Date sent: 27-MAR-1997 19:40:58
I've re-read "Woman on the Edge of Time" fairly recently, and although it
is dated in some respects, it isn't in others--the attention to class and
race, for one thing. And I still find the utopian world fairly appealing,
although not v. likely. I'm less taken with "He, She and It." Yes, a nice
reworking of the Golem story, but I thought the characterizations were
rather thin.
I agree w. Nicola's comment about the snobbishness of publishers. This is
true not only where SF is concerned. There are plenty of writers out there
who write for both children and for adults, but publishers shudder at
mentioning juvenile publications on the jacket of an adult book. The fear
is, I suppose, that adults will not buy anything by a "children's" author.
So I guess "real literary folks" won't buy stuff from someone who is an SF
author?
And they may be right about this. I'm thinking of Atwood and my colleagues'
reponses to her. (We have a BIG Canadian studies dept here, being only 15
miles from the border). To a person they HATE "Handmaid's Tale", seeing it
as being propagandistic and non-literary. In fact, although "Cat's Eye" and
"Surfacing" get taught pretty frequently around here in Canadian Lit
classes (as do many of her wonderful short stories), "HT" gets taught by
those of us teaching women's studies courses. I don't think Atwood would
have the reputation she does today if she'd started with "HT" and gotten
herself branded as a writer of speculative fiction.
Daphne
M.Daphne Kutzer
Professor of English
State University of New York "A word after a word after
Plattsburgh, NY 12901 A word is power."
voicemail: 518-564-2427 (Margaret Atwood)
fax: 518-564-2140
email: kutzerdm@splava.cc.plattsburgh.edu
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