Lions, Tigers, and Pussycats: Margaret Atwood (Auto-) Biographically
2000; RELX Group (Netherlands); Linguagem: Inglês
10.2139/ssrn.2724738
ISSN1556-5068
Autores Tópico(s)Utopian, Dystopian, and Speculative Fiction
ResumoThere are four kinds of biographies: ones that describe ordinary people as just that, ones that claim extraordinary people are truly extraordinary, ones that make ordinary people seem extraordinary, and ones that cut extraordinary people down to ordinary size. In Atwood's case, the sheer volume of critical attention (prompting collections such as the present one) suggests that the first category — double ordinary — does not apply. Oddly enough, however, it was the first and is the most persistent response to Atwood and her work. It is the one that reads the ordinary and credible circumstances in Atwood's fiction and poetry as directly related to the circumstances of Atwood's own life. It is the one that reads Atwood's protagonists as Atwood herself. This biography is a quick patched-together ragtag kind of affair; a collage, with individual characteristics of the various protagonists in Atwood's fiction pinned on the figure of Atwood herself. Rather like paper clothes on a paper doll, the shape of the person emerges from behind the paper and becomes no more than a two-dimensional paper construct herself. In Atwood's case, this involves lots of talk about dark ravines and deep holes, social discomfort in childhood and awkward communication in early romantic relationships. It fails precisely because it is unable to account for one of the greatest strengths of Atwood the person, and the most engaging aspect of her writing: endless transformation.
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