In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination

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In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination

by Margaret Atwood (Goodreads Author)

3.72 of 5 stars 3.72 · rating details · 616 ratings · 158 reviews

In Other Worlds: Science Fiction and the Human Imagination is Margaret Atwood’s account of her relationship with the literary form we have come to know as science fiction. This relationship has been lifelong, stretching from her days as a child reader in the 1940s through her time as a graduate student at Harvard, where she explored the Victorian ancestors of the form, a...more

Kindle Edition, 274 pages

Published October 2011

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Nov 30, 2011 Cynthia rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Margaret Atwood is a bit like my friend Lil--she is both right AND left-brained. She writes like a dream and knows her way around science and technology.

Many people ask Atwood why she does not like the term "science fiction" for her work. She calls three of her works "ustopias." Of one, "The Handmaid's Tale," she writes that she "would not put into this book anything that humankind had not already done, somewhere, sometime, or for which it did not already have the tools."

Later in the book in an...more

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Mar 01, 2013 Cameron rated it 4 of 5 stars

This book is a more like a 3.5, but has bee executed well enough to put it up the 4 star side.

First off, I really did like like and would recommend it to anyone interested in SF or literature, but due to academic nature of it and reliance on previously published works it suffers from repetition.

The arguments in the first section ("In Other Worlds") are solid and (as expected) very well written.

The middle section ("Other Deliberations") is very repetitive (despite her efforts to trim) and only...more

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Jan 03, 2013 Jarrah rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: canada, non-fiction, woman-author

The first part of In Other Worlds feels like you're hanging out with Margaret Atwood drinking wine when she has a bit too much to drink and starts ramblingly postulating on science fiction, mostly focusing on her relationship with the genre. It was interesting but I thought told us more about Margaret Atwood than it did about "science fiction and the human imagination". The best segment was Atwood's musings on the interconnected relationship between dystopia and utopia, which provided an interes...more

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Dec 23, 2012 Katie M. rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: nonfiction, dystopia

In Other Worlds is primarily a book of essays with a few short stories (really more story fragments) in the back. Margaret Atwood has interesting things to say about the cultural and literary antecedents of today's speculative fiction, and about ustopias, the word she created to encompass both dystopias and utopias. Her writing is clear and funnier than I expected from the limited amount of her fiction that I've read.

However, the book gets a bit repetitive. Some of the arguments she makes in th...more

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Nov 17, 2012 Shonna Froebel rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadian

This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read. This is a book that while discussing speculative fiction, science fiction, their definitions and histories, also discusses Atwood's personal experiences around them. Atwood's reading, writing, and reviewing of these forms the core of the book.
Atwood has broken the book into three parts. The first part deals with her personal experiences and consists of her previously unpublished Ellman Lectures from 2010. The second part collects several of Atwood's rev...more This book was a thoroughly enjoyable read. This is a book that while discussing speculative fiction, science fiction, their definitions and histories, also discusses Atwood's personal experiences around them. Atwood's reading, writing, and reviewing of these forms the core of the book.
Atwood has broken the book into three parts. The first part deals with her personal experiences and consists of her previously unpublished Ellman Lectures from 2010. The second part collects several of Atwood's reviews of works in the speculative and science fiction genres. The third part has tributes by Atwood to the genre in form of short pieces. She also includes a letter to a school district where her book The Handmaid's Tale was challenged in favor of intellectual freedom, and a discussion of cover art from a book series in the 1930s.
I found this a very personal experience, full of Atwood's usual openness and humour. She is a writer who knows her stuff and this book shows how she thinks about these genres. She looks at the history and gives examples and different points of view, and continuously uses her own experiences as a reflective tool. Her humour comes through again and again, and I found that made it even more personal. While the issues brought to the fore through speculative and science fiction are often serious ones, and need to be taken seriously and addressed, there are also things we can do to lighten the load. I love her sense of humour and also loved finding out about works I hadn't come across before. One line she quoted from Visa for Avalon by Bryher stuck with me "If an individual's right to a place of his own were not respected," Robinson muses, "it was the first link in a chain that would ultimately lead to the elimination of the unwanted by any group that happened to be in power." If that doesn't speak to the current Occupy movement, what does!
I also loved her take on works I was familiar with, and enjoyed nodding in agreement or wanting to go back and take a second look.
Well worth the read, and although I read this as a library book, I think I shall have to go buy my own copy now.(less)

