Margaret Atwood's Aesthetics

Perhaps more timely than ever, Margaret Atwoodâs Aesthetics offers novel perspectives on both contemporary and canonical topics in Margaret Atwoodâs work with a special focus on the intersections of literature and politics. Arguably one of the most political writers of our times, Atwoodâs oeuvre subtly and overtly entangles readers in the dialectics of personal and political power asymmetries intrinsic to her aesthetic practices. The collection takes its cue from the concept of the âartpoliticalâ as coined by Crispin Sartwell, whose afterword addresses Atwoodâs aesthetic and imaginative material world-construction and explores the interrelationship between literatures and aesthetic as well as political systems in Atwoodâs works. Individual chapters of Margaret Atwoodâs Aesthetics contribute to increasingly burning questions concerning the relevance of literature today by drawing on a variety of critical perspectives, including Anthropocene studies, gender, intersectionality, the nonhuman and the posthuman, Mikhail Bakhtinâs carnivalesque, risk studies, nationhood, intermediality, and teaching. Chapters offer fresh views on some of Atwoodâs most prominent works, such as The Handmaidâs Tale and The Testaments and their transmedial adaptations, while other chapters focus on Atwoodâs latest publications as well as on under-researched works, including her graphic novels and her web-serialized publications. Margaret Atwoodâs Aesthetics provides unique insights into the aesthetic and political power of Atwoodâs oeuvre, arguing that literary and media representations and cultural adaptation practices contain a significant transformative potential that reaches beyond the page.