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Montigny, Denise de. "Giving birth, Margaret Atwood traduction commentee." Thesis, University of Ottawa (Canada), 1988. http://hdl.handle.net/10393/5352.
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Evans, F. E. M. "Margaret Atwood : words and the wilderness." Thesis, University of Edinburgh, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/1842/19728.
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This thesis is a study of several texts written by Margaret Atwood, and is motivated by a desire to demonstrate the polysemous irreducibility of literary meaning and to suggest ways in which critical theory and textual practice may meaningfully interact and correspond. The first chapter examines poems in <i>The Circle Game</i> in order to observe how Atwood's persistent scrutiny of the constitution of images creates a world almost entirely detached from a consciousness of time and history, and considers how this generates a radical split between textual self-sufficiency and the psychic wilderness through which the poems move. Here we can see Atwood deploying language in a pared-down, restrictive manner that circulates through the book with particular tension. The second chapter studies her first novel <i>The Edible Woman</i>, and attempts to trace through analysis of its linguistic patterns, how Margaret Atwood controls her subject matter and deploys her chosen narrative form in a way that expreses the conflict between consumption and production which is embodied in the novel's architectonic symbol. Moving through a specific historical period, her characters struggle to achieve self-definition and linguistic mastery of their environment. The third chapter is concerned with her critical study of Canadian literature, <i>Survival</i>, and the relational framework it suggests between Canada's uneasy post-colonial status, the writer's expressive predicament, and the universal experience of victimization. Consideration is given to aspects of Atwood's political and social philosophy, and comparison made between her conclusions and those of other contemporary Canadian writers.
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Vecchione, Nina. "The end of the world as we know it curing disability and recovering from victimization in Margaret Atwood's novels /." Click here for download, 2009. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?did=1707435991&sid=1&Fmt=2&clientId=3260&RQT=309&VName=PQD.
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Comiskey, Barbara Anne. "Margaret Atwood : fiction and feminisms in dialogue." Thesis, Lancaster University, 1995. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.308988.
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Desjardins, Louise. "Traduction de Power Politics de Margaret Atwood." Mémoire, Université de Sherbrooke, 1992. http://hdl.handle.net/11143/10339.
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Traduire la poésie, traduire Power Politics de l'écrivaine canadienne-anglaise Margaret Atwood, voilà une entreprise doublement hasardeuse. Comment arriver à rendre dans une autre langue ces instants de grâce liés tout entiers à une fusion de mots et de sens, à une prise en charge d'un univers gui ne pouvait s'exprimer que par cette coïncidence parfaite de la forme et du corps, du geste et de la parole. Traduire la poésie revient à traduire l'indicible de l'univers, la fluidité du temps, l'éclat de l'image, l'inachevé dans l'achèvement d'un discours. Entreprise téméraire et folle régie par la seule volonté de connaître et de faire connaître.
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Rao, Eleonora. "Strategies for identity : the fiction of Margaret Atwood." Thesis, University of Warwick, 1991. http://wrap.warwick.ac.uk/108219/.
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This study is a critical reading of the fiction of contemporary Canadian novelist and poet Margaret Atwood. My analysis focuses on problems pertaining to the questions of genre, identity and female subjectivity. The thesis is thematically structured. Chapter One, 'The Question of Genre: Creative Re- Appropriations, explores the plurality of genres and narrative styles present in the novels. The second Chapter' A Proliferation of Identities: Doubling and Intertextuality' examines constructions of the self in the light of psychoanalytic theories of language and subjectivity which conceive of the subject as heterogeneous and in constant process. Atwood's challenge to the notion of the homogeneous ego finds a gendered vision wherein woman assumes a multiplicity of roles and positions. Chapter Three 'Cognitive Questions' discusses the text's emphasis on sense receptivity and the epistemological question they pose in relation to language, reality and interpretation. Chapter Four 'Writing the Female Character' analyses Atwood's configurations of femininity, sexual politics and sexual difference.
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Ethier, Isabelle. "L'intertextualité dans La servante écarlate : la femme comme sujet en devenir /." Thèse, Trois-Rivières : Université du Québec à Trois-Rivières, 1997. http://www.uqtr.ca/biblio/notice/tablemat/03-2177901TM.htm.
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Evain, Christine Sellin Bernard. "Pluralité des voix et chant de soliste dans la poésie de Margaret Atwood." [S.l.] : [s.n.], 2007. http://castore.univ-nantes.fr/castore/GetOAIRef?idDoc=13596.
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Wang, Yiyan. "Literary responses to bewilderment in western society : a study of Margaret Atwood's novels /." Title page, contents and abstract only, 1993. http://web4.library.adelaide.edu.au/theses/09ARM/09armw246.pdf.
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Tennant, Colette. "Margaret Atwood's transformed and transforming Gothic /." The Ohio State University, 1991. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=osu1487757723997751.
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Leite, Maria do Rosário Silva. "The penelopiad: a reconstrução do mito por margaret atwood." Universidade Federal da Paraíba, 2010. http://tede.biblioteca.ufpb.br:8080/handle/tede/6302.
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Previous issue date: 2010-03-27<br>Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - CAPES<br>The present work analyses the novel The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and
Odysseus (2005), by the Canadian author Margaret Atwood, translated into Portuguese
as A Odisséia de Penélope (2005), a narrative characterized as a recreation of the
homeric myth. This novel offers its reader an opportunity of coming back to Greece,
now having Penelope as a protagonist and narrator, opening the possibilities of
representing this figure of classical myhtology beyond Homer s representations.
According to Homer s narrative, in tune with patriarchal understanding of gender
relations, women, specially Greek women, should become mothers and remain inside
the gineceu, what his Penelope did. However, in the reconstruction and rereading of this
epic text presented by Atwood, Penelope invites us to look through the brumes of the
past in order to listen to possibly different arrangements about the story of her life. It is
in this context that our work intends to present and discuss Atwood s Penelope,
recognizing other possibilities of retelling this classic text, deconstructing Homer s view
at different points and aspects. Thus, by examining the brackets, the intersticial spaces
of the homeric narrative, Atwood reconstructs the character and the myth, enabling her
Penelope to speak about everything that was silenced in the homeric text, revealing her
view, opinion and explanation about those events.<br>O presente trabalho analisa The Penelopiad: The Myth of Penelope and Odysseus
(2005), da autora canadense Margaret Atwood, traduzida para a língua portuguesa,
como A Odisséia de Penélope (2005), narrativa caracterizada como recriação do mito
homérico. Tal romance proporciona ao leitor um retorno à Grécia antiga, agora com
Penélope como protagonista e narradora, abrindo o leque de representações desta figura
da mitologia clássica para além da criação de Homero. De acordo com a narrativa
homérica, afinada com a construção de um masculino bastante fortalecido à época, a
mulher, especialmente a grega, caberia a maternidade e o enclausuramento no gineceu,
atividades cumpridas à risca por Penélope, o que reconhecemos na personagem
homérica. Porém, na reconstrução e releitura da épica desenvolvida por Atwood,
Penélope convida-nos a espiar por entre as névoas de seu passado para ouvirmos a
orquestração das falas de toda a sua vida. É nesse contexto que este trabalho pretende
apresentar a Penélope de Atwood, reconhecendo uma outra possibilidade criada por esta
autora canadense de contar a história clássica, desconstruindo a versão apresentada por
Homero em diversos momentos. Portanto, examinando, pois, as lacunas ou espaços
intersticiais da narrativa homérica, Atwood reconstrói a personagem, ou o mito,
concedendo a sua protagonista o direito de se pronunciar sobre o que no texto original
passará em silêncio, revelando seu olhar, sua opinião e suas explicações sobre o
desenrolar dos fatos.
