Survival A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature

When first published in 1972,Survivalwas 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, as well as a new introduction by poet Dennis Lee, who originally commissioned Atwood to write the book.

Margaret Atwood: Margaret Atwood is one of the world's preeminent writers -- winner of the Booker Prize, the Scotiabank Giller Prize, and the Governor General's Literary Award. She lives in Toronto.