Alice Munro - contemporary short story master

Not like the noise and show in the crowd, the 2013 Nobel Literature hid in observations, reflections, and personal experiences about life around to write a work.

>>>Canadian writer Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013

The first impression that Alice Munro, 82-year-old female writer won the 2013 Nobel Prize, left to others is the posture, closeness with the silky head, eyes and warm smile. Born and raised in the town of Wingham, Ontario, Canada, this small countryside quietly entered the spiritual life of Alice Munro, later the context of her return to many of her short stories below. Different names like Jubilee, Hanratty .

Alice Munro is the eldest of three children. Her mother is a teacher and father is a farmer. From the age of 10, Munro immersed himself in books and nurtured literary dreams. After leaving high school, she won a journalism and English research scholarship at the University of Western Ontario, where she sold blood, worked as a waiter, rolled cigarettes, librarians and many other jobs to earn money. study.

In 1951, Munro suddenly dropped out of school to marry his school friend James Munro. A few years later, Alice and her husband moved to Victoria, British Columbia, to fund a bookstore called Munro's Books. Regularly interacting with books and books, and with passion, Munro has just sold books, while caring for his children, and creating his own works.

They lived together with three children, Munro and her husband, parted in 1972. In 1976, she took another step with geographer Gerald Fremlin. Despite this, she kept her last name according to her first husband, Alice Ann Munro.

Writer Alice Munro.(Photo: AP)

Alice Munro started writing stories from her teen years. She published the first short story in 1950, while sitting on a college lecture hall, a work called "The Dimensions of a Shadow" . In 1968, when Munro was 37, the collection of short stories "Dance of the Happy Shades" was born, gaining great attention in the Canadian literary world. "Dance of the Happy Shades" was also immediately awarded the title of Governor General - Canada's major literary award - for fiction.

In 1971, she published a collection of short stories "Lives of Girls and Women" , which were judged by critics as a great educational novel. Later, many other anthologies were released: "Something I've Been Meaning to Tell You" (1974), "Who Do You Think You Are?" (1978 - won the Governor General), "The Moons of Jupiter" (1982), i (2004 - the work was translated into Vietnamese with the title "Running away"), "The View from Castle Rock" (2006) , "Too Much Happiness" (2009) . "Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage" (2001) of Munro is the main material for director Sarah Polley's " Away from Her" in 2006.

In total, Alice Munro published 14 short story collections in the life of her writing, not to mention many other odd works. Her most recent collection is "Dear Lifer" released in 2012. She also received many literary awards, including the International Man Booker Award 2009 and three prestigious Canadian Governor General awards. Earlier this year, the 82-year-old writer announced his pen-writing plan, leaving his literary work to enjoy his last years.

Having seen short stories as just "exercises" for novels

On October 10, Alice Munro surpassed many other big names in world literature to receive the 106th Nobel Prize. In the Swedish Academy's announcement, she was named "the master of short stories." great ".

Munro is a female writer who pursues psychological realism. The stories are often set in small towns, where peace and quiet thought but contain many conflicts, conflicts, tensions stem from generations of differences, moral collisions, ambitions of life human in society .

Munro is also concerned about women and young girls, the problems they face in the lives of her small towns. Munro's early works often highlight the difference between childhood life in Wingham, a conservative town west of Toronro, as well as changes in life after the social revolution of the 1960s. In an interview with AP in 2003, she said the 1960s were "wonderful years". "I was born in 1931, by then, I was growing up but not too old. Women like me after a few years were wearing short skirts and dancing . " As can be seen, social life directly affects Munro's compositions.

The works of Alice Munro.(Photo: Usa)

In terms of style, Alice Munro is famous for its subtle storytelling and extraction. The simple, common themes in life are expressed in the form of public writing in detail - although only depicting narrative stories , the details of Munro's hands shone; and sharpness in the character. Munro was also assessed as a writer who "revolutionized" the structure of short stories - works that often begin at an unexpected milestone, then recount or move forward in time orbit, with an extremely unpredictable ending.

Alice Munro is considered a genius of the short story genre, even some critics once called her Anton Chekov of Canada. However, Alice Munro herself has not determined that she will stick with this genre."For years, I thought that short stories were just a practice step, and I would write novels someday. Then I found out, short stories are all I can do, and I'm against I think my efforts on this genre have been compensated. "

However, Munro's short stories are often thought to be like novels or miniature novels, not only because of their length but also by the density of life she "stuffs" into the work.

Marvel at knowing you won the Nobel Prize

Through Penguin Random House, Alice Munro shared, she was surprised and grateful to the Swedish Academy Award."I am particularly happy that this victory will please many Canadians. I am also very happy that the award will bring attention to writers in my country."

Information of Nobel prize to Alice Munro in unexpected situation. She missed the Academy's phone call while visiting her daughter's home in Victoria, British Columbia. Munro was then awakened by the girl at 4:00 am to announce the good news. A few minutes after hearing the news, receiving a call from Canadian Broadcasting Company, Alice Munro still seemed to be stunned: "It looks like something is going on, but I can't describe it. I can't speak in words " . She also did not believe she was awarded this year again.

"I really hope this award will make people see short stories as an important art genre, not just a game until you get a novel in hand , " Alice Munro said. . In the tradition of the Academy, awards often go to novelists or poets who rarely focus on short story authors - which have been lifted through this year's Munro case.

Alice Munro is the 13th female writer to win the Nobel Prize for Literature. She is also the first Canadian to receive this award. Previously, the author Saul Bellow was born in Canada was also awarded in 1976 but moved to live in the US since 1941.