For literature lovers at Eastern Michigan University, this past Monday provided an exceptional taste of modern writing. Writer Gail Scott read audience members selections from her books and then did a question-and-answer session.
“She is a writer and we wanted to introduce her to our students,” said assistant professor of creative writing Carla Harryman. “She is a wonderful prose stylist and writes from a rich cultural context that is Montreal, Canada, and Americans tend not to know the rich literary culture in Montreal.”
Originally Scott was a journalist for The Gazette, a Montreal paper, before she became a novelist.
She said, “I wanted more space to say everything I wanted.”
Scott’s writing utilizes metaphors, symbolism and similes. Every line is a picture painted, waiting for the reader to interpret its meaning. Like any other writer, she takes places she knows and works them into her stories.
“I take things from everyday life such as walking down the streets, love affairs, whatever,” Scott said. “Everything a writer is can be incorporated. It is like Macbeth’s three witches and putting everything in to a pot. Everything can be used.”
Her writing makes references to gender and gender norms. It hit on these ideas with random lines of thought, such as a person walking in to a bathroom and wondering if the label on the door applies to them.
“I work with everyday life in a very particular context,” Scott said. “Life is most interesting when things are changing. I have a movement towards change in my writing.”
Taking two worlds and finding an even splice of both is an interesting challenge for Scott. Because the background for her prose is inspired by her hometown of Montreal, the question then becomes how does she write something encompassing various cultures and languages like French and English?
Each thought is placed in modern time and has a language of intelligence and high mind-working prose. When reading the selections from her books, the passages of French mix in an easy flow with English Prose.
“I just want my readers to go out there and do something,” Scott said. It is like music. It inspires you and motivates you. That is what I want my books to do.”