|
|
 |
|
|
|
English Literature Author: Margaret Atwood
|
|
| |
by Kimberley Snow
Writer
Santa Barbara, California
|
|
| |
More About Margaret Atwood...
Margaret Atwood
1939-present
Canadian
Introduction
Major Works
Chronology
Introduction
Margaret Atwood -- poet, novelist, artist, critic, and editor -- is one of Canada's most important contemporary authors. Appealing to popular and literary audiences, she writes with sardonic wit and precise, evocative language. Her early work focuses on questions of feminism, Canadian nationalism, and the wilderness, while her later novels explore relationships and cultural issues in surprising ways.
Her first novel, The Edible Woman (1969), centers on eating and its disorders. Later books continue a concern with body image, dealing with breast cancer (Bodily Harm, 1981) and aging. Several of her protagonists are painters (Surfacing, 1972; Cat's Eye, 1988) or writers, allowing their involvement with art to extend the dimensions of character and plot. Her third novel, Lady Oracle (1976), parodies fairy tales and gothic romances as well as the ways in which modern women cling to such myths. In The Blind (2000), Atwood uses a novel within a novel to create a fantasy world that coexists with a "realist" story where past and present, fiction and fact, place and space merge seamlessly into multiple realities and narrative voices.
The Handmaid's Tale (1985), her chilling feminist dystopia of the Christian Right's subjugation of women, was made into a successful film in 1990. Atwood may be compared to such contemporaries as Doris Lessing, Ursula Leguin and Marge Piercy, who use fantasy and science fiction to explore the ambiguities of gender relationships and to expose an array of gleaming weaponry and hidden agendas.
In both her poetry and prose, she often utilizes historical figures. The novel Alias Grace (1996) is based on a real-life nineteenth-century murder, and the much-taught The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970) is based on the experiences of a Canadian pioneer woman. In her highly acclaimed poetry, Atwood is noted for her mythic themes, her precise and controlled use of language, and her ability to locate the perfect metaphor.
In the novels, and in such short fiction as Blue Beard's Egg and Wilderness Tips (1991), Atwood tells how things smell, how they taste. She makes the reader feel the itch of wet wool and the smooth slip of a silk dressing gown. This use of closely noted physical detail grounds her work in realism, although she leaves that tradition far behind in terms of her fluid and experimental use of time and space.
Atwood's characteristic note is intensity, a fearless exploration of dark themes, and a refusal to pull punches. Her frequent sharp left turns often pull the rug out from under the reader and leave cultural icons (usually, but not always, masculine) in tatters. Although her male characters have developed in both depth and intelligence over the years, this author's strength still lies in her female protagonists.
As a critic and editor, Atwood is credited with putting Canada on the literary map through Survival, a Thematic Approach to Canadian Literature (1972). She has also edited the revised Oxford Book of Canadian Poetry (1982) and coedited The Oxford Book of Canadian Short Stories in English (1986). In 2002, Atwood published her reflections on the life of a writer, Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing.
Major Works
Novels:
- The Edible Woman (1969)
- Surfacing (1972)
- The Handmaid's Tale (1985)
- Cat's Eye (1988)
- The Robber Bride (1993)
- Alias Grace (1996)
- The Blind Assassin (2000)
- Oryx and Crake (2003)
Poetry:
- Selected Poems II: Poems Selected and New, 1976-1986 (1986)
- Selected Poems 1966-1984 (1990)
- Eating Fire: Selected Poems, 1965-1995 (1998)
Short Fiction:
- Bluebeard's Egg (1983)
- Wilderness Tips (1991)
Children's Books:
- Princess Prunella and the Purple Peanut (1995)
Nonfiction:
- Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature (1995)
- Negotiating with the Dead: A Writer on Writing (2002)
Chronology
1939
Born in Ottawa, Ontario, on November 18; taken on her first trip into the wilderness at the age of six months. The daughter of an entomologist, she grows up spending eight months of the year in the bush while her father does insect research.
1961
Earns her B.A. from University of Toronto.
1962
Earns her A.M. from Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1962-63, 1965-67
Attends Harvard University, Cambridge, Massachusetts.
1966
Her volume of poetry, The Circle Game (1966), wins the Governor General's Award.
1970-71
Lives in England, France, and Italy. Atwood continues to travel, often spending several months of the year away from Toronto, where she and novelist Graeme Gibson have resided since 1992.
1986
Lives as Writer-in-Residence, Macquarie University, Australia.
1981
Awarded the Molson Award, Guggenheim Fellowship, Companion of the Order of Canada.
1981-82
Serves as president of the Writers' Union of Canada.
1984-86
Serves as president of International P.E.N., Canadian Centre (English Speaking).
1986
Awarded the Ida Nudel Humanitarian Award, The Handmaid's Tale (1985): Toronto Arts Award, Governor General's Award, Los Angeles Times Fiction Award, Ms. magazine Woman of the Year.
1987
Awarded the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Science Fiction.
1993
Wins the Canadian Authors' Association Novel of the Year for The Robber Bride (1993).
1997
Wins National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature, Readers' Poll Salon Magazine Best Fiction of 1997 for Alias Grace (1996).
2000
The Blind Assassin (2000) wins the Booker Prize.
2001
Inducted to Canada's Walk of Fame.
Kimberley Snow, Ph.D., taught science fiction and women's studies at the University of California, Santa Barbara. She is the author of a number of books including Keys to the Open Gate: A Women's Spirituality Sourcebook and Writing Yourself Home.
|
|
|
|
|
|
Course Home Pages