UNIT 4 CHALLENGES AND - Of Higher and Secondary Specialized Education of the Republic of Uzbekistan State University...

on 10 October 2013. The interviewer is Nobelprize.
org’s Adam Smith.
[Adam Smith] Hello, Adam Smith.
[Alice Munro] Hello Adam!
[AS] Hello, this is A lice Munro?
[AM ] Yes, this is A lice Munro. I just wanted to
thank you, very much. This is quite a wonderful thing
for me. It’s a wonderful thing for the short story.
[A S] It is indeed, and may we congratulate you in
turn. It’s a wonderful day.
[A M ] Thank you very, very much.
[AS] How did you hear the news?
[A M ] Um, let me see, I was wandering around this
morning, early. How did I hear it first? [Said to her
daughter, Jenny, in the room with h er]... Oh, the press
called me.
[AS] And what was your first reaction? Do you
remember?
[A M ] Unbelief. [Laughs] I really couldn’t believe
it, I was so happy, and I haven’t gotten over the delight
yet.
[AS] You’ve produced an enormous body of work
over four decades...
[AM ] W ell I have, yes. But, you know, because I
work generally in the short story form, this is a special
thing I think to get this recognition.
[AS] Yes indeed, yes indeed. Have you been
basically the same sort of writer from the beginning
to the end? Have you changed, do you think?
[AM ] W ell you know as far as I can tell, I have not
changed very much. But someone else could answer
that question better I think.
[A S ]' And the award w ill bring a great new
readership to your w ork...
[A M ] W ell I would hope so, and I hope this
would happen not just for me but for the short story
in general. Because it’s often sort of brushed off, 113
you know, as something that people do before they
write their first novel. And I would like it to come to
the fore, without any strings attached, so that there
doesn’t have to be a novel.
[A S] And for those who don’t know your work,
would you recommend a starting point?
[AM ] Oh goodness! I don’t know, I can’t ... You
always think that your latest work is your best, at least
I do. So I would want them to start with the latest
book.
[A S] So they should start with Dear Life should
they?
[A M ] W ell, in a way, yes, but then I hope they
would go back and read the others as well.
[A S] And of course everybody is talking about the
fact that you announced earlier this year that you were
going to stop writing, and saying “ Maybe this w ill
encourage her to start again”.
[A M ] [Laughs] W ell you know I ’ve been doing it
for so many years. I ’ve been writing and publishing, I
think, since I was about twenty - just now and then I
would get something published you know - but that’s
a long time to be working and I thought maybe it’s
time to take it easy. But this may change my mind.
[Laughter]
[A S] That’s an exciting statement! That’s going to
have everybody buzzing.
[Both laugh]
[A S] How splendid! So, I know that you must be
tired after speaking to so many people so we would
like very much to talk to you perhaps on another
occasion...
[A M ] That would be great, actually, because I am
a little bit tired and woozy now and God knows what
I might say!
[A S] [Laughs] OK, well we’ll wait until this quiet
down a bit, and then ...
[A M ] OK.
[A S] It has been a great pleasure to speak to you,
thank you so very much indeed.
[A M ] Thank you, goodbye.
[A S] Bye, bye.