Abstract
Atwood’s ironising of women’s Gothic Romance fiction makes Lady Oracle a compelling and unsettling novel. Writing within and against the limits of the genre, exploiting and challenging its norms, she interrogates its stereotypes of womanhood as she explores the compensatory function of so-called escapist literature. As Lady Oracle reworks older fictional forms — the Gothic, the sentimental novel, the picaresque and fairy tales — it becomes the locus where a plurality of styles and traditions are revisited. Such a medley probes notions of unity in generic classification to subvert conventional hierarchies, dismantling their conventional iconographies. Lady Oracle also interrogates the notion of unity in terms of attitude to subjectivity and ‘character’. By refracting the identity of her protagonist through a plethora of projected personae, At wood emphasises the liberating aspects of a multiple, plural subjectivity, with the text withholding judgement on a range of issues and, by focusing on the fractured self of a polymorphic protagonist, endorses process and change. Deconstructing the homogeneous ego, Lady Oracle yields a gendered vision wherein the figure of woman assumes a multiplicity of roles and positions.
Do I contradict myself?
Very well then I contradict myself,
I am large, contain multitudes.
Walt Whitman, Song of the Open Road, I.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Preview
Unable to display preview. Download preview PDF.
Notes
G. Gibson, ‘Interview with Margaret Atwood’, in Eleven Canadian Writers Resolution: Global (Toronto, 1973).
L. Fielder, ‘The Death and Rebirths of the Novel’; ‘Response: American Fiction’, Salmagundi, vol. 50–1 (1980) pp. 142–52; 153–71.
F. Sharpshott, ‘The Last Word in Criticism’, Transactions of the Royal Society of Canada Resolution: Global (1982), pp. 117–28.
C. Guillen, Literature as a System Resolution: Global (Princetown, N. J., 1971) pp. 386; 12. A reading of the novel in terms of only one genre, such as the Picaresque (L. Freibert, ‘The Artist as Picaro’, Canadian Literature, vol. 92 (Spring 1982) pp. 23–33), does not account for the implications of the contamination within genres that is present in Lady Oracle. Undoubtedly, certain elements of the Picaresque do appear in the novel, the most evident being that of the artist as a trickster, but on the whole the novel defies generic classifications (C. Guillen, ‘Toward a Definition of the Picaresque’, in Guillen, Literature as a System, pp. 71–106).
Margaret Atwood, Lady Oracle Resolution: Global (London, 1982) p. 226. Further references to this edition are given in the text.
M. Atwood, ‘Superwoman Drawn and Quartered: the Early form of She’ (1965), in Second Words Resolution: Global (Toronto, 1982) pp. 35–54, esp. p. 54.
M. Bakhtin, The Dialogic Imagination, trans. C. Emerson and M. Holquist Resolution: Global (London, 1981) pp. 315, 364.
M. Atwood, interview with J. Struthers, Essays in Canadian Writing, vol. 6 (Spring 1977) pp. 18–27, esp. p. 19
M. Rose, Parody/Metafiction Resolution: Global (London, 1979) p. 72.
A. Light, ‘Returning to Manderley — Romance Fiction, Female Sexuality and Class’, Feminist Review, vol. 16 Resolution: Global (Summer 1984) pp. 7–25.
J. Batsler, ‘Pulp in the Pink’, Spare Rib, no. 109 (1981) pp. 51–5.
Rosalind Coward, Female Desire Resolution: Global (London, 1984) p. 194.
T. Modleski, Loving with a Vengeance: Mass-produced Fantasies for Women Resolution: Global (Handen, Conn., 1982) p. 37.
A. Jones, ‘Mills & Boon Meets Feminism’, in J. Radford (ed.), The Progress of Romance: The Politics of Popular Fiction Resolution: Global (London, 1986) pp. 195–220, esp. p. 200.
Janice Radway, Reading the Romance Resolution: Global (London, 1984).
R. Dyer, ‘Entertainment and Utopia’, in R. Altaian (ed.), Genre: The Musical, A Reader Resolution: Global (London, 1981) pp. 175–89, esp. p. 177.
L. Sandier, ‘Interview with Margaret Atwood’, Malahat Review, vol. 61 (January 1977) pp. 7–26, esp. p. 16.
Stuart Hall, ‘Notes on Deconstructing the Popular’, in R. Samuel (ed.), People’s History and Socialist Theory Resolution: Global (London, 1981) pp. 227–40.
Michael Bakhtin, Rabelais and his World, trans. M. Iswolsky Resolution: Global (Bloomington, Ind., 1984) p. 215.
R. Jackson, Fantasy: The Literature of Subversion Resolution: Global (London, 1981), p. 198.
D. Punter, The Literature of Terror Resolution: Global (London, 1980) p. 73.
Quoted by S. Grace, Violent Duality: A Study of Margaret Atwood Resolution: Global (Montreal, 1980) p. 76.
Margaret Atwood, ‘A Place: Fragments’, in The Circle Game Resolution: Global (Toronto, 1966) p. 76.
R. B. du Plessis, ‘For the Etruscans’, in E. Showalter (ed.), The New Feminist Criticism Resolution: Global (London, 1985) pp. 271–91, esp. p. 276.
T. Moi, Sexuality/Textual Politics: Feminist Literary Criticism Resolution: Global (London, 1985) p. 167.
Margaret Atwood, You Are Happy Resolution: Global (Toronto, 1974) p. 43.
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Copyright information
© 1994 Palgrave Macmillan, a division of Macmillan Publishers Limited
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Rao, E. (1994). Margaret Atwood’s Lady Oracle: Writing against Notions of Unity. In: Nicholson, C. (eds) Margaret Atwood: Writing and Subjectivity. Palgrave Macmillan, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23282-6_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-23282-6_7
Publisher Name: Palgrave Macmillan, London
Print ISBN: 978-0-333-61181-4
Online ISBN: 978-1-349-23282-6
eBook Packages: Palgrave Literature & Performing Arts CollectionLiterature, Cultural and Media Studies (R0)