Margaret Atwood: Essays on Her Works

Most writers tend to write the same book or poem over and over again, expanding its scope and refining its variants. Margaret Atwood, however, continues to re-invent herself as she re-invents her characters and her poetic personae with every new work. Each novel, each new poetry collection, signals a departure, a radical turn in an unexpected direction. Each becomes a daring journey that expands the reader’s consciousness and defeats expectations. Atwood’s writing has dealt with a multiplicity of urgent question – from the destruction of the environment, the role of women in society and the spiritual alienation caused by consumerism, to the desensitising nature of mass culture, the loss of individual liberties, the responsibility of the writer and the limits of fiction – all of which have been individually and in depth addressed in the present collection of essays. The contributors - Gayle Greene, Branko Gorjup, Coral Howells, Lorna Irvine, Stephanie Lovelady, Susan Jaret McKinstry, Jennifer Murray, Caterina Ricciardi, Barbara Hill Rigney, Roberta Rubenstein - come from several different countries, making this collection truly international in outlook. Thanks to their skilful guidance, the reader will marvel at the extent to which Atwood has internationalised Canada and has transformed it into an exciting real and imaginative world. He has taught Canadian Literature in universities in Canada and Italy.