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Moreira, Patricia Dayse Alves Alvino. "A tecitura intertextual em The Penelopiad, de Margaret Atwood." reponame:Repositório Institucional da UnB, 2014. http://repositorio.unb.br/handle/10482/15570.
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Dissertação (mestrado)—Universidade de Brasília, Instituto de Letras, Departamento de Teoria Literária e Literaturas, Programa de Pós-Graduação em Literatura, 2013.<br>Submitted by Albânia Cézar de Melo (albania@bce.unb.br) on 2014-05-07T16:01:37Z
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2013_PatriciaDayseAlvesAlvinoMoreira.pdf: 331954 bytes, checksum: 45648082a292c62285934a43efb00d62 (MD5)<br>Margaret Atwood, ao (re)escrever A Odisséia a partir da perspectiva de Penélope na tentativa de responder à inquietação que a assombrava; “o que levou ao enforcamento das aias, e o que Penélope estava realmente tramando?”, nos faz repensar e questionar o lugar que a mulher ocupa nas grandes narrativas, sempre como objeto e nunca como sujeito. Ela também coloca sob suspeita
certas hierarquias aceitas como universais. Levando em consideração o fato de a autora se apropriar de um texto clássico, para tanto, o aporte teórico utilizado se centra no conceito de dialogismo de Bakhtin, e suas reflexões sobre o gênero paródico, bem como no conceito de intertextualidade de
Kristeva. Além disso, o viés de gênero que caracteriza a obra da autora demanda um aporte teórico específico, o dos estudos de gênero. ______________________________________________________________________________ ABSTRACT<br>Margaret Atwood, when (re)writing the Odyssey from Penelope's perspective in an attempt to answer the restlessness that haunted her; "what led to the hanging of the maids, and what was Penelope really up to?" makes us rethink and question the place of women in the big narratives, always as an object and never as a subject. She also puts under suspicion certain hierarchies accepted as
universal. Taking into consideration the fact that the author is appropriating a classical text, the theoretical approach focuses on the concept of dialogism by Bakhtin, and his reflections on the parody genre, as well as Kristeva’s concept of intertextuality. Moreover, the gender perspective that
characterizes the work of the author demands a specific theoretical approach; gender studies.
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COUTURIER, STOREY FRANCOISE. ""l'allegorie dans l'oeuvre de margaret atwood et d'angela carter"." Nice, 1997. http://www.theses.fr/1997NICE2019.
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Ce travail de recherche a pour but d'etudier l'allegorie dans l'oeuvre de deux ecrivains anglo-saxons, celle de la canadienne margaret atwood et celle de l'anglaise angela carter (decedee en 1992). Je definit le terme d'allegorie de la facon suivante: il s'agit d'un equilibre de deux forces, du didactique et de la fantaisie (terme qui regroupe tous les discours de l'imaginaire, comme le fantastique, le merveilleux, la science-fiction, l'utopie/dystopie, le gothique, etc. ). La premiere partie de la these analyse l'allegorie comme discours ambivalent, souvent rejete par la critique mais pourtant bien present dans une grande partie de la litterature. Dans cette partie est egalement soulevee la question du rapport entre allegorie et feminisme. La seconde partie analyse l'oeuvre de margaret atwood en relation a l'allegorie, en particulier a travers deux de ses romans, surfacing et the handmaid's tale. Son oeuvre poetique est egalement prise en consideration. La troisieme et derniere partie se penche sur l'oeuvre d'angela carter, en particulier a travers les nouvelles et cinq romans qui illustrent bien l'evolution de la pensee de carter autour de la notion d'allegorie<br>This piece of research aims at analysing the notion of allegory in the work of two anglo-saxon writers, margaret atwood, a canadian, and angela carter, an englishwoman (who died in 1990). I define the term of allegory as follows: it consists in the balance of two forces, the didactic (the most dogmatic part of a work, the teaching that the author wishes to transmit to the reader through his work of fiction), and fantasy (a notion that brings together all imaginary discourses, such as the fantastic, the marvellous, science-fiction, utopia/dystopia, the gothic, etc. ). The first part of the dissertation analyses allegory as an ambivalent discourse, often rejected by critics but truly present in most works of literature. In this part the link between allegory and feminism is also put under scrutiny. Indeed, we may wonder why a great majority of texts written by women often has an allegorical dimension, dissimulating behind fantasy a polemical discourse of a political, sexual or social nature. The second part analyses the work of margaret atwood in relation to allegory, in particular through two novels, surfacing and the handmaid's tale. Her poems are also taken in consideration. The third and last part studies the work of angela carter, in particular through her short stories and five novels that illustrate the evolution of her thought around allegory: the infernal desire machines of doctor hoffman, the passion of new eve, nights at the circus, heroes and villains, and her last novel wise children
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Gribble, Jill. "Motifs of transformation in four novels of Margaret Atwood." Master's thesis, University of Cape Town, 2000. http://hdl.handle.net/11427/10510.
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Bibliography: pages 229-235.<br>The dominant theme that Margaret Atwood foregrounds in her writing is that of victimisation, whether she is writing of the victimisation of a country, of a minority group, of animals or of an individual. She adopts the position that through acknowledgement of that victimisation, and a refusal to accept the role of victim, it is possible to become a creative non-victim. It soon becomes evident from Atwood's writing that victimisation of one kind or another is what underpins the powerful patriarchal constructions of society. In each of the four novels discussed in this thesis Atwood's female protagonists, all victims of patriarchy, transform themselves, through accessing their creativity, using it transgressively, and overcoming the strictures of patriarchy upon their lives.
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Murray, Jennifer. "Perspectives paradoxales : le sens de l'histoire chez Margaret Atwood." Besançon, 2000. http://www.theses.fr/2000BESA1016.
