Saturday, October 8, 2011

Literary Blog Hop -- Guess Who's Coming to Dinner?

Literary Blog Hop

The Literary Blog Hop is hosted over at The Blue Bookcase

This week's question:

If you could invite any three literary figures from different eras to a Sunday Dinner who would they be?
 A seemingly easy, but rather difficult question; how to narrow it down to just three?  Should I invite three like-minded writers who will keep the conversation friendly, or should I invite polar opposites who will do nothing but debate and argue?  As I'm conflict-averse, I'm inclined to have the friendly party, but I think some like-minded writers can also have lively debates and make the evening so much more interesting.

So here is my guest list:
  1. Margaret Atwood:  not only is she a fantastic writer but on the few occasions where I have had the pleasure to hear her speak she has proven to be quite witty.
  2. Virginia Woolf:  I've only read Mrs. Dalloway, but I think she and Atwood would have a lot to talk about.
  3. William Shakespeare:  I know this is probably a no-brainer, but I think it would be fascinating to hear him talk about his plays; and I think the other guests would have thoughts about some of his female characters, namely Lady Macbeth and Ophelia.
 Who's attending your literary dinner party?
   

10 comments:

  1. Suzanne, you have a great guest list yourself! I love Atwood's writing, and I think she's terribly important. Believe it or not, but I've only read Mrs Dalloway too, but I'm getting set to remedy that soon. My daughter found several Woolf books at a book sale she attended, and she has sent them off to me. I am particularly looking forward to spending some time reading her essays on writing and her perspectives on authors (i.e., The First and Second "Common Reader"). Good choice with Shakespeare too. A master at story-telling, and ever so talented at telling and retelling the great legends of history.

    Wonderful post, and thanks for sharing your thoughts with all of us! Cheers! Chris

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  2. Great selections-I invited Elizabeth Bowen, Samuel Johnson and Victor Hugo to my dinner-I have read eight of the Wolfe novels and a number of her shorter fictions and essays-it would be interesting to see if she and Atwood could speak to Shakespeare without falling apart!-my guess is he was a great conversationalist

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  3. great answer. I've invited Woolf too but how could I have left out Shakespeare? of course i'd love to have him over anytime.

    Glad to have found your blog through the literary hop. I'm a new follower.
    http://kafkatokindergarten.blogspot.com/

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  4. Mine would be Margaret Atwood, Kate Chopin and Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Oh, what a fantastic dinner that would be!

    I'm so glad there is another person out there who also likes Atwood. Lately, I've just encountered people who don't like her... at all. She is one of my favourite writers and personalities though.

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  5. I'd definitely like to be on the guest list for this party.

    There's lots of room at my Sunday Dinner. I'd love to have you stop by and join us.

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  6. I would totally love to have Ian McEwan, Jane Austen and Lionel Shriver. They are the authors that keep me enthralled, and I would love to gather them all around a table (assuming that was possible) and see what happens!

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  7. Seeing a lot of Woolf and Atwood, which is interesting. I guess there are a lot of feminists out there. Shakespeare, of course, would be interesting - but I'm not sure we could get him to talk much about his writing!

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  8. That's the first time I have seen someone mention William Shakespeare. I don't know why but I have to admit that I don't have much of a desire to meet him, but imagine all the brilliant and unknown things about his life you could learn if you did!

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  9. I would enjoy sitting down with Sue Grafton, JD Robb and Linda Howard. There would be a lot of different and fun conversations going on.

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What do you think? Good or bad, I'd love to hear from you (but be nice - I'm sensitive!)