Approaches to Teaching the Works of Margaret Atwood by Maxwell, Lauren Rule;

Short description:

Exploring diverse texts amid climate change, pandemics, and struggles over rights, the essays offer innovative approaches for teaching a broad literary oeuvre. Designed for classrooms from high school to graduate studies, the strategies blend speculative, historical, and poetic narratives with engaging real-world applications.

Long description:

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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.

Table of Contents:

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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