How to Read the Short Stories of Alice Munro (Patreon)

Today we're talking about how to approach the short stories of Canadian writer, and winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, Alice Munro. 

We will be working from Munro's superb self-selected volume of short stories published by Everyman's Library: Carried Away. 

We will enjoy deep discussions dedicated to three masterful short stories, followed by a conversation about the collection as a whole. The selected stories are: 'The Moons of Jupiter,' 'The Bear Came Over the Mountain,' and 'Runaway.'

Timestamps:

• 0:00 short stories as empathy machines
• 2:00 on reading a great living writer 
• 3:00 Alice Munro as the 'Canadian Chekov'
• 6:00 getting a sense of Munro's writing career
• 8:00 truthful characters and powerful themes
• 10:00 how we read different short stories 
• 12:00 Munro's stories as novelistic icebergs
• 13:00 the essence of great short fiction
• 14:00 the art of compression and subtext
• 16:00 conflict at the heart of great stories
• 17:00 on reading seemingly mundane stories
• 18:00 how to better know other people
• 19:00 what does it mean to be human? 
• 21:00 emotional maps and epiphanies 
• 22:00 how to read an Alice Munro story
• 27:00 a book of short stories is like an album
• 29:00 the short stories up for discussion
• 32:00 questions about short stories for you

Get to Know the Writer:

We have the great privilege of being able to read the short stories of a writer who is living today. Alice Munro has given many fantastic interviews over the course of her career, so you might find it insightful to dip into this curation of clips:

• Alice Munro in her own words: After winning the Nobel Prize in 2013, Munro gave this interview in which she discussed her writing process, writing from a woman's perspective, small town Canadian life, and much more.
• On banning books: This interview is from 1979 after schools banned one of her own works, Lives of Girls and Women.
• On small town life: In this interview from 1990, Munro talks about how small towns are a stage for all of human life and society as a whole. 
• In conversation with Margaret Atwood: This interview with Atwood and Munro sees the writer discussing why she writes short stories and what inspires her creation of characters.  

Questions for You:

1) What is your experience with reading short stories?

2) What are your favourite short stories and writers? Why do you like them? And what makes a good short story? 

3) Do you have any experience with the short stories of Alice Munro?

Happy reading, folks!