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Margaret Atwood, romancière et poetesse canadienne, est souvent considérée sous l'angle de sa représentation de la vie contemporaine. Cependant, son écriture s'est progressivement tournée vers le problème de l'inscription textuelle de l"'histoire", terme qui nous renvoie à la fois aux éléments du passé et à notre compréhension de ce passé dans le présent. Ici sont examinées The journal of Susanna Moodie, The robber bride, et Alias Grace ; trois oeuvres de Margaret Atwood qui se construisent autour de la problématique du discours historique dans un engagement dynamique. L'étude de la représentation de l'histoire dans l'oeuvre de Margaret Atwood implique une analyse des interventions de l'écrivain sur ses textes sources afin d'interroger les processus de sélection et de réaménagement de ces traces textuelles ainsi que de comprendre la signification des transformations faites. . .
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Bühler, Roth Verena. "Wilderness and the natural environment : Margaret Atwood's recycling of a Canadian theme /." Tübingen : Francke Verl, 1998. http://catalogue.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/cb38996590h.
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Korkmaz, Fatma Tuba. "Rewriting Myths: Voicing Female Experience In Margaret Atwood'." Master's thesis, METU, 2010. http://etd.lib.metu.edu.tr/upload/12612766/index.pdf.
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Myths have been an undeniable source in both shaping and expressing the values, norms and behavioural patterns in societies. However, the archetypes in these myths have helped to oppress women in their personal and social lives and have forced them to accept identities which actually are not theirs. Feminist archetypal theorists propose that through a detailed study of common images of women&rsquo<br>s writings, fantasies, dreams and myths, the archetypes that women possess will be uncovered and the female experience will have the chance to be voiced more accurately.
The aim of this thesis is to explore Surfacing and The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood and Indigo and The Leto Bundle by Marina Warner to lay bare the attempts of both writers to break away from the male-oriented myths so as to rewrite female experience via rewriting myths. In four novels, the archetypes and mythical elements are used in rewriting the gender and sexual identity markers which have long been imposed on women by patriarchal mythmakers. By rewriting these markers, both writers not only voice the genuine female experience and the body but also pave the way for the creation of new myths which would celebrate female identity and freedom.
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Peterson, Nancy J. (Nancy Jean). "Fairy Tale Elements in Margaret Atwood's Novels: Breaking the Magic Spell." Thesis, North Texas State University, 1985. https://digital.library.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metadc500262/.
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This thesis traces Margaret Atwood's uses of three major elements of fairy tales in her novels. Atwood creates a passive, fairy-tale-like heroine, but not for the purpose of showing how passivity wins the prince as in the traditional tale. Atwood also uses the binary system, which provides a moralistic structure in the fairy tale, to show the necessity of moving beyond its rigidity. In addition, Atwood's novels focus on transformation as the breaking of a spell. However, the spell to be broken arises out of the fairy tales themselves, which create unrealistic expectations. Thus, Atwood not only presents these fairy tale elements in a new setting, but she also changes their significance.
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Moyano, Thiago Marcel. "Delineando fronteiras: deslocamentos e subjetividades em Alias Grace (1996) de Margaret Atwood." Universidade de São Paulo, 2015. http://www.teses.usp.br/teses/disponiveis/8/8147/tde-12012016-124954/.
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Na virada do pós-estruturalismo, um olhar menos unificado e universalizante do espaço como mero palco esvaziado de significação se vê proposto. Este, como já denunciava Michel Foucault nos anos 1970, deixará de ser percebido como fixo e simplesmente referencial, para adquirir, nos mais diversos fóruns de discussão, caráter dialético e dinâmico, o qual se alinha às questões centrais desta nova forma de conceber o mundo, a filosofia e o fazer científico. Paralelamente, estudos acerca da constituição da subjetividade apontam para o status oscilante desta, demonstrando como o sujeito é fruto de uma multiplicidade de discursos, os quais tornam impossíveis quaisquer esforços em demarcá-lo dentro de fronteiras estanques. Percebe-se aqui, portanto, um imbricamento das noções de ser e deslocar-se, no qual a apropriação de metáforas e do campo semântico em torno da noção de trânsitos mostrar-se-á constitutiva da obra literária, agindo como importante operador no desenvolvimento da trama e suas personagens. O presente trabalho tem por objetivo analisar a obra Alias Grace (1996) de Margaret Atwood, à luz da teoria do gênero, a fim de mapear a desconstrução de essencialismos acerca das protagonistas, Grace Marks e Simon Jordan. No romance, Atwood dá voz à personagem histórica Grace Marks, uma jovem imigrante irlandesa do século XIX, a qual se torna mentora e cúmplice do assassinato de seu patrão, Thomas Kinnear, e da governanta e suposta amante deste, Nancy Montgomery. Perceberemos ao longo da narrativa que esta personagem-narradora utilizar-se-á das diversas fronteiras que ronda e ultrapassa, como uma forma de expandir sua identidade a partir da manipulação sistemática que faz da linguagem. Paralelamente, Atwood cria uma personagem que desempenhará o papel de principal interlocutor da imigrante: o Dr. Simon Jordan, um jovem médico americano, cuja trajetória pessoal também é marcada por vários deslocamentos. Em um movimento antecipatório da psicanálise freudiana, ele se propõe a desvendar a mente de Grace, a fim de tentar extrair desta uma verdade, estabelecendo um diagnóstico que lhe confira sucesso e reconhecimento profissional. Como veremos, a autora empenhará uma crítica do masculino, na qual ele se verá gradativamente destituído de tudo aquilo que lhe conferiria status dentro do rol de expectativas daquela sociedade. Ademais, estabeleceremos uma leitura de um aspecto formal empregado ao longo das páginas do romance: as entradas paratextuais. A partir deste recurso, veremos nossas leituras de ambas as personagens sendo reforçadas em um constante deslizamento entre fontes, documentais e ficcionais, ligadas ao imaginário da época. Para tal, trabalhos de Philip Wegner (2002) e Neil Smith (1993) acerca da noção de espaço, Bronwen Walter (2001), Lorna McLean e Marilyn Barber (2004) sobre a imigração irlandesa no Canadá, Roland Barthes (1986), Gérard Genette (1987) e Linda Hutcheon (1990), acerca dos paratextos, bem como considerações de Chris Weedon (1987), Jane Flax (1990), R.W. Connell (1997), Judith Butler (1990), entre outros, em torno do gênero e pós-modernismo servirão de aparato teórico para esta investigação.<br>In the Post-structuralist turn, a less unified and universalizing concept of space as merely a meaningless stage is proposed. Such notion, as Michel Foucault announced in the 1970s, will no longer be perceived by its fixity and/or as simply referential, in order to acquire, in the most multiple forums of discussion, a dynamic character, which is aligned to central questions of this renewed way of conceiving the world, Philosophy, and Epistemology. In parallel fashion, studies concerning the constitution of subjectivity point towards its oscillating status, showing how the subject is the product of multiple discourses, which make any demarcating of solid frontiers, a hard task. Therefore, one can observe an imbrication of the notions being and displacing, in which the appropriation of metaphors and the semantic scope around the notion of transience is shown to be constitutive of the literary text, performing a relevant role in the development of the plot and its characters. The present work aims at analyzing the novel Alias Grace (1996) by Margaret Atwood, under the light of Gender theory, in order to map the deconstruction of essentialisms around the protagonists, Grace Marks and Simon Jordan. In her book, Atwood gives voice to the historical figure Grace Marks, young Irish immigrant in the XIX century, which becomes mentor and accomplice of murder of her employer, Thomas Kinnear, and his mistress and governess of the house, Nancy Montgomery. It can be seen that, throughout the narrative, Grace will negotiate with the various borders that she delineates, and even crosses, as a means of expanding her identity through the systematic manipulation of language she engages with. In parallel fashion, Atwood creates a character that will play the role of this immigrants main interlocutor: Dr. Simon Jordan, a young American physician, whose personal trajectory was also marked by several displacements. In an anticipatory movement of the Freudian psychoanalysis, he is determined to unveil the mysteries of the human mind, revealing the truth behind Graces case in order to gain success and professional recognition. As we will demonstrate, the author establishes a criticism around masculinity, in which he will gradually lose everything that gives him status as a man of his times, within the set of expectations in that society. Furthermore, we will analyze a formal aspect employed along the pages of the novel: its paratextuality. Through this resource, we will see our reading of both the protagonists being reinforced in the constant slippery move between sources, documental and fictional, linked to that eras imaginary. In order to do that, works by Philip Wegner (2002) and Neil Smith (1993) around the notion of space, Bronwen Walter (2001), Lorna McLean and Marilyn Barber (2004) on the Irish immigration in Canada, Roland Barthes (1986), Gérard Genette (1987) and Linda Hutcheon (1990), regarding paratexts, as well as the studies by Chris Weedon (1987), Jane Flax (1990), R.W. Connell (1997), Judith Butler (1990), among others, around gender and postmodernism will serve as the theoretical apparatus for this investigation.
