Alice Munro Wins Nobel Prize in Literature: A Connecticut College Perspective

Alice Munro was announced as the first Canadian woman to win the Nobel Prize in Literature on Thursday October 10, 2013. She was also the 13th woman to win the award. The Swedish Academy made the announcement, saying she is the “master of the contemporary short story.” Munro is a renowned short-story writer who covers topics described by one of her story titles: “Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage.” Her stories are usually set in small towns in her region of Canada. Her writing has long been linked to Chekhov.

I am a student currently enrolled in a course entitled “Alice Munro and the Short Story,” taught by Professor Rivkin. Over fall break the news came out that Alice Munro had won the Nobel Prize in Literature. Naturally, for the next few days I proudly carried my reading, “Friend of my Youth,” around with me. That next Tuesday, my classmates and I came to class with excitement and gratitude towards Professor Rivkin for selecting such a timely course.

This is a proud moment for Canadians, women, short story writers, and Connecticut College students taking “Alice Munro and the Short Story.” Below is my interview of Professor Rivkin:

What was your reaction when Alice Munro received the Nobel Prize in Literature?
I felt thrilled.  I was in California during fall break, and at 4:30 am I heard the sound of an incoming text.  It was from Blanche Boyd, who wrote “Alice Munro won the Nobel Prize.”  A half hour later, I got a text from my son: “Have you heard the news?” And then a flurry of e-mails from participants in an Alice Munro Symposium that I’m presenting at in May.  Since the participants include her editors and agent, there was a familiarity of address that made me feel, quite flatteringly, like an insider.  They referred to her as Alice.  I felt kind of high the entire day.

Did you have any idea that she was in the running for this award when you decided to teach, “Alice Munro and the Short Story?”
No, I had no idea.  I’ve been working on Munro for a while, and while I’ve been persuaded that she is remarkable, I somehow had never translated that into an expectation that she would get the Nobel Prize.  The course comes out of my own interest in and writing about Munro.

What prompted you to create a class entirely based on this particular author?
One of the privileges of teaching at a college like this one is that you get to design upper level courses that reflect your own research interests. Earlier, I taught a course on contemporary women writers, and it included a selection by Munro.  And I’ve taught her work in other courses.  But this semester I am teaching, for the first time, an entire course devoted only to Munro, and I am learning so much by re-reading her work, almost in its entirety (but not quite) with a dedicated group of advanced-level students.  I feel very lucky!

Now that Alice Munro has won this tremendous award, she is known among a broader audience. Would you teach this course again in the future? 
I’d love to teach the course again.

You mentioned speaking at Alice Munro’s symposium next semester in Canada: a very notable event where her New Yorker editor will also be speaking. How did you learn about this event and how did you gain the opportunity to be one of the speakers? What do you intend to speak about and what are your expectations? 
The Alice Munro Symposium is at being held at the University of Ottawa in May; there was an earlier Alice Munro celebration in her hometown of Wingham, Ontario in September.  Both arranged long before any word of the Nobel Prize.  The symposium in Ottawa is an academic conference; the celebration in Wingham featured a competition for fiction writers and a tour of Alice Munro country.  I think I found out about these events on a Facebook site maintained by her publisher, Knopf, although I might have found out about the symposium from an academic listserv.  I submitted a proposal and abstract for a talk entitled “Dupes of the Plots of Our Lives, or Design and Error in Alice Munro’s “Tricks.” I really look forward to meeting and talking with the people she works closely with–her editor at Knopf, her New Yorker editor, her New York agent.  And writers who have been influenced by her will be there, for example, the Nova Scotian writer Alasdair MacLeod.

Alice Munro has announced that she is unable to go to Sweden to accept her award due to health problems. Do you have any speculations about who will take her place? 
I’m sorry she won’t be able to go to Sweden.  I haven’t really thought about who might go in her place. Her daughters, perhaps?