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Mar 31, 2012 Karen Ireland-Phillips rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

It’s easy to dismiss Margaret Atwood as the science fiction writer who disses science fiction. But the reality is far more complex, signaled by the highly ironic (and sad) opening quote by Octavia Butler: “I’m a fifty-three-year old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer.”
Ms. Atwood eschews any characterization as a “fan”, but she has an impressive grounding in the classics of the field, and an obvious appreciation for current...more It’s easy to dismiss Margaret Atwood as the science fiction writer who disses science fiction. But the reality is far more complex, signaled by the highly ironic (and sad) opening quote by Octavia Butler: “I’m a fifty-three-year old writer who can remember being a ten-year-old writer and who expects someday to be an eighty-year-old writer.”
Ms. Atwood eschews any characterization as a “fan”, but she has an impressive grounding in the classics of the field, and an obvious appreciation for current anthropological and speculative fiction writers.
However, she sets the conflict out squarely in her introduction as she discusses an Oryx and Crake and Year of the Flood review by Ursula K. LeGuin, that “caused a certain amount of uproar in the skin-tight clothing and other-planetary communities” (p.5).
One of the most skillful writers in the world today didn’t include this belittling reference to people who love speculative fiction, myself included, by accident. Reading on was a bit of a chore after that, but worth it.
In this sometimes contradictory collection of essays, Atwood discusses her complex relationship, as a reader and as a writer, with science fiction. She defines science fiction as limited to “things that could not possibly happen” - rockets and rayguns, War of the World-type sf. Since her own speculative fiction does not fit into this category, it isn’t science fiction.
Atwood believes she writes speculative fiction, which she defines as “things that really could happen but just hadn’t completely happened when the author wrote the book” p6. [return]But of course, definitions of science fiction and fantasy are far more mutable. She acknowledges this even while continuing to distance her own work from the science fiction “label”.
These essays informed me, made me angry, amused me, and set me stalking around verbalizing counter-arguments for days. I may not agree with Margaret Atwood, but I always love reading her work.(less)

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Jan 23, 2012 Calvin added it

Shelves: literary-crticism-and-biographies

A really engaging read. First off it was very interesting to read, and get a sense of, Atwood's voice and who she is as opposed to read her being channeled through whatever character she had created. Second, it made me quite happy to read her talk about taking a class from Northrup Frye while she was an undergrad, and how it made her happy to have such a heavyweight in that world tell everyone its Ok to read things that arent considered important/classic if you like them. Once a very long time...more

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Jan 12, 2012 Julie rated it 4 of 5 stars

I enjoyed this immensely but wouldn't recommend everyone. Atwood has written several novels that some would classify as SF (The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake, and XXXX) but she says she writes speculative fiction, not SF. That has angered some in the SF community who believe she is denigrating SF and trying to avoid the genre label. This book is a collection of several lectures on the subject that Atwood gave at Emory University; other writings of hers, including reviews, that focus on related...more

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Jan 08, 2012 Andrea McDowell rated it 3 of 5 stars

Before I get on with the review, I'd like to ask the publishers one simple question: why is the robot-woman on the cover of this book wearing egg cartons on her breasts? I realize the cover is made up of a number of objects meant to be silly and toy-like, but ... egg cartons? Wouldn't that be awfully uncomfortable?

Anyway.

