Sarah Ditum

Margaret Atwood seems embarrassed by the sheer volume of her output

So perhaps it was unnecessary to publish her latest occasional pieces, which, detached from their original purpose, are left awkwardly adrift

Margaret Atwood in October last year. Credit: Getty Images 
issue 26 February 2022

Margaret Atwood is among the major writers of English fiction of our time. This is a very boring way to start a review, but it is true. Atwood, now 82, is prize-winning, popular and prolific. She’s won two Bookers. Several of her books have attained totemic status with readers, most obviously the reproductive dystopia of The Handmaid’s Tale, but also Cat’s Eye, for its steely portrayal of girlhood cruelty, and The Blind Assassin, which combines feminist grit with genre-straddling swagger.

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