Margaret Atwood Vision and Forms

A prolific writer and versatile social critic, Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood has recently publishedBluebeard's Egg(short stories),Interlunar(poetry), andThe Handmaid's Talea critically acclaimed best-selling novel. This international collection of essays evaluates the complete body of her workboth the acclaimed fiction and the innovative poetry. The critics represented hereAmerican, Australian, and Canadianaddress Atwood's handling of such themes as feminism, ecology, the gothic novel, and the political relationship between Canada and the United States. The essays on Atwood's novels introduce the general reader to her development as a writer, as she matures from a basically subjective, poetic vision, seen inSurfacingandThe Edible Woman,to an increasingly engaged, political stance, exemplified byThe Handmaid's Tale.Other essays examine Atwood's poetry, from her transformation of the Homeric model to her criticisms of the United States' relationship with Canada. The last two critical essays offer a unique view of Atwood through an investigation of her use of the concept of shamanism and through a presentation of eight of her vivid watercolors. The volume ends with Atwood presenting her own views in an interview with Jan Garden Castro and in a conversation between Atwood and students at the University of Tampa, Florida.Van Spanckeren, Kathryn is the author of 'Margaret Atwood Vision and Forms' with ISBN 9780809314089 and ISBN 0809314088.