In Other Worlds is about Margaret Atwood's opinions on science fiction: what it is, what it's good for, why she reads and (occasionally) writes it. It's good, if you like both...more

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Jan 02, 2012 Dina rated it 4 of 5 stars

As my crush on Margaret Atwood deepens, I found a book full of her reflections on the sci-fi/speculative fiction genre irresistible! We're given three sections here; the first contains Atwood's recollections of her progressive interest in all things other-worldly up to the publishing of The Year of the Flood, moving on to a collections of essays and introductions she's written for various SF and technology focused books, and ending with a few flash fictiony pieces the dabble in SF tropes. It was...more

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Dec 13, 2011 Simone rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: literary-theory, non-fiction

The Good:

It's Atwood, so the writing is a guarantee. Beautiful prose, even in non-fiction. For Atwood fans, the exploration and brief descriptions of The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake, and The Year of the Flood are great background, and speaking as an Atwood fan, all the extra info regarding inspiration, writing process, and influences is really interesting, even in brief.

The book itself isn't concerned with comprehensiveness or the construction of any unified theory of SF. Definitions slip aw...more

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Oct 11, 2011 Lisarenee rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

"In Other worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definite, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practising academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as reader and as writer." (Margaret Atwood)

Margaret Atwood is the author of many books spanning from fict...more "In Other worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definite, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practising academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as reader and as writer." (Margaret Atwood)

Margaret Atwood is the author of many books spanning from fiction to nonfiction to poetry. In 'In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination', she explores the world of science fiction. She's split the book up into three parts. The first part, discusses her personal relationship with science fiction from her first dabblings into the genre to her unfinished thesis to some of her later works which are considered to be science fiction. The second part, explores some of the major contributers to science fiction and discusses their works and how they relate to the genre. The third part, is a group of mini Sci-Fi shorts/excerpts by Ms. Atwood which give a nice sample of the variety of the genre.

In her book, Atwood discusses the fact that the term 'science fiction' wasn't coined until the 1930's. She goes on to talk about how what's considered science fiction has been disputed over the years. She even includes a blurb by Le Guin who criticized her. Here is a bit of Le Guin's statement:
"But Margaret Atwood doesn't want any of her books to be called science fiction. In her recent, brilliant essay collection, Moving Targets, she says that everything that happens in her novels is possible and may even have already happened, so they can't be science fiction, which is "fiction in which things happen that are not possible today." This arbitrarily restrictive definition seems designed to protect her novels from being relegated to a genre still shunned by hidebound readers, reviewers and prize-awarders. She doesn't want the literary bigots to shove her into the literary ghetto."
I can't help but wonder if this is what inspired Ms. Atwood to write this book. It also makes me, a reviewer/blogger, feel good that I'm not the only one who gets confused about what genre to classify a book under.

The book goes on to explain Atwood's thought on science fiction, and, at one point, she divides it into three subdivisions. "It's subdivisions include science fiction proper (gizmo-riddled and theory based space travel, time travel, or cybertravel to other worlds, with aliens frequent); Science-fiction fantasy (dragons are common; gizmos are less plausible, and may include wands); and speculative fiction (human society and it's possible future forms, which are either much better than what we have now or much worse). However, the membranes separating these subdivisions are permeable, and osmotic flow from one to another is the norm."

I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. It's definitely not the type of book I usually read, but if you're like me, I love getting into the head of my favorite authors. This definitely lets you see what has influenced Atwood over the years and gives you an idea of where some of the ideas for some of her books came from. I'd equate it to an in-depth interview that let's you get a thorough look into Ms. Atwood's brain, at least where science fiction is concerned, and a little into her background. I found the discussions of books such as 'Animal Farm' by George Orwell, 'The Island of Doctor Moreau' by H.G. Wells, 'She' by H. Rider Haggard (a book I hadn't heard of), 'Never Let Me Go' by Kazuo Ishguro, Ursula K. Le Guin's books, etc very interesting and informative. I loved that the book was laced with interesting tidbits of information and facts. I recommend not reading this book in one sitting, but allowing yourself several days. There is a lot of information to take in.

