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    A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake"
    A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake"
    A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake"
    Ebook56 pages46 minutes

    A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake"

    By Gale and Cengage

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    About this ebook

    A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake", excerpted from Gale's acclaimed Novels for Students series. This concise study guide includes plot summary; character analysis; author biography; study questions; historical context; suggestions for further reading; and much more. For any literature project, trust Novels for Students for all of your research needs.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherCengage Learning - Gale
    Release dateMay 2, 2016
    ISBN9781535828116
    A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake"

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      Book preview

      A study guide for Margaret Atwood's "Oryx and Crake" - Gale

      12

      Oryx and Crake

      Margaret Atwood

      2003

      Introduction

      Canadian writer Margaret Atwood's 2003 novel Oryx and Crake paints a terrifying picture of a not-so-distant future in which genetic engineering runs amok and all of human civilization lies in ruins, the victim of a deadly viral plague. Although some classify the novel as science fiction, Atwood prefers the term speculative fiction, as this term suggests that the story is rooted in ideas, concepts, and events already present in contemporary society. Indeed, the advances in bioengineering in years since the novel's publication eerily parallel some of the events in the story.

      Atwood reveals, in an essay she wrote for PMLA, that she began the novel while on a trip to Australia, the land of dreamtime. She continues, I ‘saw’ the book as I was looking over a balcony at a rare red-headed crake, during a birding expedition.

      Like many of Atwood's earlier novels, Oryx and Crake has been popular with both critics and general readers. It was shortlisted for the Man Booker Prize in 2003 and was also named a New York Times Notable Book.

      Oryx and Crake is not a book for children; readers should be aware that there are many troubling scenes depicting violence, drug use, pornography, and sex. In addition, the postapocalyptic setting is frightening. For the more mature reader, however, Oryx and Crake offers not only a look toward a horrifying future but also a biting satire of contemporary society, a heartbreaking romance, and an exciting quest story.

      Author Biography

      Atwood was born on November 18, 1939, in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, to Margaret and Carl Atwood. Her father was an entomologist who conducted research in the bush country of northern Ontario and Quebec. Consequently, Atwood and her brother spent every summer camping in the far north, returning to Toronto each year for the school year. (Her younger sister was not born until 1951.) During this time, she accompanied her father in the field, but she also spent a great deal of time reading.

      Atwood began writing seriously when she was sixteen. She attended Victoria College of the University of Toronto beginning in 1957; there, she earned an arts degree with honors in English. She published her first book of poetry, Double Persephone, in 1961, the year she graduated. Next, she attended Radcliffe College, which is associated with Harvard University, on a graduate fellowship and completed a master of arts degree in English. She began Ph.D. studies at Harvard but did not complete the degree and returned to Canada. She spent the next ten years teaching English at a variety of Canadian universities. In 1967, she married James Polk, an American. However, the marriage did not last, and the couple separated in 1972 and divorced in 1977. Atwood established a long-term relationship with the Canadian novelist Graeme Gibson in 1972, and the couple remains together. They have one daughter.

      The 1970s were good years for Atwood creatively; she published three novels (including Surfacing in 1972), a book of short stories, and five volumes of poetry. She also wrote the benchmark critical survey of Canadian literature, Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature, in 1972. In 1980, Atwood and her family moved to Toronto, where they have remained ever since.

      Throughout the next decades, Atwood proved herself to be an amazingly prolific writer, producing many well-received critical works, including novels, volumes of short stories, books of poetry, children's books, and essays. Atwood's Web site lists seventeen volumes of poetry, seven collections of short stories, thirteen novels, seven children's books, and nine book-length collections of criticism. She has also edited six

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