Words of the Worlds in Atwood’s Trilogy

Year 2024, Issue: 3, 1 - 7, 22.01.2024

Müge Gençoğlan

Abstract

This article examines Margaret Atwood’s trilogy, comprising Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, and MaddAddam, through the lens of ecologically oriented postmodern thought and aims to reveal that the
trilogy encompasses both textualist and realist orientations. The primary focus is to underline Atwood’s unconventional choice of placing language and its related concepts at the heart of her speculative fiction and demonstrate that she uses its dual role as a tool for both postmodern manipulation and ecocritical awareness regarding our perception of realities. The trilogy navigates scientific, environmental, and literary themes and shifts the focus from facts to narratives emphasising the centrality of language and ultimately underscoring the significance of stories in discovering and shaping our worldview. Embracing an ecocritical postmodern stance, Atwood’s trilogy underlines the need for a re-evaluation of nature/culture and human/nonhuman dichotomies and a reconstructive approach to adopt in the intricate process of meaning making.

Keywords

postmodern, ecocriticism, science fiction, language, narrativity, Atwood, Oryx and Crake, The Year of the Flood, Maddaddam

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• ———. The Year of the Flood. London: Virago Press, 2010.
• ———. MaddAddam. London: Virago Press, 2014.
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