Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls
This article analyses Margaret Atwood’s 1977 short story collection, Dancing Girls, looking at the evolution of forms of anxiety in the different texts, shifting as they do from individual, or self-directed anxiety, to more community-minded, altruistic forms. The article offers a close reading of so...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)
2010-09-01
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| Series: | E-REA |
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| Online Access: | https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1302 |
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| author | Jennifer MURRAY |
| author_facet | Jennifer MURRAY |
| author_sort | Jennifer MURRAY |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This article analyses Margaret Atwood’s 1977 short story collection, Dancing Girls, looking at the evolution of forms of anxiety in the different texts, shifting as they do from individual, or self-directed anxiety, to more community-minded, altruistic forms. The article offers a close reading of some of the individual stories, showing how they contribute to an overall logic related (primarily, but not solely) to male-female relations in the 1960s and 1970s. In spite of the promises of sexual and self liberation of the period, an underlying sense of emptiness, often experienced as impending danger, is perceptible and takes shape within Atwood’s stories as fantasies of violence or victimization, and appears in figures related to gothic imagery and doubleness. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-13e6f1ce98674b45b9b0ad5dbccd2cb3 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 1638-1718 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2010-09-01 |
| publisher | Laboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | E-REA |
| spelling | doaj-art-13e6f1ce98674b45b9b0ad5dbccd2cb32025-01-09T12:53:59ZengLaboratoire d’Etudes et de Recherches sur le Monde Anglophone (LERMA)E-REA1638-17182010-09-018110.4000/erea.1302Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing GirlsJennifer MURRAYThis article analyses Margaret Atwood’s 1977 short story collection, Dancing Girls, looking at the evolution of forms of anxiety in the different texts, shifting as they do from individual, or self-directed anxiety, to more community-minded, altruistic forms. The article offers a close reading of some of the individual stories, showing how they contribute to an overall logic related (primarily, but not solely) to male-female relations in the 1960s and 1970s. In spite of the promises of sexual and self liberation of the period, an underlying sense of emptiness, often experienced as impending danger, is perceptible and takes shape within Atwood’s stories as fantasies of violence or victimization, and appears in figures related to gothic imagery and doubleness.https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1302violenceMargaret AtwoodDancing Girlsanxietypostmodernshort story language |
| spellingShingle | Jennifer MURRAY Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls E-REA violence Margaret Atwood Dancing Girls anxiety postmodern short story language |
| title | Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls |
| title_full | Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls |
| title_fullStr | Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls |
| title_full_unstemmed | Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls |
| title_short | Love and Anxiety in the Early Postmodern World of Margaret Atwood’s Dancing Girls |
| title_sort | love and anxiety in the early postmodern world of margaret atwood s dancing girls |
| topic | violence Margaret Atwood Dancing Girls anxiety postmodern short story language |
| url | https://journals.openedition.org/erea/1302 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT jennifermurray loveandanxietyintheearlypostmodernworldofmargaretatwoodsdancinggirls |