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Weckerle, Lisa Jeanne. "Revisioning narratives : feminist adaptation strategies on stage and screen /." Digital version accessible at:, 1999. http://wwwlib.umi.com/cr/utexas/main.
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Bieber, David C. (David Charles) Carleton University Dissertation English. "The Machinery of patriarchy: Masculinity in the fiction of Margaret Atwood." Ottawa, 1992.
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Thompson, Robert Mac. "Mirrors and witnesses: Gabrielle Roy, Margaret Atwood, and Le Deuxième Sexe." Thesis, Wichita State University, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10057/2495.
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An intertexual, cross-cultural study of the Canadian woman's experience from
the Second War and Post-War era through examination of the existential crisis of the feminine
situation as addressed by the fiction of Mme. Gabrielle Roy (Bonheur d'occasion, 1945, and Rue
Deschambault, 1955), and Ms. Margaret Atwood (Cat's Eye, 1985), considered in relation to Le
Deuxième Sexe, (1949) by Mme. Simone de Beauvoir.<br>Thesis (M.A.) -- Wichita State University, College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, Dept. of English
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Shoenut, Meredith L. McLaughlin Robert L. "Canadian postwar perspectives of her-story historiographic metafiction by Laurence, Kogawa, Shields, and Atwood /." Normal, Ill. : Illinois State University, 2005. http://proquest.umi.com/pqdweb?index=0&did=1225101671&SrchMode=1&sid=2&Fmt=2&VInst=PROD&VType=PQD&RQT=309&VName=PQD&TS=1176732662&clientId=43838.
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Thesis (Ph. D.)--Illinois State University, 2005.<br>Title from title page screen, viewed on April 16, 2007. Dissertation Committee: Robert McLaughlin (chair), Lynn Worsham, Sally Parry. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 312-331) and abstract. Also available in print.
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Sarrazin, Timothy M. C. "Reading the Handmaid's tale." Thesis, Hong Kong : University of Hong Kong, 2002. http://sunzi.lib.hku.hk/hkuto/record.jsp?B25262014.
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Martin, Shannon. "A Palette of Unconvential Symbolism: Color Imagery in Three Margaret Atwood Novels." TopSCHOLAR®, 1995. http://digitalcommons.wku.edu/theses/915.
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In this thesis, the writer examines the color imagery in three Margaret Atwood novels: Surfacing, Cat's Eye, and The Handmaid's Tale. Atwood uses color in unconventional ways by forcing colors to symbolize the opposite of their common meanings, by allowing colors to represent simultaneously two opposing ideas, and by disregarding traditional color meanings by creating her own unique associations. Atwood's color imagery supports her thematic concerns in that through her themes--as with her use of color--she challenges the reader's expectations by throwing into question many conventional ideas about progress, religion, and the sex-gender system.
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Palumbo, Alice Marie. "The recasting of the Female Gothic in the novels of Margaret Atwood." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1997. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ41571.pdf.
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Brain, Tracy Eileen. "The female body in women's writing : from Sylvia Plath to Margaret Atwood." Thesis, University of Sussex, 1992. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.319973.
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Rousselot, Elodie. "Re-writing women into Canadian history : Margaret Atwood and Anne HeÌbert." Thesis, University of Kent, 2004. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.408432.
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Massoura, Kiriaki. "The politics of body and language in the writing of Margaret Atwood." Thesis, University of York, 2001. http://etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/10907/.
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Lins, Gabriella Patricia dos Santos. "Distopias de gênero em contos especulativos de Margaret Atwood e Raphael Carter." Universidade Federal de Alagoas, 2015. http://www.repositorio.ufal.br/handle/riufal/2095.
