Teach a rich oeuvre exploring contemporary issues and classic texts
Against the backdrop of climate change, the COVID-19 pandemic, and attacks on democracy and women's rights, the works of Margaret Atwood help readers make sense of the world around them. Active since the 1960s, Atwood is one of Canada's most esteemed authors and continues to shape public discourse both in her newest works and in the recent television and graphic novel adaptations of The Handmaid's Tale. The essays in this volume offer approaches to teaching her writing in a variety of genres, including speculative fiction, historical fiction, poetry, and adaptations of classic literary works.
Part 1, "Materials," provides print and online resources for studying Atwood's works. Part 2, "Approaches," addresses classes from high school through the graduate level at community colleges, HBCUs, and other institutions. The essays propose engaging activities for courses focused on environmental literature, crime and justice, women's studies, leadership, creative writing, world literature, and Canadian literature.
This volume contains discussion of Atwood's books, including Dearly, The Testaments, The Complete Angel Catbird, Hag-Seed, The Year of the Flood, The Penelopiad, Oryx and Crake, The Blind Assassin, Alias Grace, Cat's Eye, and The Handmaid's Tale.
Acknowledgements
Introduction: Margaret Atwood, More Relevant Than Ever, by Lauren Rule
Maxwell
PART ONE: MATERIALS
Atwood's Writings
Translations and Adaptations
Literary Criticism
Other Resources
Atwood's Works to Date
PART TWO: APPROACHES
Atwood in the Digital Age
Teaching Oryx and Crake in a Science and Literature Course during a Pandemic,
by Justin Omar Johnston
Teaching The Handmaid's Tale to Generation Z, by Olivia A. Guillet
"Under His Eye": Atwood and Surveillance, by Amanda Licastro
Fostering Ecological Understanding
Considering Nonhuman Animals in World Literature: The Complete Angel Catbird,
by Danette DiMarco
Lessons in Teaching and Living The Year of the Flood, by Shoshannah Ganz
Song That "Goes On Calling": Teaching Atwood's Poetry, by Lauren Rule
Maxwell
Cross-Disciplinary Applications
Testimony, Truth, and Judgment in Alias Grace, by Melissa J. Ganz
Race and Reproductive Rights in The Handmaid's Tale, by Rebecca S. Dixon
Teaching The Blind Assassin as a Representative Atwood Novel, by Theodore F.
Sheckels
Messages and Message-Bearers: Teaching Atwood's Fiction in the Creative
Writing Workshop, by Patrick Thomas Henry
Intertextual Analysis and Adaptation Theory
The Value of Atwood's Adaptations for Twenty-First-Century Students, by
Melissa M. Caldwell
Teaching The Handmaid's Tale in Adaptation, by Katherine V. Snyder
Atwood's Canadian Shakespeare: Allusions and Intertextuality in Cat's Eye and
Hag-Seed, by Heidi Tiedemann Darroch
Sea Changes: Hag-Seed, Shakespearean Adaptation, and Prison Representation,
by Gina Hausknecht
Fostering Critical Thinking
Rethinking Archetypes in the High School Classroom with The Penelopiad, by
Marguerite Raymond
Retracing Homer's Odyssey (Differently): Teaching The Penelopiad in the
Two-Year College, by Lisa Tyler
Cadets Weaving Connections: Teaching Conflict and Leadership through The
Penelopiad, by Katja Pilhuj
The Handmaid's Tale Today
Reproductive Ransom and Self-Recovery: Mothering in The Handmaid's Tale and
Wild Seed, by Tarshia L. Stanley
The Handmaid's Tale as Campus Book Pick: Dystopia, Dominance Feminism, and
Satire, by Helen Thompson
Teaching The Handmaid's Tale and The Testaments through the Theoretical
Zeitgeist, by Debrah Raschke
Notes on Contributors
Survey Respondents
Works Cited
