(10) MARGARET ATWOOD –

OLD BABES IN THE WOOD (2023)

“I’m the plot, babe, and don’t ever forget it.”

Yes – that’s from her story collection Good Bones but it’s my favorite Margaret Atwood, voicing the evil stepmother in fairy tales, and in a way encapsulates all her writing, both fiction and non-fiction.

Otherwise, Margaret Atwood needs little introduction as an icon of modern literature – a Canadian poet, novelist, essayist and critic (among other things). One might have anticipated that I would feature one of her novels as my top 10 entry here – with The Handmaid’s Tale as perhaps her best known – but I was introduced to her through her short story collections, indeed through Good Bones. However, I went with her 2023 collection Old Babes in the Woods for my usual tenth place wildcard entry from the present or previous year – and Atwood never loses her shine in her story collections.

She does however show her age in this collection – not in her mastery of form or style of course but in subject matter. As The Guardian reviewed it, “most of the characters in Margaret Atwood’s latest book are old or headed that way, and their stories unwrap what T.S. Eliot called the gifts of age. There are chips and fragments of lives, full of sass and sadness”.  The standout for me was “My Evil Mother” – a vignette or series of vignettes narrated by a woman about her mother who may or may not have been a witch. There’s just something about the way that Atwood plays with fairytale stereotypes of witches or evil (step)mothers.

She deserves her own Top 10 or indeed two of them, one for her shorter works featured in collections such as this, and one for her longer works I have enjoyed as well. But her poetic style perhaps shines brightest in her shorter works.

POETRY (DRAMA & ESSAYS)

Yes – she writes poetry, so earns my poetry ranking. It’s good too although her lyrical writing style walks the line with poetry even in her prose – very evocative, whether fiction or writing in the style of essays.

She also writes in a style that is easy to imagine as drama or plays on occasion – and indeed her work has been adapted to screen, again with the most famous (and visually iconic) being The Handmaid’s Tale.

She also writes actual essays, although her short pieces often straddle the line between story and essay but in the most engaging way for both.

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

Speaking of The Handmaid’s Tale, some might say she wandered in here from the science fiction section, particularly for that novel – one of the most famous SF dystopias up there with 1984 and Brave New World. Atwood herself resisted the suggestion it was science fiction, although recently she’s embraced her inner fantasy nerd and the science fiction label to some degree, including in some stories in her latest book. She’s even written graphic novels! So she gets my fantasy & SF ranking as well.

As for comedy, she does have a certain black or dry comedy about her but I wouldn’t really rank her as a comedic writer.

RATING: 4 STARS****
A-TIER (TOP TIER)

Limestone tablet from Sumer with pictographic writing; may be the earliest known writing, 3500 BC. Ashmolean Museum – a real page-turner

Exactly what it says on the tin – counting down my Top 10 Literature, by author and literary work.

But what is literature?

By its widest definition, literature is any written work but this top ten follows the narrower definition of written fiction or “writing considered to be an art form, especially novels, plays and poems”. After all, I have my separate top ten lists for books in mythology, history, and philosophy or science.

POETRY (DRAMA)

And as usual, I make my own rules and break them anyway, following the vibe. I also have my Top 10 Poetry, so I tend to rank poetic literature there but the distinction between poetic and prose literature can be fuzzy, particularly as some authors alternate between the two, often in the same work. Accordingly, I will include a poetry ranking in entries.

On the other hand, I also tend to focus almost exclusively on novels or short stories in my literature rankings. In other words – not plays or drama, although they do pop up on occasion. Accordingly, I’ll note them when they do, including any notable adaptations on stage or screen.

Also, it’s not all literary fiction either – that is, novels or stories. Some of my favorite literary writing is in the form of essays and observational humor or comedy, although as with poetry, the distinction between literary fiction and non-fiction can be fuzzy, again with some authors alternating between them, often in the same work. So again I’ll include items of note here in the category of essays as broadly understood.

FANTASY & SF (COMEDY)

As I also have my Top 10 Fantasy and Top 10 SF lists, I tend to reserve my Top 10 Literature for non-fantasy or non-SF literary fiction.

However, such distinctions of genre are also notoriously fuzzy and some of these works might be argued to have wandered in here from the fantasy or SF sections. Such is the nature of fiction and imagination, both of which have elements of fantasy at their core, but it’s also because I tend to lean towards fantasy as a genre in written fiction.

Not to mention comedy, which also looms large in my favorite literary fiction – and much the same argument might be made for elements of comedy also being at the core of fiction and imagination.

Accordingly, I will include a fantasy & SF ranking in my entries, in which I’ll also include comedy rankings.