I know you can do better than that.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UUMFYUG3VB5A6FN2GA7IQU2TGY anne

    I read science fiction and think Atwood is great. So, you are wrong.

  • http://pulse.yahoo.com/_UUMFYUG3VB5A6FN2GA7IQU2TGY anne

    I read science fiction and think Atwood is great. So, you are wrong.

  • Paul Oliver

    Okay, okay… Jeez. Can’t a guy get away with a generalization once every now and then?

    But to the point: Oryx and Crake was well-received and the
    negative reviews it did endure were mainly couched in anti-SciFi passive
    aggression. Writers like Atwood or Dorris Lessing do a lot for lifting
    the stigma of genre from the other first rate writing that gets passed
    over critically because of its SciFi label.

    And it is SciFi, whether or not genre sensitive readers, or writers, think otherwise.

    Among my bookshelves at home you can find such books as Richard Jefferies’ After London, one of the first “post apocalyptic” novels written.

    Not to mention White Plague by Frank Herbert, The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner (now THAT’S an amazing dystopic novel), Wyndham’s The Chrysalids, James Morrow’s This Is The Way The World Ends, Towing Jehovah and Blameless In Abaddon
    and, gulp, (pulls nerd card further out of pocket) the wonderful story
    collections of Gene Wolfe, many of which survey bleak futures, both
    near and distant.

    But I also have Brave New World, On The Beach and, yes, Oryx and Crake. All of which are wonderful books and rank easily among the others I mention and vice-versa.

    And I am relatively broad in shape, thus my “widely considered” remark holds water.

  • Paul Oliver

    Okay, okay… Jeez. Can’t a guy get away with a generalization once every now and then?

    But to the point: Oryx and Crake was well-received and the
    negative reviews it did endure were mainly couched in anti-SciFi passive
    aggression. Writers like Atwood or Dorris Lessing do a lot for lifting
    the stigma of genre from the other first rate writing that gets passed
    over critically because of its SciFi label.

    And it is SciFi, whether or not genre sensitive readers, or writers, think otherwise.

    Among my bookshelves at home you can find such books as Richard Jefferies’ After London, one of the first “post apocalyptic” novels written.

    Not to mention White Plague by Frank Herbert, The Sheep Look Up by John Brunner (now THAT’S an amazing dystopic novel), Wyndham’s The Chrysalids, James Morrow’s This Is The Way The World Ends, Towing Jehovah and Blameless In Abaddon
    and, gulp, (pulls nerd card further out of pocket) the wonderful story
    collections of Gene Wolfe, many of which survey bleak futures, both
    near and distant.

    But I also have Brave New World, On The Beach and, yes, Oryx and Crake. All of which are wonderful books and rank easily among the others I mention and vice-versa.

    And I am relatively broad in shape, thus my “widely considered” remark holds water.

  • Jim Simpson

    So, according to Doug Ford, you’re nobody unless you’re an elected official. People, rise up!

  • Jim Simpson

    So, according to Doug Ford, you’re nobody unless you’re an elected official. People, rise up!

Stories from related categories