Atwood, Margaret

Atwood, Margaret

▪ Canadian author
in full  Margaret Eleanor Atwood 
born Nov. 18, 1939, Ottawa, Ont., Can.
 
 Canadian poet, novelist, and critic, noted for her Canadian nationalism and her feminism.

      As an adolescent, Atwood divided her time between Toronto, her family's primary residence, and the sparsely settled bush country in northern Canada, where her father, an entomologist, conducted research. She began writing at age five and resumed her efforts, more seriously, a decade later. After completing her university studies at Victoria College at the University of Toronto, Atwood earned a master's degree in English literature from Radcliffe College, Cambridge, Mass., in 1962.

 In her early poetry collections, Double Persephone (1961), The Circle Game (1964, revised in 1966), and The Animals in That Country (1968), Atwood ponders human behaviour, celebrates the natural world, and condemns materialism. Role reversal and new beginnings are recurrent themes in her novels, all of them centred on women seeking their relationship to the world and the individuals around them. The Handmaid's Tale (1985; filmed 1990) is constructed around the written record of a woman living in sexual slavery in a repressive Christian theocracy that has seized power in the wake of an ecological upheaval. The Booker Prize-winning The Blind Assassin (2000) is an intricately constructed narrative centring on the memoir of an elderly Canadian woman ostensibly writing in order to dispel confusion about both her sister's suicide and her own role in the posthumous publication of a novel supposedly written by her sister.

      Other novels by Atwood include the surreal The Edible Woman (1969); Surfacing (1972), an exploration of the relationship between nature and culture that centres on a woman's return to her childhood home in the northern wilderness of Quebec; Lady Oracle (1976); Cat's Eye (1988); The Robber Bride (1993; filmed for television 2007); and Alias Grace (1996), a fictionalized account of a real-life Canadian girl who was convicted of two murders in a sensationalist 1843 trial. In Oryx and Crake (2003), Atwood described a plague-induced apocalypse in the near future through the observations and flashbacks of a protagonist who is possibly the event's sole survivor. Her 2005 novel, The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus, was inspired by Homer's Odyssey. Atwood also wrote a number of short-story collections and nonfiction works, including Payback (2008), an impassioned essay that treats debt—both personal and governmental—as a cultural issue rather than as a political or economic one. Atwood taught English literature at several Canadian and American universities.

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Atwood, Margaret (Eleanor) — born Nov. 18, 1939, Ottawa, Ont., Can. Canadian poet, novelist, and critic. Atwood attended the University of Toronto and Harvard University. In the poetry collection The Circle Game (1964; Governor General s Award), she celebrates the natural… …   Universalium

  • Atwood, Margaret (Eleanor) — (n. 18 nov. 1939, Ottawa, Ontario, Canadá). Poetisa, novelista y crítica canadiense. Atwood estudió en las universidades de Toronto y Harvard. En el poemario The Circle Game [El juego circular] (1964; Premio del Gobernador General de Canadá),… …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • Atwood,Margaret Eleanor — At·wood (ătʹwo͝od ), Margaret Eleanor. Born 1939. Canadian writer of novels, poetry, and children s books known especially for her feminist novels, including The Edible Woman (1969) and The Handmaid s Tale (1985). * * * …   Universalium

  • Atwood, Margaret —  (1939–) Canadian novelist …   Bryson’s dictionary for writers and editors

  • Margaret Atwood — Atwood at Eden Mills Writers Festival 2006, Blackwattle Bay Born November 18, 1939 (1939 11 18) (age 72) Ottawa, Ontario, Canada …   Wikipedia

  • Margaret Atwood — Lesung im Literaturhaus München am 19. Oktober 2009 …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Margaret Eleanor Atwood — (* 18. November 1939 in Ottawa, Kanada) ist eine kanadische Schriftstellerin. Sie schreibt Romane, Essays, Kurzgeschichten und Lyrik. Inhaltsverzeichnis 1 Leben und Werk 2 Werke 2.1 Romane 2.2 Prosasammlungen …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Margaret Atwood — Premio Príncipe de Asturias Nombre completo Margaret Eleanor Atwood …   Wikipedia Español

  • Margaret Atwood — à l Eden Mills Writers Festival en 2006 Nom de naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Atwood — Atwood, Margaret (1939 ) a Canadian writer of ↑novels and short stories, known especially for her books about women s lives, such as Cat s Eye and The Handmaid s Tale …   Dictionary of contemporary English

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