Interpreting Margaret Atwood's Life Before Man

Margaret Atwood(1939- ), a prestigious contemporary Canadian woman poet, novelist, and also critic, has been crowned as "the Queen of Canadian Literature" for her diligence, prolificacy, and also for the abundant significance of her work. Since the early 1960s, she has created fifteen volumes of poetry, twelve novels, six short story collections, three books of literary criticism and many other works. Atwood has received repute from all classes owing to her original design, explicit theme, and peculiar creational skills. What's more, she has got numerous awards and honors, including two Governor General's Awards (1966, 1986).In 1979, Atwood published her fourth novel Life Before Man. Like her other novels, she still focuses on feminism, nationalism, as well as ecological and environmental problems. Besides, the eternal theme of "survival" has become the center of her novel again. Apart from that, the novel is unique in its narrative technique--multi-internal focalization. Life Before Man has received all kinds of receptions upon its publication. To us readers, we should spend more time trying to taste the novel.This dissertation will first give a brief introduction to Margaret Atwood and the novel, then tries to cover some major themes in Atwood's novels, focusing on the theme of survival in Life Before Man. Finally, it will try to approach the novel from three different angles: multi-internal focalization, feminist perspective, and post-modern techniques.