Bluebeard S Egg

By turns humorous and warm, stark and frightening, Bluebeard's Egg infuses a Canada of the 1940s, '50s and '80s with glowing childhood memories, the harsh realities of parents growing old, and the casual cruelty that men and women inflict on each other. Here is the familiar outer world of family summers at remote lakes, winters of political activism, and seasons of exotic friends, mudane lives and unexpected loves. But here too is the inner world of hidden places and all that emerges from them—the intimately personal, the fantastic and the shockingly real...whether it's what lies in a mysterious locked room or in the secret feelings we all conceal.

Postmodern revisions of fairy tales have influenced several discourses and disciplines especially during the second half of the twentieth century. In particular, during the course of postmodernism, the rewriting of classic fairy tales has contributed to the subversion of their stereotypical structures, thus advancing alternative re-readings. This work offers an investigation into gender discourse in two postmodern re-writings of Bluebeard, namely Margaret Atwood’s “Bluebeard’s Egg” and Shirley Hazzard’s The Transit of Venus, especially focusing on male/queer perspectives that have not yet been taken into consideration. Starting from an overview on the diverse conceptualisations of the terms “gender” and “sexuality” in modern and contemporary times, this book analyses the birth and evolution of male studies and, subsequently, explores the ways in which they have influenced the interpretation of classical tales. By means of an intertwined and shifting process, which enables the characters of these contemporary revisions to “disguise” their identities within the pages and beyond their texts, the figure of Bluebeard reveals himself as the “in-between” pattern for contemporary gender conceptualisations.

Bluebeard is the main character in one of the grisliest and most enduring fairy tales. A serial wife murderer, he keeps a horror chamber in which remains of all his previous matrimonial victims are secreted from his latest bride. She is given all the keys but forbidden to open one door of the castle. This is a major study of the tale and its many variants in English: from the 18th and 19th century chapbooks, children's toybooks, pantomimes, melodramas, and circus spectaculars, to the 20th century in music, literature, art, film, and theatre.

Novelist, poet, cultural critic, Margaret Atwood is one of the most fascinating, versatile, and productive authors of our time, a superb writer in any genre she chooses to tackle. This book was prepared on the occasion of Atwood's sixtieth birthday in November 1999. Its first aim is therefore to take stock of Atwood's multifarious works and international impact at the height of her creative powers. Secondly, the book serves as a wide-ranging introduction to the writer and her works. Fifteen informative articles written specifically for this volume by Atwood specialists from Canada, the USA, the UK, Germany, and France treat her life and status, her works (up-to-date survey articles on Atwood's novels, short fiction, poetry, and literary and cultural criticism), and important approaches to her works (from the standpoints of gender politics, mythology, ecology, popular culture, constructivism, and Canadian nationalism). A final section on creativity, transmission, and reception includes an interview with Atwood on creativity, statements by some of Atwood's important transmitters, including publishers, editors, literary agents, and translators, and some 15 statements by Atwood's fellow writers, in which they explore her importance for them. A number of photographs of Atwood, several cartoons drawn by her, an up-to-date bibliography of works by and about Atwood, and an index round out the volume. Reingard M. Nischik is Professor of American literature at the University of Konstanz, Germany.

Maria Tatar analyses the many forms the tale of Bluebeard's wife has taken over time, showing how artists have taken the Bluebeard theme and revived it with their own signature twists.

A splendid collection of short stories from the author of the New York Times bestselling novel The Handmaid’s Tale—the inspiration behind the award-winning Hulu original series. Margaret Atwood brings her singular voice to this unforgettable volume of short stories filled with rare intensity and exceptional intelligence. With brilliant flashes of fantasy, humor, and unexpected violence, the stories reveal the complexities of human relationships and bring to life characters who touch us deeply, evoking terror, laughter, compassion and recognition—and dramatically demonstrate why Margaret Atwood is one of the most important writers in English today.

First published in 1983, Murder in the Dark is Margaret Atwood's seventh work of fiction or her tenth book of poetry, depending on how you slice it. These short prose forms range from fictionalized autobiography through prose-poetry, mini-romance, and mini–science fiction. A feast of comic entertainment, Murder in the Dark is Atwood at her wittiest, most thoughtful, and most provoking.