Atwood takes her revenge

26 August 2014 - 02:00 By ©The Daily Telegraph
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Margaret Atwood is a feminist writer of science fiction who has distanced herself from both feminism and science fiction.

It is not surprising to find the stories in her new book dramatising questions of gender and genre, although that's rather a dry way to describe a collection rich in sly humour and pulpy thrills.

In the first story, fantasy writer Constance reflects on widowhood through an affair she had in Toronto in the 1960s with Gavin, a poet who belittled her work even as it funded his lifestyle. Another story shows Gavin, old and ill, meeting a researcher to discuss his poems, but who really wants to know which character he inspired in Constance's fictional universe, Alphinland.

Botched attempts at one-upmanship fuel much of the comedy. When Gavin's latest wife tells Constance her book group only reads serious novels ("right now they're tackling Bolaño"), she spoils the pose by adding that she's preparing a themed snack of tortillas for its next meeting.

Atwood isn't just poking fun at petty literary politics here; she's participating in them. But if she seems to imply that some readers aren't the right kind, her dedication to entertainment saves her from accusations of snobbishness. Witness the title story's first line: "At the outset Verna had not intended to kill anyone."

The tone varies, from the melancholy testimony of an outcast daughter whose parents fake her death, to a jolly anecdote about a cancer victim who stole her friends' lovers and has now returned to life as a dog. What Atwood most favours are madcap B-movie scenarios. A drug-running antique dealer, prone to erotic daydreams about his own autopsy, discovers a freeze-dried corpse in a storage unit; the author of a hit horror novel plots to murder the flatmates who bought shares in his unfinished manuscript when he couldn't afford the rent.

It's hard not to notice that the one male character who isn't a sleaze is also gay. Fecklessness and infidelity are a given: when Atwood writes from a man's point of view, it's usually so she can hang him out to dry.

Comic cameos from overzealous readers (Freudian scholars, fantasy fans in fancy dress) mock the notion that an author's work reflects his or her life. At the same time, the stories tend to portray writing as an act of revenge, as when Constance puts a one-time love rival in Alphinland, "immobilised by runic spells inside a stone beehive". But words are only words, as Atwood seems to know.

The title is from a story about a woman raped at 14 by a man she meets again 50 years later on a cruise. Her revenge? A rock to the skull.

  • 'Stone Mattress' (McClelland & Stewart) at Exclusive Books for R380 (hardcover)
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