Atwood to present annual Conarroe Lecture

Prolific author Margaret Atwood will be on Davidson’s campus on Thursday to deliver the annual Joel A. Conarroe lecture. The Canadian author has written more than thirty-five published works including volumes of poetry, children’s literature, fiction and non-fiction.
Atwood is perhaps best known for her many novels, which include The Edible Woman, The Handmaid’s Tale, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace and The Blind Assassin. Atwood has won numerous awards and been presented with several honorary degrees during her writing career, including the Booker Prize in 2000 for her novel, The Blind Assassin.
Atwood’s works have been published in more than forty languages including Farsi, Japanese, Turkish, Finnish, Korean, Icelandic and Estonian.
She is currently working on the third novel of her Maddaddam trilogy, which includes the novels Oryx and Crake and her most recent work, The Year of the Flood.
Atwood refers to these novels as speculative fiction, meaning that they envision a possible future for our world. In other words, they are speculation on the path that humanity is currently embarked upon.
The trilogy surrounds the aftermath of careless genetic engineering that leads to the destruction of most of the human species. The few remaining humans must struggle to survive after the collapse of civilization while outwitting the genetically modified animals inhabiting the land. The trilogy offers a cautionary tale for current scientific exploration as well as an intriguing blend of nature, science and religion.
Last Monday evening, the Department of English presented an Interdisciplinary Panel on Atwood’s The Year of the Flood. Moderated by English Professor and Environmental Studies Director Annie Ingram, the panel included English Professor Elizabeth Mills, Biology Professor Mark Stanback, Religion Professor Greg Snyder and Political Science Professor Mary Thornberry.
Each panel member offered their individual thoughts on the novel from the perspective of their own discipline. For example, Dr. Stanback explored the effectiveness of science and technology in the novel while Dr. Snyder discussed the religious implications of Atwood’s novel. The discussion was then opened up to questions and comments from the audience. The unique interdisciplinary aspect of the panel reflects the diverse themes of The Year of the Flood and set the stage for Atwood’s visit.
English Professor Elizabeth Mills is currently teaching an upper level English seminar on Atwood. The class is reading twelve works by Atwood over the course of the semester. The class is fortunate enough share lunch and discussion with Atwood prior to her lecture.
Margaret Atwood will present the Conarroe lecture on Thursday evening in the Duke Family Performance Hall. Tickets are free, but required. A book signing and reception will follow the lecture.
 

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1 comments

Anonymous

Sat Feb 27 2010 14:15

The article on Margaret Atwood by Sarah Beth Keyser,demonstrates how Davidson professors work together to provide a quality education to the students of Davidson College. I send praises to Dr. Elizabeth Mills and the rest of the faculty and students for the outstanding work you do at Davidson!

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