- Paperback: 134 pages
- Publisher: Oxford University Press; 1st Trade edition (Oct 1 1997)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0195413512
- ISBN-13: 978-0195413519
- Product Dimensions: 19.8 x 13 x 2.5 cm
- Shipping Weight: 463 g
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,465,391 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- See Complete Table of Contents
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Booklist
Atwood returns to the matter of her wonderful "thematic guide to Canadian literature," Survival (1972), in lectures on three particular themes and the ways Canadian writers have treated them. Those themes are the devouring, implacable, direly feminine North as expressed in treatments of John Franklin's disastrous 1840s attempt to navigate a northwest passage to Asia; the impulse of whites to "go native" as exemplified by the naturalist Grey Owl, an Englishman who assumed the identity of a Canadian Indian; and the ice-hearted, human flesh^-eating Canadian Indian monster, the Wendigo. Atwood analyzes poems, songs, and stories on those themes, peppering her presentation with the keen and hilarious witticisms that distinguish her own poems and fiction. Moreover, when in the last lecture she takes up women writers' feminizing of the themes, she discloses strong satiric currents in their work that keep us richly entertained as well as fascinated and informed. If lecturers were all as good as Atwood, chautauqua might come roaring back in popularity. Ray Olson
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
Review
"A reader can expect any new book by Margaret Atwood to provide a feast for intellectual and imaginative consumption, and Strange Things...is exactly that...Atwood's style and ideas are evocative and always entertaining...this book was, for me, a delight to read." Quill and Quire
"She is crisply schematic in laying out her material." Toronto Star
"Insightful and sympathetic, the lectures boast Atwood's celebrated sardonic wit." Kitchener-Waterloo Record
"...pithy observations on the state of English Canadian literature...Witty and packed with information, these turn out to be surprisingly good reading, and filled with interesting connections for those of us who happen to live in the North." Whitehorse Star
"She is crisply schematic in laying out her material." Toronto Star
"Insightful and sympathetic, the lectures boast Atwood's celebrated sardonic wit." Kitchener-Waterloo Record
"...pithy observations on the state of English Canadian literature...Witty and packed with information, these turn out to be surprisingly good reading, and filled with interesting connections for those of us who happen to live in the North." Whitehorse Star
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta)
Amazon.com:
5.0 out of 5 stars (1 customer review)
5.0 out of 5 stars
Margaret Atwood: Strange Things., April 6 2012
By Marjorie - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: Strange Things: The Malevolent North in Canadian Literature (Hardcover)
This is a series of four lectures about myths and recurring images in Canadian literature. The lectures are witty and informal and very informative. Before reading this book I knew hardly anything about Canadian literature beyond Margaret Atwood herself, but I have now followed up several of the authors she mentions and have found them all well worth reading. I have also passed on "Strange Things" to three other people whose opinion I value, and they have shared my enthusiasm. Heartily recommended.
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