Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian Literature [Signed 1st Printing/1st State]

Atwood, Margaret

ISBN 10: 0887847137 / ISBN 13: 9780887847134

Published by Anansi, Toronto, 1972

About this Item

1st printing of the first Canadian hardcover edition SIGNED by Atwood on the title page with a black ballpoint pen. This is the scarce first state printed by Web Offset Limited in 1972 and with no review blurbs on the back panel of the jacket. The 2nd issue printed by T.H. Best is more commonly found. Collectors consider Survival to be a companion piece to Atwood's first novel, Surfacing, which was published in the same year (Toronto: McClelland & Stewart, 1972). That's because the novel illustrates some of the themes she discusses in Survival. A well-preserved copy, this example of Survival is square and tight with sharp corners and bears no previous owner's markings. Ghost of pencil erasure at top edge of ffep. Tanning to the page edges typical of this edition. The jacket is not priced, as issued. A few scuffs to the black front panel. There is a short tear to the spine of the jacket which has resulted in minor loss of paper. There is a tear and associated creases in the bottom corner of the front panel, and a previous owner has reinforced the inside of the jacket at that point with a short piece of scotch tape. Typical wear to the heel and crown of the jacket's spine, and there is wear and softening of the bottom edge of the back panel. In the Preface, Atwood writes that the book "outlines a number of key patterns" in an effort to distinguish Canadian literature from other literatures. Canadian orders will be charged GST. Bookseller Inventory # 001976

Bibliographic Details

Title: Survival: A Thematic Guide to Canadian ...

Publisher: Anansi, Toronto

Publication Date: 1972

Binding: Hardcover

Book Condition: Near Fine

Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First Edition

About this title

Synopsis:

When first published in 1972, Survival was considered the most startling book ever written about Canadian literature. Since then, it has continued to be read and taught, and it continues to shape the way Canadians look at themselves. Distinguished, provocative, and written in effervescent, compulsively readable prose, Survival is simultaneously a book of criticism, a manifesto, and a collection of personal and subversive remarks. Margaret Atwood begins by asking: â What have been the central preoccupations of our poetry and fiction?â Her answer is â survival and victims.â

Atwood applies this thesis in twelve brilliant, witty, and impassioned chapters; from Moodie to MacLennan to Blais, from Pratt to Purdy to Gibson, she lights up familiar books in wholly new perspectives.

From the Back Cover:

It’s a terrific book, enraging, alive–and I wish someone would give it to every continentalist in the Cabinet and every smug academic in all the cosy common rooms across this colonized land.”
–Christina Newman, Maclean’s

“Survival is a fine example of what happens when a first-rate intelligence takes on a task usually carried out by literary morons.”
–George Woodcock, Vancouver Sun

“...the most important book that has come out of this country.”
–Phyllis Grosskurth, Globe and Mail