Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature

by Margaret Atwood

Overview

When first published in 1972, Survival was considered the most startling book ever written about Canadian literature. Since then, it has continued to be read and taught, and it continues to shape the way Canadians look at themselves. Distinguished, provocative, and written in effervescent, compulsively readable prose, Survival is simultaneously a book of criticism, a manifesto, and a collection of personal and subversive remarks. Margaret Atwood begins by asking: "What have been the central preoccupations of our poetry and fiction?" Her answer is "survival and victims."

Atwood applies this thesis in twelve brilliant, witty, and impassioned chapters; from Moodie to MacLennan to Blais, from Pratt to Purdy to Gibson, she lights up familiar books in wholly new perspectives. This new edition features a foreword by the author.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770892538
Publisher:	House of Anansi Press Inc
Publication date:	06/20/2012
Series:	A List
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	328
File size:	567 KB

About the Author

MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series. Her other works of fiction include Cat’s Eye, finalist for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. She lives in Toronto.

Hometown:

Toronto, Ontario

Date of Birth:

November 18, 1939

Place of Birth:

Ottawa, Ontario

Education:

B.A., University of Toronto, 1961; M.A. Radcliffe, 1962; Ph.D., Harvard University, 1967

Website:

http://www.owtoad.com

Table of Contents

Preface
Introduction By Margaret Atwood
What, Why, And Where Is Here?
How To Use This Book

Survival
Nature The Monster
Animal Victims
First People: Indians And Eskimos As Symbols
Ancestral Totems: Explorers • Settlers
Family Portrait: Masks Of The Bear
Failed Sacrifices: The Reluctant Immigrant
The Casual Incident Of Death: Futile Heroes, Unconvincing Martyrs And Other Bad Ends
The Paralyzed Artist
Ice Women Vs Earth Mothers: The Stone Angel And The Absent Venus
QuŽbec: Burning Mansions
Jail-Breaks And Re-Creations

Sources Of Epigraphs
Authors’ Index

Editorial Reviews

It’s a terrific book, enraging, alive–and I wish someone would give it to every continentalist in the Cabinet and every smug academic in all the cosy common rooms across this colonized land.”
–Christina Newman, Maclean’s

“Survival is a fine example of what happens when a first-rate intelligence takes on a task usually carried out by literary morons.”
–George Woodcock, Vancouver Sun

“…the most important book that has come out of this country.”
–Phyllis Grosskurth, Globe and Mail

From the Publisher