In his elegant obituary of Alice Munro, the Nobel laureate who died this week in Port Hope, Ontario, Anthony DePalma writes that her stories “were widely considered without equality, a mixture of ordinary people and extraordinary themes.”
Mr. DePalma, a former Toronto bureau chief for the Times, continued: “He portrayed people in small towns, often in rural southwestern Ontario, facing situations that make the fantastic seem like an everyday occurrence. Some of his characters have been fleshed out so completely across generations and continents that readers have achieved a level of intimacy with them that is usually achieved only with a complete novel.
[Read: Alice Munro, Nobel Laureate and Master of the Short Story, Dies at 92]
Ms. Munro and her work have long been covered by the Times. The first reference was a line in 1973 mentioning the publication of “Dance of the Happy Shades,” a collection of stories that had been published in Canada five years earlier.
This week, Opinion published an essay on Ms. Munro by Toronto writer Sheila Heti, and Books reminded readers of its guide to Ms. Munro's work first published a few months ago.
[Read: I Don’t Write Like Alice Munro, but I Want to Live Like Her]
[Read: The Essential Alice Munro]
As often happens when important cultural figures die, the Times also offered “an evaluation” of the work.
[Read: Alice Munro, a Literary Alchemist Who Made Great Fiction From Humble Lives]
Ms. Munro's assessment was written by Gregory Cowles, senior editor of the New York Times Book Review. We talked about her life and her writing. Our conversation has been edited for space and clarity.
When did you start reading Alice Munro?
I'm sure it was in the pages of the New Yorker because my parents subscribed to it. But I started reading it more seriously when I was a high school student. He talked to me and I went to look for his books.
When my wife and I went out on our first date, I knew she was going to major in English. I said, “Oh, who do you read?” And she said, “Well, I wrote my thesis on Alice Munro.” I said, “Ah, my favorite.” Alice Munro brought us together.
As an American, do you find his stories give you insight into Canada?
To the extent that the settings are almost exclusively Canadian, of course. Scope for her, the work is so specific to this region of Canada that it makes you wonder: is it particularly representative of Canada as a whole?
In a way he seems as much Midwestern American as he is Midwestern Canadian. Some stories cross the border, arriving in Michigan or the northern Midwest of America. And therefore it seems very particular. It has a very strong sense of place. But not necessarily a strong sense of national identity.
I would say it feels more rural in terms of sensibility. He has a very strong sensitivity and a very strong sense of place. But I wouldn't just associate it with Canada.
I must confess that I haven't read much of his work. What do people like me miss?
Since my piece appeared, most of the comments have come from people who are simply huge fans of his work. But here and there there is someone who says “I never quite understood”, “It seemed very flat” or “Nothing happened”.
In my piece, I make a point of saying that there are actually a lot of things going on. Not only in an internal sense, as one would expect from stories. But there are also many real episodes in his stories. They are very rich in texture.
As his career progressed, time and memory became very elastic in his stories. What you miss if you don't submit to his work is the richness of that exploration of how memory works and how we question our own experiences. It seemed like an innovation that led to short fiction.
He was making something up. And she was applying some things that novelists had been doing throughout the novel with time and with memory. But doing it in such a compressed form.
Has it changed the perception of stories in general?
Perceptions of short stories generally changed while she was at the forefront of the form. But has it changed it?
There were many people in his time. If you're talking about Canadian: Mavis Gallant. There was a real revival of the story. He had something to do with it, for sure. But I thought it was also something in the zeitgeist.
What book would you recommend to someone new to your work?
She was prolific. Obviously I would say read it all.
But if you want me to say just one, I would say “Runaway”.
TransCanada
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An out-of-control forest fire has once again forced some residents of Fort McMurray, Alberta, to evacuate. Among the 6,000 displaced people are people who lost their homes in the massive 2016 wildfire, which remains the costliest natural disaster in Canadian history. And smoke from the first wildfires of the season in Western Canada has led to air quality warnings in Minnesota and parts of Wisconsin.
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After nearly 50 years, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police have linked a fugitive from the United States to the murders of four women whose bodies were dumped in and around Calgary in 1976 and 1977. Investigators believe the man, who was also a serial rapist, may have killed other women in Canada and the United States. He died in an American prison in 2011.
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Barbara Hannigan, a singer and conductor from Waverley, Nova Scotia, known for doing both from the podium, will become the principal conductor and artistic director of the Icelandic Symphony Orchestra.
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Designers from Canada's indigenous communities participated in Native Fashion Week in Sante Fe, NM
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Avril Lavigne, the singer who grew up in Napanee, Ontario, is back with a new album and a tour. During an interview, she assured Claire Moses that she definitely didn't die over 20 years ago to be replaced by a stunt double.
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Lyndon Cormack, a founder of backpack maker Herschel Supply Co., has an unusual retirement in his North Vancouver home: a 31-foot 1953 Spartan Spartanette travel trailer.
Born in Windsor, Ontario, Ian Austen studied in Toronto, lives in Ottawa and has written about Canada for the New York Times for twenty years. Follow him on Bluesky: @ianausten.bsky.social
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