Impressions

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A summer series from the early 1970s, each week of Impressions featured Ramsay Cook in conversation with a prominent Canadian. The CBC Digital Archives has selected nine episodes from the series featuring rare and unfiltered conversations with some of Canada's most creative people. The producer of Impressions was Judith Walle, and the executive producer Ain Soodor.

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Impressions of Margaret Atwood

Broadcast Date: July 22, 1973

"A literature is produced by a culture and exists within a culture.". In this poignant interview from 1973, Margaret Atwood talks about the struggle of Canada's literature to find its identity in the world. She also talks about her writing style and the hours of effort it took her to write The Edible Woman and Surfacing. Atwood also discusses Survival: A thematic guide to Canadian Literature, a book of literary criticism for the non-academic. It is her first book of criticism.

Impressions of Margaret Atwood

• Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa in 1939. By the time of this interview, she was best recognized for her poetry and the bestselling novel, The Edible Woman.

• Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature sold over 30,000 copies in its first year of publication. It was republished in 2004.

• Ramsay Cook was born in Alameda, Sask. in 1931. When he hosted this program in the summer of 1973, he was recognized as one of Canada's best scholars in Canadian history. In 1966 he published Canada and the French Canadian Question.

Impressions of Margaret Atwood

Medium: Television

Program: Impressions

Broadcast Date: July 22, 1973

Guest(s): Margaret Atwood

Interviewer: Ramsay Cook

Duration: 24:42

The poems Game After Supper and Interview with a Tourist are from Margaret Atwood's collection Procedures for Underground published by Oxford University Press, 1971.

Last updated:
Jan. 28, 2009

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Media	Title and date	Description
Television 5:04	Sept. 1, 1974 Michel Tremblay: a high school dropout	Tremblay on why he decided to leave school.
Television 26:06	Sept. 1, 1974 Michel Tremblay, Canada Reads author	32-year-old Michel Tremblay gives a long, thoughtful interview to Ramsay Cook.
Television 25:45	July 14, 1974 Hubert Aquin, a 'writer against his will'	CBC-TV's Impressions hosts novelist Hubert Aquin.
Television 25:21	July 7, 1974 Impressions of Claude Jutra	Ramsay Cook talks to one of Canada's best storytellers, filmmaker Claude Jutra.
Television 26:19	Sept. 23, 1973 Impressions of Allan King	Canadian documentary filmmaker Allan King talks about his unique style of making movies, known as "direct cinema".
Television 26:15	Sept. 16, 1973 Impressions of Veronica Tennant	In this conversation from 1973, Veronica Tennant talks about her life as prima ballerina as a member of the National Ballet of Canada.
Television 26:35	Sept. 2, 1973 Impressions of Northrop Frye	In this rare conversation from 1973, Northrop Frye talks about his unique approach to literary criticism.
Television 26:54	Aug. 19, 1973 Impressions of Arthur Erickson	In this rare interview from 1973, Canadian architect Arthur Erickson talks about design, environment and tradition in his trade.
Television 26:50	Aug. 3, 1973 Impressions of George Grant	Canadian philosopher George Grant talks about his unique way of looking at the world in this conversation with Ramsay Cook.
Television 24:42	July 22, 1973 Impressions of Margaret Atwood	In this interview from 1973, author Margaret Atwood talks about her writing career and the struggles of Canadian literature to find its own identity.
Television 26:47	July 8, 1973 Impressions of Robertson Davies	Literary great Robertson Davies reflects on being Canadian, writing and life at Massey College.

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Impressions

Impressions of Margaret Atwood

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