Second Words

by Atwood, Margaret Eleanor

• ISBN13: 9780887846540
• ISBN10: 0887846548
• Format: Paperback
• Copyright: 2004-09-28
• Publisher: House of Anansi Pr

Summary

Fifty of Margaret Atwood's finest essays and reviews from 1960 to 1982 are included in this collection of her key critical writings. Wit and originality infuse discussions of the writing process, literary life, and such literary figures as Adrienne Rich, Northrop Frye, Anne Sexton, and E. L. Doctorow. Atwood's perspectives on Canadian nationalism and the American dream emerge, as do her controversial attitudes about feminism, sexism, and contemporary North American life. This largest collection of her critical prose showcases the human insight and sharp intellect that has distinguished Atwood as one of the most compelling writers of the 21st century.

Author Biography

Margaret Atwood is the award-winning author of more than 25 books, including The Blind Assassin, The Handmaid's Tale, and Oryx and Crake. She was the winner of the 2000 Booker Prize. She has contributed to The New York Times Book Review, The Nation, The Washington Post, The Harvard Educational Review, and Maclean's.

Table of Contents

Introduction	11	(6)
Part I: 1960-1971	17	(86)
1. Some Sun for this Winter	21	(3)
2. Narcissus: Double Entendre	24	(3)
3. Apocalyptic Squawk from a Splendid Auk	27	(3)
4. Kangaroo and Beaver: Tradition in Exile by J.P. Matthews	30	(3)
5. F.D. Reeve: Aleksandr Blok	33	(2)
6. Superwoman Drawn and Quartered: The Early Forms of She	35	(20)
7. Four Poets from Canada: Jones, Jonas, Mandel and Purdy	55	(8)
8. Some Old, some New, some Boring, some Blew, and some Picture Books	63	(4)
9. MacEwen's Muse	67	(12)
10. The Messianic Stance: West Coast Seen	79	(4)
11. Nationalism, Limbo and the Canadian Club	83	(7)
12. Eleven Years of Alphabet	90	(7)
13. Al Purdy: Love in a Burning Building	97	(6)
Part II: 1972-1976	103	(176)
14. Travels Back	107	(7)
15. How do I get out of Here: The Poetry of John Newlove	114	(15)
16. Mathews and Misrepresentation	129	(22)
17. Reaney Collected	151	(9)
18. Adrienne Rich: Diving Into the Wreck	160	(4)
19. Audrey Thomas: Blown Figures	164	(3)
20. Erica Jong: Half-Lives	167	(8)
21. What's so Funny? Notes on Canadian Humour	175	(15)
22. On Being a Woman Writer: Paradoxes and Dilemmas	190	(15)
23. Adrienne Rich: Poems, Selected and New	205	(5)
24. Kate Millett: Flying	210	(5)
25. The Curse of Eve-Or, What I Learned in School	215	(14)
26. Canadian Monsters: Some Aspects of the Supernatural in Canadian Fiction	229	(25)
27. Adrienne Rich: Of Woman Born	254	(5)
28. Marie-Claire Blais: St. Lawrence Blues	259	(9)
29. Audrey Thomas: Ten Green Bottles, Ladies & Escorts	268	(4)
30. Marge Piercy: Woman on the Edge of Time, Living in the Open	272	(7)
Part III: 1977-1982	279	(154)
31. A Harvest Yet to Reap: A History of Prairie Women	283	(4)
32. Anne Sexton: A Self-Portrait in Letters	287	(3)
33. Timothy Findley: The Wars	290	(6)
34. Diary Down Under	296	(11)
35. Last Testaments: Pat Lowther and John Thompson	307	(6)
36. Tillie Olsen: Silences	313	(3)
37. Sylvia Plath: Johnny Panic and the Bible of Dreams	316	(4)
38. Valgardsonland	320	(5)
39. E.L. Doctorow: Loon Lake	325	(4)
40. Witches	329	(5)
41. An End to Audience?	334	(24)
42. Midnight Birds: Stories of Contemporary Black Women Writers	358	(5)
43. Nadine Gordimer: July's People	363	(3)
44. Ann Beattie: Falling in Place	366	(3)
45. An Introduction to The Edible Woman	369	(2)
46. Canadian-American Relations: Surviving the Eighties	371	(22)
47. Amnesty International: An Address	393	(5)
48. Northrop Frye Observed	398	(9)
49. Jay Macpherson: Poems Twice Told	407	(5)
50. Writing the Male Character	412	(21)
Acknowledgements	433	(4)
Index	437