Who is Ann-Marie MacDonald?

 What Made You Interested In This Author?
Truthfully, nothing in particular made me interested in this particular author. I, however, was drawn to this particular novel by the striking title. As soon as I saw the title, I felt like it was going to be a heavy story line, and not just some flighty love story or idle comedy with no real substance. I happen to like books with a little bit of substance to them. It also, oddly, made me more attracted the the book when you mentioned that Fall On Your Knees has some graphic and perhaps disturbing content within the plot. I reasoned that I would would rather be disturbed and overcome with emotions over a crazy plot structure than be bored to tears. And at least I would have something interesting to write these blogs about.... In all seriousness, after looking up the book online and seeing phrases like "family secret" "voyeurism" "feminism" and "literary soap opera," I just had choose this book for my ISU.

Brief Background of the Author
Ann-Marie MacDonald was born in 1958, in Germany to parents who were originally from Cape Breton, Nova Scotia. Her mother, interestingly enough, lived in Sydney, Cape Breton, whilst her father hailed from New Waterford, Cape Breton. Both of these towns have been the setting for the first few pages of Fall On Your Knees; is there some element of non-fiction to these novels? MacDonald spent the first years of her life in Germany, where her father was stationed in the Royal Canadian Airforce. She later graduated from The National Theatre School, and became an actor in Toronto. She wrote her first play, Goodnight Desdemona (Good morning Juliet) in 1988, which won a Governor Generals award, and further pursued her passion of writing plays. In 1996, she wrote Fall On Your Knees, and in 2003 wrote The Way The Crow Flies. These two books alone have launched MacDonald into the spotlight, and have assembled her to be one of the most well-known and esteemed authors of modern Canadian fiction.

Other Published Works
The following are considered to be MacDonald's most popular and highest-achieving works, though she has also written other plays, as well as acted in various movies and stage performances.


1999- The Day the Men Went to Town (Short Story)
2003- The Way the Crow Flies (Novel)
1990- The Arab's Mouth (Play)
1992- Negredo Hotel (Play)
1998- Good Night Desdemona (Good Morning Juliet) (Play)
2000- Anything That Moves (Play/Musical)
2004- Belle Moral (Play)

Information on Places of Influence
see post titled "Cape Breton"


Other Authors Compared To?
It was difficult to find any authors that have been traditionally compared to MacDonald. However, most book blogs and respected bookstore websites have recommended such authors as Julia Glass, Alice Hoffman and Elizabeth Berg as writers to look to if one enjoys MacDonald's works. Upon looking up and reading the summaries of each of these individual author's acclaimed works, I noticed that most of the novels deal with such themes as community, family and the empowerment of women. These women evidently share some of the same viewpoints and values as MacDonald.

Themes Favoured By This Author
Looking all of MacDonald's works, it is clear that family, community and the role of women are very apparent in all of her works. Usually she deals with the theme of secrets or deep rooted family problems, as in Fall On Your Knees or Bell Moral. Occasionally she dabbles in the ideas of philosophy or pyscho-analytical theories, such as in Nigredo Hotel or Good Morning Juliet. She explores the theories of Jung, and Darwin in Nigredo and Moral respectively. I have also noticed throughout my journey amongst internet sources to review her works that there is often a dark side to her novels, plays and short stories. Even her so-called comedies have a dark side, often a murder or a tragedy of some sort that adds a satirical element of serious black humour to the work. None of her works seem light and breezy, and most deal with pretty severe topics. Also, I've noticed that MacDonald has a definite east coast theme, picking the maritime provinces in some of her works. Most of her literary achievements have a Canadian sense of tradition to them, and it is clear that she writes what she knows about, as many of the settings, including a station of the Royal Canadian Airforce in The Way The Crow Flies, Cape Breton in Fall On Your Knees and an Ontario University in Good Morning Juliet all seem to be close to home.

There is also, maybe by coincidence, a doctor character in many of MacDonald's plays. Overall, she seems to favour the formula of a destructive male figure paired with a strong female protagonist from what I can interperate from reading the summaries of her works.

Sources
1) http://pi.library.yorku.ca/ojs/index.php/cws/article/viewFile/8877/80


Goldblatt, Patricia. "Fall On Your Knees." Canadian Woman Studies 17.5                               (1997): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010.


2) http://www.vestige.org/2010/02/5---fall-on-your-knees-by-ann-.html


Bourre, August. "Fall On Your Knees." Vestige (2003): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010.


3)etc.hil.unb.ca/ojs/index.php/SCL/article/download/12749/13696


Baetz, Joel. "Tale From The Canadian Crypt: Canadian Ghosts, the Cultural Uncanny, and  the Necessity of Haunting in Ann-Marie MacDonald's Fall On Your Knees." StudiesIn Canadian Literature (2004): n. pag. Web. 17 Oct 2010.