Overall, I gave this one a 3 1/2 out of 5 roses. The discussions were informative, interesting, and kept my attention. There is a slight bit of repetition of information due to the fact it is made up of several different essays and lectures. If you're a Fan of Ms. Atwood and have always wondered where her ideas for science fiction stories came from, this is a must have book. I would not be surprised if it ends up finding it's way into classrooms in the future. (less)

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Nov 27, 2012 Nikki rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, speculative-fiction

My goodness, how often can a book namecheck Ursula Le Guin?

Margaret Atwood's writing is good and compelling, even when she's writing non-fiction -- though I confess to a personal tendency to drift off and stop registering exactly what she's saying, just reading for the pretty words. I had that a bit here, but her ideas are intriguing and the little scrap between her and Le Guin has always amused me. Well, the whole speculative-fiction vs. science-fiction as a genre label actually really tickles...more

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Jul 27, 2012 Fox rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, sci-fi, sociology, anthropology, history, own, philosophy, reference, 2012, first-reads

This book was given to me by the perfectly brilliant Margaret Atwood when it comes to the subject of writing. Then again, where exactly has she gone wrong, the woman who gave us The Handmaiden's Tale and Oryx and Crake?

In Other Worlds is a brilliant examination of the science fiction genre, that those in charge of the "SyFy" network really should read prior to premiering a film like "Wolf Town" again. In its chapters, Margaret Atwood muses about everything from Flying Rabbits to Never Let Me Go ...more

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Mar 20, 2012 Eric rated it 1 of 5 stars

I am not the intended audience for this book, I don't believe and that makes me somewhat hesitant to rate it. I didn't really like it and didn't really learn much from it and it read a bit more like a "Hey, even though I don't like my science fiction to be called science fiction, I'm still down with all those nerd things. Here is a list of stuff to bolster my credentials." Yet when chapter notes mention "Star Trek" as a "long running television space serial" I am curious to whom the author is in...more

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Dec 12, 2011 Sean Kennedy rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Here is an opportunity for you to have Margaret Atwood speak to your directly about the love she has for speculative fiction. I've always enjoyed this branch of genre fic, and am glad that when I did my BA I actually took a unit on Utopian/Dystopian narrative and was exposed to texts that I may not have read on my own such as those by Thomas More and William Morris.

As this is a collection of essays and musings on various sci-fi related texts, it may seem rather disjointed; if you are not a fan...more

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Oct 22, 2011 Madeline rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: science-fiction

"In Other Worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, a grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definitive, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practising academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as reader and as writer."

I'm still kicking myself for not being able to make it to Margaret Atwood's...more "In Other Worlds is not a catalogue of science fiction, a grand theory about it, or a literary history of it. It is not a treatise, it is not definitive, it is not exhaustive, it is not canonical. It is not the work of a practising academic or an official guardian of a body of knowledge. Rather it is an exploration of my own lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as reader and as writer."

I'm still kicking myself for not being able to make it to Margaret Atwood's Ellman Lectures at Emory University a few years ago, where she lectured on science fiction and her relationship with the genre. Luckily for me, Atwood decided to do us all a favor and put those lectures, along with other essays on science fiction, into a single volume for fans like me to buy on the day it came out (Prompting a minor panic attack when I couldn't find the book on the New Releases shelf at Barnes and Noble, which resulted in me getting a staff member to retrieve the single copy from the back. Do not get between me and a Margaret Atwood book, is the lesson).

As the introduction states, this is a very personal collection, detailing Atwood's own interest in science fiction and how her interest began as a child, continued into her college years, and culminated in her writing three science fiction/speculative fiction novels. She describes reading Animal Farm as a child without being aware of the symbolism, escaping her literature thesis by going to cheesy B-movie showings as a college student, and the process of creating the futuristic worlds for The Handmaid's Tale and Oryx and Crake. And then just for fun, she throws in a few short fiction pieces at the end that are inspired by what the book discusses.

