Bluebeard's Egg - Hardcover

Atwood, Margaret

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0771008082 ISBN 13: 9780771008085

Publisher: McCelland & Stewart, 1983

Synopsis

In this acclaimed collection of twelve stories, Margaret Atwood probes the territory of childhood memories and the casual cruelty men and women inflict upon each other and themselves. She looks behind the familiar world of family summers at remote lakes, ordinary lives, and unexpected loves, and she unearths profound truths. A melancholy, teenage love is swept away by a Canadian hurricane, while a tired, middle-aged affection is rekindled by the spectacle of rare Jamaican birds; a potter tries to come to terms with the group of poets who so smother her that she is driven into the arms of her accountant; and, in the title story, the Bluebeard legend is retold as an ironic tale of marital deception. Stark and scathing at times, humorous and compassionate at others, "Bluebeard"'"s Egg" confirms once again Atwood's reputation as the pre-eminent chronicler of our times.

About this title

About the Author

Margaret Atwood was born in Ottawa in 1939, and grew up in northern Quebec and Ontario, and later in Toronto. She has lived in numerous cities in Canada, the U.S., and Europe. She is the author of more than thirty books - novels, short stories, poetry, literary criticism, social history, and books for children. Atwood's work is acclaimed internationally and has been published around the world. Her novels include "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Cat's Eye" - both shortlisted for the Booker Prize; "The Robber Bride"; "Alias Grace," winner of the prestigious Giller Prize in Canada and the Premio Mondello in Italy, and a finalist for the Booker Prize, the Orange Prize, and the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award; and "The Blind Assassin," winner of the Booker Prize and a finalist for the International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. Her new novel is "Oryx and Crake" (2003). She is the recipient of numerous honours, such as "The Sunday Times" Award for Literary Excellence in the U.K., the National Arts Club Medal of Honor for Literature in the U.S., Le Chevalier dans l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres in France, and she was the first winner of the London Literary Prize. She has received honorary degrees from universities across Canada, and one from Oxford University in England. Margaret Atwood lives in Toronto with novelist Graeme Gibson. "From the Hardcover edition."

From the Inside Flap

The Bookcassette® format is a special recording technique developed as a means of condensing the full, unabridged audio text of a book to record it on fewer tapes. In order to listen to these tapes, you will need a cassette player with balance control to adjust left/right speaker output. Special adaptors to allow these tapes to be played on any cassette player are available through the publisher or some US retail electronics stores.

Reviews

"Conversations in our family were not about feelings," recalls the teenage narrator of "Hurricane Hazel"about her breakup with a boyfriend who "meant what is usually called absolutely nothing to me"in Atwood's (The Handmaid's Tale, etc.) second collection of shortfiction. Unfortunately, the author's arch cleverness and cool understatementanesthetize the impact of the stories' conversations and gloomy relationshipsbetween parents and children, husbands and wives, friends and lovers. Symbols abound and some, reminiscent of Atwood's "edible woman" cake in the book of the same title, are strained. In "Uglypuss," the discordant lovers are political activists; at one point they plan to picket a sock company and dramatize the crucifixion, portraying Christ as a large knitted sock, in red and white stripes. But the collection is somewhat redeemed by the affecting title story, where an egga deceptively innocuous object that, according to the legend, ultimately marks as disobedient two of Bluebeard's unfortunate wivesaptly symbolizes the protagonist's premonitions of doom about her marriage to a man she is desperately afraid of losing, although she describes him as obtuse, blundering and predictable.
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

This collection of Atwood short stories is peopled by observant, sensitive souls who yearn to make connections but almost always come up short. The stories are all intimately interior, exploring the secret places all of us harbor that ultimately isolate one from another. We meet characters with heightened self-awareness but not enough self-knowledge to attain what they most want. Hurren doesn't attempt to give distinctive voice to these people, but she infuses each with intelligence and perception. Her reading is silken, keeping attention on Atwood's lyrical description and surprising insightfulness. M.O. © AudioFile 2001, Portland, Maine-- Copyright © AudioFile, Portland, Maine

This excellent book of short stories by one of Canada's best-known authors glitters with vivid characterizations and examples of finely crafted story telling. Atwood's dramatic range is impressive. She opens with humorous, gently satirical stories about childhood and adolescence. Her title story skillfully portrays a woman's fear and grief as she begins to question her husband's faithfulness and her own perceptions, while other stories show the despair of characters who are trying to salvage lost relationships or to establish new ones. Many of these stories have the pacing and tone of spoken tales, stories told on front porches or repeated between mothers and daughters. This entertaining book by a gifted writer is highly recommended. Lucinda Ann Peck, Learning Design Assocs . , Gahanna, Ohio
Copyright 1986 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Edition details

• Publisher: McCelland & Stewart
• Publication date: 1983
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0771008082
• ISBN 13: 9780771008085
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 285