Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature

Front Cover
House of Anansi, Jun 20, 2012 - Literary Criticism - 328 pages

When first published in 1972, Survival was considered the most startling book ever written about Canadian literature. Since then, it has continued to be read and taught, and it continues to shape the way Canadians look at themselves. Distinguished, provocative, and written in effervescent, compulsively readable prose, Survival is simultaneously a book of criticism, a manifesto, and a collection of personal and subversive remarks. Margaret Atwood begins by asking: "What have been the central preoccupations of our poetry and fiction?" Her answer is "survival and victims."

Atwood applies this thesis in twelve brilliant, witty, and impassioned chapters; from Moodie to MacLennan to Blais, from Pratt to Purdy to Gibson, she lights up familiar books in wholly new perspectives. This new edition features a foreword by the author.

 

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Other editions - View all

Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
Margaret Atwood
Limited preview - 2013
Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature (16pt Large Print Edition)
Margaret Atwood
No preview available - 2013

Common terms and phrases

A. J. M. Smith Al Purdy Alden Nowlan American Anansi animal stories artist attitude babies become Birney Brébeuf Canada Canadian literature Canadian Poetry Canadian writers Canlit chapter characters Civil Elegies coffin culture David dead death Dennis Lee E. J. Pratt Earle Birney English Canadian escape exploration F. R. Scott fact failure feel Felix fiction Five Legs French Canadian Gibson girl Graeme Grandfather grandparents Hecate hero hostile human images immigrants Indians James Reaney John Newlove killed kind Klein’s land landscape Last Spike Laurence’s literary live look Macmillan man’s Margaret metaphor monster mother motif Mountain Mounties Nature Newlove Northrop Frye novel pattern Philibert poet Position Four Position Three Pratt protagonist Purdy Québec Riel says Selected Poems Seton settlers sexual snow society Stone Angel Survival symbol Technology and Empire theme there’s thing tion tradition trapped victim vision woman

About the author (2012)

MARGARET ATWOOD, whose work has been published in more than forty-five countries, is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry, critical essays, and graphic novels. Her latest novel, The Testaments, is the long-awaited sequel to The Handmaid’s Tale, now an award-winning TV series. Her other works of fiction include Cat’s Eye, finalist for the 1989 Booker Prize; Alias Grace, which won the Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy; The Blind Assassin, winner of the 2000 Booker Prize; The MaddAddam Trilogy; and Hag-Seed. She is the recipient of numerous awards, including the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade, the Franz Kafka International Literary Prize, the PEN Center USA Lifetime Achievement Award, and the Los Angeles Times Innovator’s Award. She lives in Toronto.

Bibliographic information

TitleSurvival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature
A List
AuthorMargaret Atwood
PublisherHouse of Anansi, 2012
ISBN1770892532, 9781770892538
Length328 pages
Subjects ›  › 

History / Canada / Post-Confederation (1867-)
Literary Criticism / Canadian
  
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