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This thesis analyzes dystopian and gender-centered representations manifested in the speculative short stories "freeforall" (1986), by Margaret Atwood and "Congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N Sirsi and Sandra Botkin" (1998), by Raphael Carter. Characterized by futuristic temporalities, these narratives raise critical views of identities in relation to the binary models and the stabilizing tendencies regarding gender which are still strongly perceptible in our patriarchal society. I observe the ways in which the literary works (de)construct values and concepts pre-established socially. The study of such (de)construction is carried out by focusing on the intersections between the debates originating from the critical theories on literary genres whose traces are identified in the stories (utopia, dystopia, science fiction) and the knowledge produced in the area of Cultural and Gender Studies. On this interface, emphasis is given to the presence of irony as a major literary strategy, whose functions are approached according to Linda Hutcheon´s propositions, that is used in this work to understand the linguistic communicative interection process in the tales. In Atwood´s short story, I focus on the spaces described in relation to the social dynamics and on the protagonist portrayal so as to argue that such elements engender metaphors for a compulsory heterosexual system whose aim lies on human reproduction by means of the imposition of strict gender norms and the practice of eugenics. Therefore, people are placed in different spaces, predetermined according to their social funcion. The Houses and Freeforall are the spatialities of this comunity. The first one is the place of the chosen, and the last one, unsderstood as deviant heterotopic space, following the theory developed by Foucault, is destined to those deviant from the norm.The word play in the title of the tale and the protagonist's analyses, allow a study with irony. In Carter´s short story, the (de)construction of crystallized gender notions is achieved by means of parodic irony evidenced by the critical incorporation of scientific practices and academic discourses. Finally I argue that, mainly by resorting to the strategy of irony, the fictional representation of gender dystopias in Atwood and Carter question cultural gender configurations which have been conventionalized in/by androcentric society. Thus, these works may be interpreted in light of a feminist critical reading that, based on the Butlerian conception regarding the pressing need to undo gender, seeks to deconstruct normative values and views.<br>Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Científico e Tecnológico<br>Esta dissertação analisa as representações literárias distópicas e de gênero construídas nos contos especulativos "Freeforall" (1986), de Margaret Atwood e "congenital Agenesis of Gender Ideation by K.N Sirsi and Sandra Botkin" (1998), de Raphael Carter. De temporalidade futurista, essas narrativas suscitam visões críticas sobre as identidades no que diz respeito aos modelos binários e às tendências estabilizadoras de gênero ainda fortemente perceptíveis em nossa cultura patriarcal. Observo as maneiras pelas quais as obras (des)constroem valores e conceitos pré estabelecidos socialmente. O estudo da representação dessa (des)construção é realizado através do enfoque nos entrecruzamentos entre os debates oriundos das teorias críticas sobre os gêneros literários cujos traços são identificados nas histórias (utopia, distopia, ficção científica) e do conhecimento produzido na área dos Estudos Culturais e de Gênero. Nesta interface, ênfase recai sobre a presença da ironia como estratégia literária importante, abordada em suas funções, conforme proposto por Linda Hutcheon, utilizada, neste trabalho, para entender o processo de interação comunicativa linguística e literária das obras. No conto de Atwood, enfoco os espaços em relação às dinâmicas sociais e a figuração da protagonista para argumentar que esses elementos engendram metáforas de um sistema heterossexual compulsório que visa à reprodução por meio da constituição de rígidas normas de gênero e de práticas de eugenia. Para tanto, os indivíduos são colocados em diferentes espaços, previamente estabelecidos e de acordo com sua função social. As Casas e o Freeforall são as espacialidades desta comunidade. O primeiro é o local dos escolhidos e, o último, entendido como um espaço heterotópico de desvio, conforme teoria desenvolvida por Foucault, é destinado àqueles desviantes em relação à norma. O jogo de palavras presente no título do conto e a análise da protagonista permitem um estudo da ironia. No conto de Carter, a (des)construção das noções cristalizadas de gênero se desenvolve por meio da ironia paródica, evidenciada pela incorporação crítica de práticas científicas e discursos acadêmicos. Finalmente, argumento que as representações ficcionais das distopias de gênero de Atwood e Carter, principalmente por meio da estratégia da ironia, questionam as configurações culturais de gênero convencionadas pela/na
sociedade androcêntrica. Assim, as obras podem ser interpretadas sob um viés de
leitura crítica feminista que, baseado numa concepção butleriana sobre a necessidade iminente de se desfazer gênero, busca desconstruir valores e visões
normativas.
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Guimarães, Jéssica. "Os retalhos da memória e intertextualidade em Vulgo Grace de Margaret Atwood." reponame:Biblioteca Digital de Teses e Dissertações da UFRGS, 2016. http://hdl.handle.net/10183/156989.
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O presente trabalho teve como objetivo discutir questões sobre memória e intertextualidade, a partir dos diferentes textos constituintes da obra Vulgo Grace da autora canadense Margaret Atwood. A autora recupera a trajetória verídica de Grace Marks, uma criada condenada à prisão perpétua por ser cúmplice no assassinato do patrão e da governanta da casa em que trabalhava. Grace apresenta sinais de amnésia sobre os fatos ocorridos nos assassinatos e, nessa situação, um comitê que acredita na sua inocência convida o jovem médico americano Simon Jordan para descobrir a verdadeira causa dessa aparente amnésia. Dentro desse contexto, foi observada a presença significativa da memória e da intertextualidade como itens essenciais na obra. O método utilizado na análise foi o enfoque de três partes: a narração em primeira pessoa de Grace, a narração em terceira pessoa sobre Simon e os paratextos. A análise se deu por meio do cotejo entre os diferentes tipos de texto, tendo como base os conceitos de intertextualidade de Júlia Kristeva e Tiphaine Samoyault e memória de Márcio Seligmann-Silva, Michael Pollak e Alba Olmi Outros conceitos como o significado dos sonhos de Sigmund Freud e a metaficção historiográfica de Linda Hutcheon também se fazem presentes na análise. Esse estudo comparativo resultou na descoberta de diferentes relações entre os textos sendo que conceitos além das questões de memória e intertextualidade foram descobertos. A memória te grande significado na construção das relações humanas e na relação do ser com o passado. O presente trabalho mostra-se relevante em relação aos estudos de memória pelo fato de discutir e apresentar outros meios e outras ligações entre os intertextos como também se insere nos estudos da autora Margaret Atwood no Brasil.<br>The present thesis intended to discuss some issues related to memory and intertextuality, taking as a starting point the different texts from Alias Grace (Vulgo Grace), written by the Canadian writer Margaret Atwood. The book retrieves the true story of Grace Marks, a maid sentenced to life imprisonment for being an accomplice to the murder of her employer and the housekeeper in the house where she used to work. Grace presented symptoms of amnesia, forgetting the facts that occurred in the murders. In that situation, a small committee who believe in Grace’s innocence hires the young American doctor Simon Jordan to discover the true reason for this apparent amnesia. In this context, a significant presence of memory and intertextuality as essential items of story could be observed. The method applied here was the focus on three parts: the first-person narration by Grace, the thirdperson narration about Simon and the paratexts. The analysis was made through the comparison between the different types of texts, based on intertextuality concepts stated by Júlia Kristeva and Tiphaine Samoyault and memory concepts presented by Márcio Seligmann-Silva, Michael Pollak, and Alba Olmi. Other concepts, such as the meanings of dreams, developed by Sigmund Freud, and the historiographic metafiction, elaborated by Linda Hutcheon, are also included in this analysis.
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Lourenço, Ana Paula Barreira. "O nacionalismo, pós-colonialismo e feminismo em três romances de Margaret Atwood." Master's thesis, Universidade de Aveiro, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10773/18892.
Full textAbstract:
Mestrado em Estudos Ingleses<br>Margaret Atwood é uma escritora com uma longa carreira e uma visão
particular em relação às mulheres e ao Canadá. O nacionalismo, póscolonialismo
e o feminismo estão presentes em Surfacing (1972), The
Handmaid’s Tale (1985) e The Blind Assassin (2000). Esta tese pretende
demonstrar a forma como Atwood trata e desenvolve estes assuntos nos
diferentes romances e a forma como estes afectam e influenciam a visão que a
sociedade e as mulheres têm sobre si mesmas.<br>Margaret Atwood is a writer with a long carer and a particular vision concerning
women and Canada. Nationalism, post-colonialism and feminism are issues in
Surfacing (1972), The Handmaid’s Tale (1985) and The Blind Assassin (2000).
