Margaret Atwood

by Coral Ann Howells

Overview

This introduction covers Atwood's work from the end of the 1960s to the present, drawing out her recurring themes of Canadian identity and the wilderness, the representation of women and female bodies, and history and its narration. Winner of the Margaret Atwood Society Best Book in 1997, the second edition is thoroughly revised and updated. It includes new chapters covering Atwood's recent novels Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and Oryx and Crake, and her 2002 book on writing Negotiating with the Dead.
This introduction covers Atwood's work from the end of the 1960s to the present, drawing out her recurring themes of Canadian identity and the wilderness, the representation of women and female bodies, and history and its narration. Winner of the Margaret Atwood Society Best Book in 1997, the second edition is thoroughly revised and updated. It includes new chapters covering Atwood's recent novels Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin, and Oryx and Crake, and her 2002 book on writing Negotiating with the Dead.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781403922007
Publisher:	Bloomsbury Academic
Publication date:	06/01/2005
Edition description:	2nd ed. 2005
Pages:	224
Product dimensions:	5.50(w) x 8.50(h) x 0.62(d)

About the Author

CORAL ANN HOWELLS is Professor of English and Canadian Literature at the University of Reading, UK, and a former President of the British Association for Canadian Studies. Her previous publications include Contemporary Canadian Women's Fiction: Refiguring Identities (2003), which is also published by Palgrave Macmillan.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgements
General Editor's Preface
Introduction: A Writer on Writing
THE END OF THE 60s
The Edible Woman
THE 1970s
Surfacing and Survival
Lady Oracle
Life Before Man
THE 1980s
Bodily Harm.
The Handmaid's Tale
Cat's Eye
THE 1990s
The Robber Bride
Alias Grace
2000 AND AFTER
The Blind Assassin
Oryx and Crake
Conclusion
Notes
Bibliography
Index.

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for the first edition:

'The first edition of Howells' Margaret Atwood, published in 1996, is among the most widely cited books in the vast field of Atwood criticism. It has become the standard introduction to Atwood for undergraduates and postgraduates, since the comprehensive coverage of Atwood's novels, together with the book's accessible style and coherent structure, have ensured its appeal to students. Howells' detailed and influential close readings, and her judicious selections from secondary material in the field, have made the book very valuable to postdoctoral researchers also.' - Faye Hammill, British Journal of Canadian Studies Praise for the second edition:

'This book should be recommended to all students seeking an introduction to Atwood's work and it will provide new perspectives for researchers who benefited from the first edition at an earlier stage in their careers.' - Faye Hammill, British Journal of Canadian Studies

Editorial Reviews

It would be difficult to dispute Atwood's significance as a gifted poet and novelist. Having written novels that are generally as intellectually engaging as they are a joy to read, Atwood receives the attention due her in a lively critical and biographical study. Themes and concerns that have engaged Atwood since "The Edible Woman" was published in 1969 are examined, with Howells affording readers the opportunity to follow along with an incisive deconstruction of Atwood's continuing exploration of feminist issues, literary genres, and her own identity as a Canadian, a woman, and a writer. This book, with its accessible style, will be appreciated by anyone who has looked forward to publication of new works by Atwood. Expect it to generate a demand for all of the writer's work.

Alice Joyce