Letter to Ron Bates from Margaret Atwood, 1972

Text: "Dear Ron Bates: That's a good question. As long as we aren't talking about "regionalism," which is a word I've never understood. But "place," yes; the shield country, roughly, and more specifically the Quebec side of the Ottawa valley country near Temiskaming. I think the weighted words affected by that (which was more or less where I grew up) would be "lake" and "rock," certainly "water." But we did a lot of travelling, all over Canada east of Manitoba, were in the Maritimes a lot. Which means that I haven't tended to identify myself with a "region," certainly not a social one as there were very few people where I grew up. "Animals" is another weighted word for me; maybe "trees" too. Ice & snow etc. less. There are a lot of poems I could point to but from what I've siad I'm sure you can find them. See also my forthcoming novel (Fall 72). Hope that's been some help, & good luck. Sincerely, Margaret Atwood."