This thesis intends to demonstrate how Atwood deals and develops these
issues in the different novels and in which way do they affect and influence the
vision that the society and women have about themselves.
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Parrinello, Alice <1994>. "Literary Eco-Resistance: Feminist Sustainable Practices in Margaret Atwood and Ruth Ozeki." Master's Degree Thesis, Università Ca' Foscari Venezia, 2019. http://hdl.handle.net/10579/15557.
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In The Great Derangement (2016), Amitav Ghosh has argued that literature is currently facing a crisis of imagination, since fiction is unable to properly deal with climate change. This dissertation is going to assert that there is a beacon of hope. Literature has developed into two branches that adequately engage with climate change, ‘report’ fiction and speculative fiction. They are exemplified by the works of two female Canadian authors, Ruth Ozeki and Margaret Atwood. Ozeki’s My Year of Meats (1998) and All Over Creation (2003) fictionalize analyses on the use of hormones in cows breeding and genetically modified food. The Maddaddam trilogy by Atwood, Oryx and Crake (2003), The Year of the Flood (2009), and Maddaddam (2013), narrates a future in which the human race is swept away by a disease, only to be replaced by a new form of ‘superhumans.’ The novels display various forms of eco-sustainability and resistance against hegemonic forms of capitalism. Taking a materialistic route, it will be argued that the food practices depicted by Atwood and Ozeki escape the idea that the realistic novel cannot engage with climate change events. All of the food practices are linked with environmental issues, such as pollution, bioengineered meats, and vegetarianism. Special attention will be paid to the role played by women in the novels, as their narratives are intertwined with forms of ecological food-related resistance.
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Krey, Catellier Miriam. "A study of Margaret Atwood's The handmaid's tale, from novel to its film reading = La servante écarlate de Margaret Atwood : du roman à l'adaptation cinématographique." Thesis, National Library of Canada = Bibliothèque nationale du Canada, 1999. http://www.collectionscanada.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk1/tape9/PQDD_0018/MQ48934.pdf.
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Weinstein, Sheri M. "Heavy with the unspoken : the interplay of absence and presence in Margaret Atwood's Cat's eye." Thesis, McGill University, 1995. http://digitool.Library.McGill.CA:80/R/?func=dbin-jump-full&object_id=23251.
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This study explores the philosophical, linguistic and textual interplay of absence and presence in Margaret Atwood's novel Cat's Eye. The premise of the thesis is that the novel posits language as a problematic communicative medium; as such, language conveys that meanings of words are flexible, mutable and transient. It is through frameworks which both establish states of absence and presence as well as destroy binary oppositions between the two that Cat's Eye conveys its positions about language. Thus, textual and extra-textual discourses about the natures of language and linguistic meaning are situated within recurrent thematic and formal attention to relationships between absence and presence. By exploring the roles of absence and presence in various phenomenological and linguistic contexts, this study concludes that absence/presence is a paradigm in Cat's Eye for the way in which words are (alternately as well as simultaneously) spoken and silent, understood and misunderstood, opposed and united.
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Jones, Jessica L. "The masquerade and bisexuality in Margaret Atwood's The robber bride /." Electronic version (PDF), 2007. http://dl.uncw.edu/etd/2007-1/jonesj/jessicajones.pdf.
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Evain, Christine. "Pluralité des voix et chant de soliste dans la poésie de Margaret Atwood." Nantes, 2007. http://www.theses.fr/2007NANT3004.
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Pour qualifier la poésie de Margaret Atwood, la critique a souvent recours aux termes suivants « about Canada » ou post-colonial, 'female-empowered, « descent » et « metafictional ». L'oeuvre poétique peut en effet se lire sur plusieurs portées simultanément qui seraient les sphères personnelles, sociales, culturelles, nationales et universelles. Pour construire la polyphonie, la stratégie politique passe par la mise en scène de décors et de personae distincts. Cependant, au-delà de cette pluralité de voix, le lecteur perçoit une voix de soliste qui chante sa vérité. Notre thèse s 'attachera à mettre en lumière cette voix singulière qui témoigne d'une capacité à cultiver deux modes de fonctionnement également nécessaires : l'intégration et l'indépendance. Les outils critiques nous permettant de montrer l'originalité de la voix atwoodienne seront les outils philosophiques rendant compte d'une certaine perception du monde et les outils d'analyse textuelle mettant en valeur la qualité poétique des recueils<br>When dealing with Atwood's poetry, critics often use the following terms : poems about Canada or "post-colonial"; "female-empowered"; "descent"; and metafictional". Atwood's poetry can indeed be read on different staves simultaneously - the personal, social, cultural and universal layers. In order to achieve this polyphony, Atwood's poetry resorts to the staging of a wide range of personae. However, beyond this game of vocal plurality, the reader distinctly hears the voice of a persona-soloist who sings out her particular truth. This dissertation highlights the singularity of this voice which bears the mark of a rich experience and wich is capable of cultivating two modes of functioning related to integration and independence. The critical tools which I resort to in order to show the originality of the Atwoodian voice are either philosophical tools focusing on vision, perception and reflection, or textual analysis tools which highlight the poetic quality at Atwood's work
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Gregersdotter, Katarina. "Watching women, falling women : Power and dialogue in three novels by Margaret Atwood." Doctoral thesis, Umeå universitet, Moderna språk, 2003. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:umu:diva-12676.
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This study examines the three novels Cat s Eye, The Robber Bride, and Alias Grace by Margaret Atwood. It focuses on the female characters and their relationships to each other: Their friendships are formed in a patriarchally structured environment and are therefore arenas for defending and controlling the norms of such a structure. The women continually watch each other and themselves, and through the power exercise of watching, femininity is constructed. Atwood describes acts of dialogic storytelling as a means to find options to gendered behavior.<br>digitalisering@umu
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Barnard, Anette. "Margaret Atwood : challenging the unity of the body and the text / Anette Barnard." Thesis, Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003. http://hdl.handle.net/10394/877.
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Margaret Atwood is an internationally read, translated, and critiqued writer
whose novels have established her as one of the very best writers in English
(McCombs, 1988:l). The subject of critical studies on her works deal mainly
with notions of identity from psychoanalytical perspectives. This study has
identified a gap in current critical studies on Atwood's works, namely to
establish affinities between notions of identity and notions of textual identity.
The theoretical perspective of this study is informed by theories of French
feminist critics Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva, while keeping in mind some
of the key ideas of Sigmund Freud and Jacques Lacan. The theories of
Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva have affinities with Jacques Derrida’s
concept of différance. These theories are applied to the characters of The
Edible Woman, The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin, in order to
deconstruct stereotypes of the virgin, the wife and the mother. These
stereotypes are based upon binary oppositions, and if binary oppositions are
deconstructed, then stereotypes are invalid. This study investigates the
manner in which Atwood deconstructs stereotypes of the virgin, the wife and
the mother, and also shows that attempts to conform to these stereotypes
may lead to a fragmentation of subjectivity.
