The Edible Woman Book Cover


The Edible Woman

The Edible Woman
"Ever since her engagement, the strangest thing has been happening to Marian McAlpin: she can't eat.  First meat.  Then eggs, vegetables, cake, pumpkin seeds—everything!  Worse yet, she has the crazy feeling that she's  being eaten.  Marian ought to feel consumed with passion, but she really just feels...consumed.  A brilliant and powerful work rich in irony and metaphor,  The Edible Woman is an unforgettable masterpiece by a true master of contemporary literary fiction."  —The Publisher.

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Excerpts from The Edible Woman
Extract, Ch. 1: "I know I was all right on Friday" - Virago Guides
Extract: "I had to return from lunch" - Virago
Brief Excerpts - Nascitur.com


Plot Synopses
Synopsis - Literary Encyclopedia


Book Reviews
New York Times Review, 1970
Time Magazine, 1970


Essays on The Edible Woman
You Are What You Eat: The Politics of Eating in the Novels of Margaret Atwood - Emma Parker
Anti-edibles: Capitalism and Schizophrenia in Margaret Atwood's The Edible Woman - Jennifer Hobgood
Atwood and Laurence: Poet and Novelist - Linda Hutcheon
Taming of Externals: A Linguistic Study of Character Transformation in The Edible Woman - J. Patterson
Are Women Edible? - Kenneth Hermansson
The Edible Atwood, from Page to Stage - Dave Carley


Study Guides and Miscellaneous Resources
Reader's Companion to The Edible Woman - Books@Random
Dave Carley's Play "Edible Woman"







to Margaret Atwood's Novels

to Margaret Atwood



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This page created on December 18, 2006 by Anniina Jokinen. Last updated January 3, 2007.

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Margaret Atwood's first novel, The Edible Woman, was published in 1969.
The story about a woman who cannot eat and feels as if she herself is being eaten,
was well ahead of its time in discussing eating disorders at a time when anorexia, bulimia,
etc. were not widely discussed. Margaret Atwood has since gone on to become not just
a major Canadian Writer, and a woman writer (whom some would call a Feminist Writer),
but an award-winning author of English literature. Her works include novels,
short stories, poetry, etc.