Gebruiker:Cottenemm/Margaret atwood
Margaret Atwood
Biography
Margaret Atwood is a Canadian author, who writes novels, short stories and poetry.
She was born in Ottawa, Ontario, in 1939.
She is the daughter of a forest entomologist (her father, Carl Edmund Atwood) and a dietician and nutritionist (her mother, Margaret Dorothy Killiam). , and lived in North Quebec until she was seven, then she moved to Toronto. She studied there at university, then took her masters degree at Radcliffe College (now Harvard), Massachusetts, in 1962. She's married twice, has a daughter from her first marriage and takes care of the two suns of her second husband.
Atwood's first publication was a book of poetry, The Circle Game (1964), which received the Governor General's Literary Award for Poetry (Canada). Several more poetry collections have followed since, including Interlunar (1988), Morning in the Burned House (1995) and the latest, Eating Fire: Selected Poetry, 1965-1995 (1998). Also a short story writer, her books of short fiction include Dancing Girls and Other Stories (1982), Wilderness Tips (1991), and Good Bones (1992).
She is perhaps best known, however, for her novels, in which she creates strong, often enigmatic, women characters and excels in telling open-ended stories, while dissecting contemporary urban life and sexual politics.These novels have received many awards. Alias Grace, The Handmaid's Tale and Cat's Eye have all been shortlisted for the Booker Prize for Fiction. The Blind Assassin was successful in winning this prize in 2000.Some of Margaret Atwood's books have been adapted for stage and screen.
Margaret Atwood is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Canada, has been presented with the Order of Ontario and the Norwegian Order of Literary Merit, and has been awarded sixteen honorary degrees. She has lived in many places including Canada, England, Scotland and France, and currently lives in Toronto.
Two famous works
Surfacing
This is Atwood's second novel, which was first published by McClelland and Stewart in 1972.
It tells the story of a woman-who's name remains unknown- in search of her father, who's left her when she was little. She wants to find out why he left, and so she goes back to the house sje grew up in to search for clues. The more she discovers and the more she remembers, the more depressed she gets. The protagonist loses grip on reality and gets stuck in the memories of her childhood. It's a story about separation and how people can hurt one another.
The Edible Woman
This novel is also published by McClelland and Stewart in 1969.
The protagonist of 'The Edible Woman' is Marian, a young woman with a job in consumer marketing. After she gets engaged, she becomes unable to eat. The book explores Marian’s questions of self-identity and her relationships with others, including her fiancé, her friends, and a man whom she meets through her work. Among the characters is Marian’s roommate, who wants to get pregnant but surprisingly does not want to get married.
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