In order to investigate the affinities between Atwood's questioning of the unity
of the subject, and the postmodern questioning of textual unity, Roland
Barthes's notion of the death of the author will be applied to The Edible
Woman, The Handmaid's Tale and The Blind Assassin. It is shown that if the
author of the text - the final signified - is eliminated, the text becomes
fragmentary and open. The text becomes unstable, it displays an absence of
hierarchical textual levels, and it becomes intertextual. Based on an analysis
of the fragmentary nature of the character's identities according to theories by
Hélène Cixous and Julia Kristeva, and an analysis of the fragmentary nature
of Atwood's text in the light of Roland Barthes's notion of the death of the
author, affinities between challenging orthodox notions of selfhood and the
text will be established.<br>Thesis (M.A. (English))--Potchefstroom University for Christian Higher Education, 2003.
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Jenainati, Cathia. "Narrating the self : memory as narrative strategy in the fiction of Margaret Atwood." Thesis, University of Warwick, 2003. http://ethos.bl.uk/OrderDetails.do?uin=uk.bl.ethos.400081.
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Brunet, Arvanitakis Emmanuelle. "Les éléments visuels dans les romans de Margaret Atwood de 1969 à 1993." Paris 3, 2001. http://www.theses.fr/2001PA030041.
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Plus connue pour son oeuvre litteraire prolifique, margaret atwood exerce egalement ses talents dans d'autres domaines tels que la peinture. Il suffit, pour s'en convaincre, de regarder de pres les couvertures de certains ouvrages - des aquarelles, collages_etillustrations realises par ses soins. A partir de ce constat, la these presente une etude des elements visuels dans les romans de margaret atwood de 1969 a 1993. L'analyse s'articule autour de deux axes - voir et regarder - et porte principalement sur deux espaces - l'avant-texte et le texte - afin de determiner la nature, le role et l'importance des elements visuels. L'activite de l'ecriture et celle de la peinture se rencontrent dans l'avant-texte : le graphique sert le verbal et le verbal nourrit le graphique. Les deux activites finissent par se fondre sous une entite unique. La reside l'originalite de margaret atwood : une ecriture cinetique, riche en comparaisons, descriptions et visualisations.
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Cheong, Weng Lam. "Beyond a feminist dystopia : Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale." Thesis, University of Macau, 2009. http://umaclib3.umac.mo/record=b2456330.
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Karlsson, Paola. "How human are the Crakers? : A study about human identity in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake." Thesis, Linnéuniversitetet, Institutionen för språk och litteratur, SOL, 2011. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:lnu:diva-13232.
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This essay has handled the subject of humanity in Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. The aim of the thesis was to argue that the Crakers developed into human beings with help of their teachers. This was made by researching different aspects in humanity such as human identity, language, religion, life and death and how these traits of humanity were developed. The development of the Crakers‟ identities has also been discussed with regards to teachers, teaching and the relation between power and knowledge meaning how the Crakers‟ teachers helped them or tried to prevent them from growing into humans. The relation between power and knowledge shows how the teacher holds power over his pupils since he decides what he will teach them. The results revealed that the Crakers became as human as they could be without being born human through teaching and acquiring traits that are known to be human.
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Semenovich, Lacie M. "Old beginnings : the re-inscription of masculine domination at the new millennium in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake /." Cleveland, Ohio : Cleveland State University, 2008. http://rave.ohiolink.edu/etdc/view?acc_num=csu1231430843.
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Thesis (M.A.)--Cleveland State University, 2008.<br>Abstract. Title from PDF t.p. (viewed on Apr. 14, 2009). Includes bibliographical references (p. 56-63). Available online via the OhioLINK ETD Center. Also available in print.
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Åsman, Sofia. "Too Late for Snowman : Transhumanist Ideals in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake." Thesis, Karlstads universitet, Institutionen för språk, litteratur och interkultur, 2016. http://urn.kb.se/resolve?urn=urn:nbn:se:kau:diva-42656.
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This essay attempts to study transhumanism and its role in the anthropogenic pandemic at the center of the novel, in order to show that transhumanist thought was a driving factor behind it. By looking at transhumanist concerns in the portrayed society, and the beliefs of Crake, one uncovers that Crake was able to exploit the desire for enhancement of humanity as a whole in order to achieve the ultimate transhumanist goal: the near-perfect and immortal posthuman Crakers. Analyzing the intentions behind the creation of the posthuman, and Snowman’s relationship to them, it becomes clear that the posthuman is a replacement of existing humanity, since the sought after qualities of the posthuman can only be attained through genetic engineering before birth and not by altering individual humans. I hope to have shown that the novel contains a warning about transhumanism and the potential misuse of science when one person think things through to its logical conclusion.<br>Denna uppsats ämnar studera transhumanism och dess roll I den antropogeniska pandemi som står I centrum I romanen, med avsikt att visa att transhumanistiska tankesätt var en drivande kraft bakom den. Genom att titta på transhumanistiska intressen i det beskrivna samhället och Crakes egna idéer, upptäcker en att Crake lyckades exploatera önskan om en förbättrad mänsklighet för att uppnå det ultimata transhumanistiska målet: det nästan perfekta och odödliga posthumana varelserna Crakers. Genom att analysera avsikterna bakom skapandet av dessa posthumana, och Snowmans förhållande till dem, blir det tydligt att the posthumana är en ersättning för redan existerande människor, eftersom de begärliga förmågor och egenskaper som de posthumana besitter endast kan anskaffas genom genteknik och inte genom att förändra individuella människor. Jag hoppas att ha visat att romanen innehåller en varning om transhumanism och det potentiella missbruket av vetenskap när en person tänker igenom något tills dess logiska slutpunkt.
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Braun, Kirsten, and n/a. "Contending With Feminism: Women's Health Issues in Margaret Atwood's Early Fiction." Griffith University. School of Arts, Media and Culture, 2006. http://www4.gu.edu.au:8080/adt-root/public/adt-QGU20070212.153530.
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Margaret Atwood's early fiction provides a valuable insight into issues surrounding the establishment of the women's health movement. From The Edible Woman in 1969 to The Handmaid's Tale in 1985, Atwood's work takes up key issues of the movement during this time. Her fiction explores a number of women's health topics including contraception, abortion, birthing, assisted reproductive technologies, eating disorders and breast cancer. Atwood's interest in the appearance of victims in Canadian literature, however, leads to a rejection of the notion that women are fated victims of patriarchal institutions like medicine. This thesis argues that while she does not deny women can be victims, she refuses to accept that this role is inevitable. Foucault's later constructions of power and resistance are explored with the female protagonists refusing to believe their situations are inescapable. Atwood's recognition of her role as a popular fiction writer and her refusal to wear the 'feminist' label allow her the space to critique the women's health movement. Her early fiction exposes the absolutism of the movement and demonstrates its limitations in accounting for women's diversity.
