The Fiction of Margaret Atwood (Readers' Guides to Essential Criticism)

Winner of the 2023 Atwood Society Award for Best Book on Atwood and Her Work Margaret Atwood is one of the most significant writers working today. Her writing spans seven decades, is phenomenally diverse and ambitious, and has amassed an enormous body of literary criticism. In this invaluable guide, Fiona Tolan provides a clear and comprehensive overview of evolving critical approaches to Atwood's work. Addressing all of the author's key texts, the book deftly guides the reader through the most characteristic, influential, and insightful critical readings of the last fifty years. It highlights recurring themes in Atwood's work, such as gender, feminism, power and violence, fairy tale and the gothic, environmental destruction, and dystopian futures. This is an indispensable companion for anyone interested in reading and writing about Margaret Atwood. Half Title Series Page Title Page Copyright Page Contents Introduction Biography Organization of this guide Chapter 1: Early works and early reception: The Edible Woman and Surfacing The Edible Woman Overview Early reception The romance plot and fairy-tale gothic Fairy-tale imagery Consumption and the body Surfacing Overview Early reception Feminist readings A gothic novel Language and form Chapter 2: A developing canon and developing themes: Lady Oracle, Life Before Man and Bodily Harm Lady Oracle Overview Gothic romance Princesses and goddesses Life Before Man Overview Between romance and realism Consumption and survival Bodily Harm Overview A postcolonial novel? Touch and responsibility A healing comedy? Chapter 3: ‘Are there any questions?’: A focus on The Handmaid’s Tale Overview Early responses What genre is it? Writing about feminism in the 1980s Offred’s storytelling: Language and narrative Complicity, victimhood and responsibility Reading the conclusion Chapter 4: Spotty-handed villainesses: Cat’s Eye and The Robber Bride Cat’s Eye Overview A fictional autobiography? Women beware women Art and representation The Robber Bride Overview (Hi)storytellers: Narrative authority Friendship/sisterhood/feminism Another gothic tale The conclusion Chapter 5: History, memory and recovering the past: Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and The Penelopiad Alias Grace Overview Readerly desire Historical fiction The servant girl The quilt motif An anti-detective novel The Blind Assassin Overview A self-conscious storyteller A gothic tale of victims and villains The Penelopiad Overview Is it a novel? Reclaiming voices – the twelve hanged maids Classical revisions and re-readings Chapter 6: Atwood’s dystopian futures: The MaddAddam trilogy Oryx and Crake Overview Textual allusions in Oryx and Crake Our post-human future An ethical novel The Year of the Flood Overview Gendered futures Humanism/posthumanism Reading the conclusion MaddAddam Overview Narrative structure: Who speaks? After the Anthropocene Conclusion Stone Mattress: Nine Wicked Tales The Heart Goes Last Hag-Seed The Atwood phenomenon Notes Select bibliography Index

Margaret Atwood is one of the most significant writers working today. Her writing spans seven decades, is phenomenally diverse and ambitious, and has amassed an enormous body of literary criticism. In this invaluable guide, Fiona Tolan provides a clear and comprehensive overview of evolving critical approaches to Atwood's work. Addressing all of the author's key texts, the book deftly guides the reader through the most characteristic, influential, and insightful critical readings of the last fifty years. It highlights recurring themes in Atwood's work, such as gender, feminism, power and violence, fairy tale and the gothic, environmental destruction, and dystopian futures. This is an indispensable companion for anyone interested in reading and writing about Margaret Atwood.