The Artistic Techniques In Margaret Atwood's Early Fiction

Margaret Atwood (1939 —), universally acknowledged as the most prominent writer in contemporary Canadian literature, is an outstanding poet, novelist and literary critic. She creates a series of fiction under the great influence of her early poetry both on the themes and artistic techniques. Her works fully reflect the indelible effect from the new criticism, which has flourished in the mid-20^th century. Atwood's unique writing style becomes one of the important reasons that she is able to enjoy such a high reputation in the world.The thesis is made up of three parts. I attempt to make a preliminary analysis and summary of Atwood's remarkable artistic techniques through the close reading of her works The Edible Woman (1969), Surfacing (1972) and Life Before Man (1979). All have been produced in the early years of her career. The first section consists of a brief introduction to the author, a simple summary of the three novels' plots, and the developing tendency of western literary criticism in the first half of the 20^th century.The second part focuses on the concrete analysis of this female writer's superb craftsmanship from the following aspects: (1) the proper combination of narrative impersonality and work's morality; (2) metaphorical language and paradoxical structure; (3) exquisite allusions.In the last part, Atwood's ingeniously artistic techniques are summarized on the basis of the previous discussions. She forms her artistic style mainly through making innovative changes while absorbing the quintessence from the literary predecessors. Her writing ideas and patterns have exerted great influence on modern literature. Besides, the significance of probing Atwood's creating skills to the overall study of this female artist is emphasized once again.