In Other Worlds: SF + The Human Imagination

A delight to discover that Margaret Atwood had published a work by this name, learned only when reading The Testaments recently — despite it having been published a decade prior. In Other Worlds is a collection of Atwood pieces, with the first part of the book being the strongest. Here are transcripts of three lectures given by her on the broad topic of science fiction, charting her interest in the genre, the difficulty of defining exactly what the term means, its literary antecedents and its purpose as a device in her fiction. Much of what she writes accords with my views on these topics. Everything Atwood writes that could be considered as 'science fiction' exists in some fashion in the current world. Part of her 'purpose' behind writing The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake, and The Year of the Flood is also explained. The remaining sections of SF comprise her reviews of other works in the genre (I am keen to try H. Rider Haggard's She) and a few short stories. Overall, my esteem for Atwood only rises. N/R.

By Margaret Atwood