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Braun, Kirsten. "Contending With Feminism: Women's Health Issues in Margaret Atwood's Early Fiction." Thesis, Griffith University, 2006. http://hdl.handle.net/10072/367275.
Full textAbstract:
Margaret Atwood's early fiction provides a valuable insight into issues surrounding the establishment of the women's health movement. From The Edible Woman in 1969 to The Handmaid's Tale in 1985, Atwood's work takes up key issues of the movement during this time. Her fiction explores a number of women's health topics including contraception, abortion, birthing, assisted reproductive technologies, eating disorders and breast cancer. Atwood's interest in the appearance of victims in Canadian literature, however, leads to a rejection of the notion that women are fated victims of patriarchal institutions like medicine. This thesis argues that while she does not deny women can be victims, she refuses to accept that this role is inevitable. Foucault's later constructions of power and resistance are explored with the female protagonists refusing to believe their situations are inescapable. Atwood's recognition of her role as a popular fiction writer and her refusal to wear the 'feminist' label allow her the space to critique the women's health movement. Her early fiction exposes the absolutism of the movement and demonstrates its limitations in accounting for women's diversity.<br>Thesis (PhD Doctorate)<br>Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)<br>School of Arts, Media and Culture<br>Full Text
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Stead, Nicola Jayne. "The anxiety of feminist influence : concepts of voice in Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields." Thesis, University of Exeter, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/10036/69973.
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This thesis explores the concepts of “voice” and “influence” through the case studies of two famous English-speaking Canadian women writers, Margaret Atwood and Carol Shields. The “voice” is multiple, ambiguous and influenced, but it is also apparently unique. How, therefore, is it constructed and where does it come from? I examine, work with and adapt Harold Bloom’s paradigmatic study of influence to a feminist context, exploring the idea that a literary voice can be developed and influenced by Atwood and Shields. I discuss how these writers searched for an appropriate literary role model, exemplified by nineteenth-century English-Canadian writer Susanna Moodie, at the moment when Canadian nationalism and feminism coincided. Atwood and Shields are now canonical writers themselves and important in both the nationalist and women’s tradition, but have they gone on to influence new Canadian women writers? I test the pleasures and the anxieties of Shields’ influence with regard to her creative writing students and her own daughter, Anne Giardini, who has published her first novel. I compare Shields with Atwood, who has achieved a high level of fame, and examine what kind of influence each exerts. I discuss whether literary influence is politically different for women than men and whether there is any jealousy or power struggles between the sexes. Rivalry and competition between writers are not purely caused by the aesthetic issues that Bloom discusses, therefore I contextualise his concept of influence using literary celebrity studies to consider the economic basis of cultural production. This is in order to show that tensions are determined by market conditions, just as much as the new poet’s desire to overthrow a literary precursor. Finally, I examine fan letters to Atwood and Shields as another important source of literary influence. I discuss how fans are constructed through a commercial relationship and how they can also provide an amateur literary voice. Atwood and Shields have helped to create a network of writers across the globe. I explore whether both authors can be role models who will inspire the next literary generation.
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Banaś, Maria. "Dystopie we współczesnej literaturze pięknej : socjologiczna analiza zjawiska na przykładzie dystopijnych powieści Margaret Atwood." Doctoral thesis, Katowice : Uniwersytet Śląski, 2020. http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12128/16084.
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The purpose of this study is a sociological analysis of Margaret Atwood's novels, in the
perspective of literary dystopias. Therefore, the key issues are the contexts that clearly and
unequivocally build the image of the social world, read through the prism of the sociology of
literature. In the selection of the research subject, the public reception of the analyzed novels
is of particular importance; their often turbulent reception proves the extraordinary timeliness
of the problems discussed. The issues presented in the analysis focus on the following
questions:
1. How and to what extent are classical and contemporary theories of totalitarianism reflected
in the novels of the Canadian writer?
2. What is the structure of the social world and what types of individual adaptation to the
challenges of social reality do individuals choose, and what are the reasons behind it?
3. What types of social bonds dominate within social microstructures?
4. What is the social position of women in Atwood’s dystopian novels, and how is it justified?
The theoretical part of the dissertation details the chosen concept of investigating
literary dystopias, outlines the status of the sociology of literature as a sociological subdiscipline,
and discusses the basic assumptions of the two sociological concepts that constitute
the theoretical background for this study (Erving Goffman's dramaturgical perspective, and
the types of individual adaptation of individuals to social structure by Robert K. Merton). It
also presents the assumptions of the perspective adopted in the work – on the one hand, the
most general assumptions of qualitative analysis, and on the other hand, the dissertation looks
at analyses and interpretations in the sociology of literature – classical (György Lukács,
Lucien Goldman), also contemporary (Krzysztof Łęcki, Paweł Ćwikła).
The research interests include the issues of the anthropology of dystopia, as well as the
terminological and categorization complexity of utopia/dystopia. An important element of the
analysis is also a utopian project considered as a thought experiment and its significance in
the dynamics of social processes.
The last section of the theoretical part problematizes the totalitarian perspective. Classical
concepts of totalitarianism are presented, from Plato to contemporary thought: Hannah
Arendt, Zbigniew Brzeziński and Carl Friedrich, to the systemization proposed by Jacob L. Talmon. In the micro-sociological perspective, the analyses refers to the model of a total
institution by Erving Goffman.
The next chapter opens an empirical part. In reference to the systematization proposed
by Ralf Dahrendorf, the characteristics of the utopian vision of reality are sought in Atwood's
novels, in order to clarify the fundamental properties of the total prospective seen in the
analysed works and, in particular, those that seem to dominate. In addition, by describing the
model of social structure recognized in The Handmaid’s Tale and the MaddAddam trilogy,
representative characters are selected from the novels to analyze the types of individual
adaptation to changing social conditions. Another empirical section of the work discusses the
role of a woman in the Atwood’s world. These reflections focus on the assumption of
patriarchal impairment of women in the analyzed dystopias. At the end of the empirical part,
the author presents the vision of the (new) man in the discussed dystopian narratives. The key
aspect of the analysis is to distinguish the Crakers and Gardeners, who exemplify the new
quality of social microstructures as well as the Handmaids illustrating the properties of (new)
women.
The last chapter of the dissertation compares Margaret Atwood's narrative with classic
anti-utopias – George Orwell's 1984 and Aldous Huxley's Brave New World – which belong
to the most influential dystopian novels of the 20th century. This part specifies the place of
the total order described by Margaret Atwood on the axis connecting Orwell's 1984 and
Huxley's Brave New World.
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Matus, Hannah. "Reflections on terror from Aldous Huxley to Margaret Atwood dystopic fiction as politically symbolic /." Connect to resource, 2009. http://hdl.handle.net/1811/38782.
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