In Search of "Alias Grace"

by Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood's novel Alias Grace is based on the murder of Thomas Kinnear and his mistress Nancy Montgomery in 1843. Kinnear's manservant was hanged for the crime, but the execution of his supposed accomplice, Grace Marks, owing to her "feeble sex" and "extreme youth," was commuted to life. In Search of "Alias Grace" describes Margaret Atwood's search for the facts, what she found out, what eluded her grasp, and how this process shaped her novel.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Canada

Paperback

First published January 1, 1997

About the author

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction, and non-fiction and is perhaps best known for her novels, which include The Edible Woman (1970), The Handmaid's Tale (1983), The Robber Bride (1994), Alias Grace (1996), and The Blind Assassin, which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 2000. Atwood's dystopic novel, Oryx and Crake, was published in 2003. The Tent (mini-fictions) and Moral Disorder (short stories) both appeared in 2006. Her most recent volume of poetry, The Door, was published in 2007. Her non-fiction book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth ­ in the Massey series, appeared in 2008, and her most recent novel, The Year of the Flood, in the autumn of 2009. Ms. Atwood's work has been published in more than forty languages, including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian. In 2004 she co-invented the Long Pen TM.

Margaret Atwood currently lives in Toronto with writer Graeme Gibson.

Associations: Margaret Atwood was President of the Writers' Union of Canada from May 1981 to May 1982, and was President of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking) from 1984-1986. She and Graeme Gibson are the Joint Honourary Presidents of the Rare Bird Society within BirdLife International. Ms. Atwood is also a current Vice-President of PEN International.

Reviews

[Carla (There Might Be Cupcakes Podcast) · Rating 5 out of 5]

Listened to as an addendum to the audiobook of Alias Grace. What a marvelous treat to listen to Margaret Atwood’s thoughts!

[Ester Litago Rabasco · Rating 5 out of 5]

Realmente a mi me gusto y me sumergí en la lectura . Margaret Atwood, le pone voz y pensamientos a Grace Marks y a su supuesto médico. Todo ello mezclado con como debía de ser la vida en 1800.

[abcdefg · Rating 3 out of 5]

This booklet documents a lecture by Margaret Atwood given at the University of Ottawa in 1996 regarding her thought-process in writing her 9th novel, "Alias Grace."

In it she discusses history, memory (both individual and collective), and her own attempt to write a historical Canadian novel based on fact. Atwood points out that memory and history are inseparably linked as memory cannot be without history and vice versa (and without memory, there can be no novel). As a Canadian growing up, she describes the lack of Canadian historical fiction, or rather, a lack of exposure to it, and posits that while the 19th century was an era that revolved around memory, the 20th was more or less about forgetting (in particular, the horrors of the past, especially of the kind perpetrated by the side who wants to forget).

Atwood then speaks of her own experience writing "Alias Grace" and the research involved in finding out the truth of the matter. With so many contradictory accounts regarding Grace Marks and the Kinnear-Montgomery murders, she finds herself writing a novel that integrates all points of view. What we get is a narrative that masterfully leaves the reader questioning how trustworthy is the narrator? Or even, how trustworthy is the narrator's memory? And as for the gaps, Atwood fills those in, appropriately, by means of her own creative invention.

This was a nice in-depth follow-up to the writing and thought-process of a great novel within the larger scheme of Canadian historical literature as only Margaret Atwood herself could tell it.

[Gabby Yager · Rating 1 out of 5]

I could only read 25% of this and it was a struggle. It initially reminded me of Burial Rites. However, I felt the plot wasn't developed with enough oomph to make me intrigued/ want to read on.

[Erika Nerdypants · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is the Charles R. Bronfman Lecture in Canadian Studies that was given by Margaret Atwood in Ottawa in 1996. The focus is on "Alias Grace", Atwood's historical novel which is based on true events in the life of Grace Marks who was tried and convicted for the murders of her employer and his mistress. In her lecture, Atwood explores the concepts of historical fiction, and how our present continues to be shaped by our past. "Alias Grace" happens to be my all time favorite novel, and I love and admire Atwood's writing. She has an uncanny ability to transport the reader into her stories, so that we are not merely reading about her characters but are in fact absorbed into their lives. I still vividly recall the stifling heat of the summer day, the unbearable tension that had been building between the inhabitants of the isolated farm house, that could only be broken by an act of enormity. But what I love more than anything about Atwood's writing is the critical eye she brings to everything. She is never content to give us things as they seem. What is true? How do we arrive at the truths we hold so dear? Everything is examined, little is as it first appears. In this distinguished lecture she holds forth that even our collective history, or what we remember, is in fact subject to interpretation. Memory is faulty at best, and always colored by the storyteller's own experiences. Since history is made of memories, how much of what we believe of our past, is really the truth?

[Margaret · Rating 3 out of 5]

This story is based on the murder of a man by his mistress in Candada during the 1800's. I liked it but it was heavy reading and at times it was exhausting. The basic story is very interesting and it was never proven that she ever committed the murder even though she served a lengthy jail time. This is defiately not historical fiction but more of an account of what might have happened based on writings from the time.

[Megan]

19th century servant since the age of 13--- Grace Marks is convicted of murdering her employer and sent to an asylum at a very young age, she seems a victim of circumstance and tells her story while imprisoned to a visionary Doctor Jordan who tries a different approach to get Grace to tell her story...based on historical events.

[Kim]

I just finished this book. It was pretty good and I was surprised that to book didn't get too bogged down in the historical context. I have only read Atwood's Hand Maiden's Tale before reading Alias Grace and now I'm interested in more of her work.