Hello
Gentle Reader
Margaret
Atwood is not a writer who comes into fashion and then suddenly out of fashion.
Rather than being a tenacious piece of driftwood that is cast ashore by the
sea, only to recede back into it, only to wash up on shore years later;
Margaret Atwood is a permanent fixture on the literary scene. She is a noted
giantess of world literature; and specifically speaking, quite a Canadian giant
as well. Atwood assisted in surveying the then: unknown wilderness of Canadian
Literature, with her nineteen-seventy two book of literary criticism: “Survival:
A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature.” Though now considered slightly
outdated and perhaps more opinionated, then true objective literary criticism,
it did seek to unify Canadian literature as Canadian rather than just being
provincial. Margaret Atwood’s work goes beyond her literary pursuits and
career; she is also a well-known environmental activist, academic, lecturer, inventor
(The LongPen), contributor to numerous newspapers and literary periodicals, but
also a noted Twitter user.
Margaret
Atwood does not shy from controversy either. In two-thousand and thirteen,
Margaret Atwood found herself being spat at by the science fiction community,
when she denied her work like: “Oryx and Crake,” “The Handmaid’s Tale,” (and
subsequent books: “The Year of The Flood,” and “MaddAddam,”) as being ‘science
fiction,’ but rather: speculative fiction. Margaret Atwood famously stated that
science fiction was: time travel, Martians, and teleportation devices; and went
further to state, science fiction consisted of: “Talking squids in space,”—while
her work was best defined as speculative fiction, because its plausible, the
outcomes presented within those works, are a plausible reality. Needless to
say, the science fiction community fought back, calling Atwood’s remarks elitist
and snobbish; though Urusla Le Guin, was more understanding of Atwood’s
position, found the author against the wall because if she had admitted her
work was perhaps science fiction it lost its merit as being literary, and
therefore Atwood would lose her status as a serious writer. Margaret Atwood
would later clarify her statements, but also held firm with her perspective
that science fiction explores realities still far beyond human contemporary
achievements, while her work is startling contemporary and very near.
In
two-thousand and sixteen, Margaret Atwood found herself being a point of
conversation and topic amongst readers and the general public. Her most famous
(and controversial) novel was being made into a television series: “The
Handmaid’s Tale.” A teaser was advertised during the Super Bowl, with shocking and
frightening images of the series, and it ended with Offred commenting that she
intends to survive. Not long after, a certain presidential candidate (who no
one thought could win) would win the American election, and “The Handmaid’s
Tale,” would now fly off the shelves as both a symbol of ones intention to survive,
but also as a companion to the new television series—which has just been
renewed for a second season.
Since
the election of Donald Trump and the television series, Margaret Atwood has
been as busy as ever. She’s been requested for interviews, to offer her opinion
and commentary, as well as to speak at literary festivals. She is considered at
the moment a Prophet and a Oracle of great prescience, and many are seeking her
counsel, to see how they may get through these bewildering, tragic,
controversial and chaotic times. Now more than ever women fear for their
hard-won freedoms (as should men as well—as should all citizens may I add), but
also of the danger of a world on the verge of collapse from environmental and
climate destruction, as we witness with the starvation in South Sudan and the
very real reality that India, will reach soaring new temperatures this summer,
then it did the previous one.
Margaret
Atwood stands by her conviction, that she is not a pessimist or a prophetic
fortune teller; rather she has scoured the past distant and recent, to lay the
groundwork for many of her novels; specifically speaking: “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
Atwood remains calm and realistic in her approach to writing her works, they
are messages which foretell a future which we may inherent if we do not curb
our current ways of operation. In this Margaret Atwood offers hope, more than
she offers fate.
It
is suiting then this year’s Franz Kafka award would go to Margaret Atwood, with
her activism pertaining to: environmental concerns, women’s rights, and freedom
of speech. The Franz Kafka award is awarded to a writer who suits its criteria:
“reward artistically exceptional literary production of a contemporary author
whose work addresses readers regardless of their origin, nationality, or
culture, like the work of Franz Kafka” It suiting then, Margaret Atwood would
be chosen, because she herself has crossed and transcended borders and
cultures, to deliver her dire warnings, which are a concern to all human beings
on the planet, regardless of their gender or citizenship. Her work concerns all
human beings.
Congratulations
Margaret Atwood!
Thank-you
For Reading Gentle Reader
Take
Care
And
As Always
Stay
Well Read
M.
Mary
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