By Megan Thomas
I was excited to read this collection of Margaret Atwood’s essays and occasional pieces written between 2004 and 2022, after attending an event at The Southbank Centre in London where she discussed the new publication… In 2022. It’s taken me a while, but better late than never?
Collections like this can be a challenging read if consuming cover to cover, so I chose to only read a couple at a time, so as not to accidentally draw false equivalencies. That said, reading multiple pieces from the same eras and decades of her life was really interesting, as there were obvious themes that had varying degrees of importance to her.
Throughout her life, it seems she has only troubled herself with the most burning questions. What is the nature of art? Is it all meaningless if we don’t focus on the devastating effects of global warming? Throughout history, who has had a voice and why? What is free speech? Why does it matter? Born in 1939, an entomologist’s daughter, lived in West Berlin in 1984… Atwood’s life experience makes her one of the very best people to be answering – or rather, discussing – these questions.
There is no denying how relevant all of these opinions and musings she holds have influenced her speculative fiction, and in many of the pieces included, she is discussing her novels and how they tie in with whatever topic is in question. After this window into her mind, how it works and what she truly cares about, I’m even more excited than ever to continue working my way through her fiction.
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