I loved this, not just for how thoughtfully Atwood discusses and dissects such cheap B-movie tropes like mad scientists and sexy demon women, but for how broad the scope of these essays are. She discusses Never Let Me Go, the relationship between devils and evil aliens, 1984, Brave New World, Avatar, fictional maps, superheroes, gene splicing, and HG Wells. Did I mention superheroes? Because oh my god, you guys, Margaret Atwood discussing superheroes is my new favorite thing. She does a Jungian analysis of Batman using the three big villains - the Joker, the Penguin, and Catwoman - and does such a good job analyzing Robin that for the first time I didn't utterly hate the character:

"Then there's Robin, the Boy Wonder, who is Bruce's ward. Is Bruce gay? Don't even think about it. From the point of view of we mythosophists, Robin is an elemental spirit, like Shakespeare's Puck and Ariel - note the bird name, which links him to air. His function in the plot is to aid the benevolent master trickster, Batman, with his plans. From the point of view of we Jungians, however, Robin is a Peter Pan figure - he never grows up - and he represents the repressed child within Bruce Wayne, whose parents, you'll recall, were murdered when he was very young, thus stunting Bruce's emotional growth."

I'll be honest: I never thought I'd see the day when a multiple-award-winning Serious Author was discussing Batman with a completely straight face. And that, I think, is the central idea behind this collection: that the stories of aliens and mad scientists and superheroes and magic, so frequently dismissed as pulpy trash, deserve to be regarded with just as much respect and thoughtfulness as traditional Great Literature. Stories of aliens taking over the world and sexy vampires have a rich and far-reaching literary ancestry, and many of the tropes that define science fiction can be found in the kind of books that are taken much more seriously than anything involving monsters and made-up worlds.

Summary: Science Fiction is legit, guys, so you best respect. The Atwood commands it. (less)

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Apr 07, 2013 Booksy rated it 5 of 5 stars

Shelves: read-2013

Ever since I listened to a couple of Book Shows where the presenters mentioned the recently occurred dispute around the term “science fiction” and Margaret Atwood’s and Ursula le Guin’s contributions to this dispute, I wanted to read more of the authors’ points of view on this.
I stopped reading SF genre books when I was about 19 (couldn’t have enough of them until then, but then, all of a sudden, I discovered Nabokov and that signified a slow “death” of SF genre for me, to my great chagrin I ha...more
Ever since I listened to a couple of Book Shows where the presenters mentioned the recently occurred dispute around the term “science fiction” and Margaret Atwood’s and Ursula le Guin’s contributions to this dispute, I wanted to read more of the authors’ points of view on this.
I stopped reading SF genre books when I was about 19 (couldn’t have enough of them until then, but then, all of a sudden, I discovered Nabokov and that signified a slow “death” of SF genre for me, to my great chagrin I have to say). When I saw this new recently published book, I jumped onto the opportunity to revisit my old passion for these books, especially since it is written by one of my all time favourite authors.
I was not disappointed: this book is a wonderful tribute to the SF genre, as Atwood identified herself in the introduction, “it is an exploration of … lifelong relationship with a literary form, or forms, or subforms, both as a reader and as a writer”.
The way she skillfully mixed together discussion on the genre, its sources and evolution, the way a great number of contemporary works in this genre (both literary works and films) reflect the old traditions; deliberations on the key contributors, the genre’s “special effects”; her childhood memories of the books she read and the re-read when she grew up and they way she felt about those books before and now; she then threw in a few remarkable book reviews and books’ analysis (I particularly liked Atwood’s presentations of her thoughts on Aldous Huxley’s “The Brave New World”, my personal favourite work, on Kazuo Ishiguro’s ‘never Let Me Go” and on a Swift’s classic – “Gulliver’s Travels” that I feel I need to re-read now, and a full version this time, not the kids’ version that I was allowed to read when I was young) and finished the collection off with a few works of her own (“Five Tributes”) in this genre (I loved the “Cryogenics”, “a dinner-time conversation about getting your head frozen” written with such a matter-of-fact sense of humor and an amazing sense of realism, I just felt I was at that dinner table and those were my friends having a chat about cryogenics and whether it’s a worthwhile “investment” into your own future).
The book is well-referenced (although I thought it would have benefited more with referencing linked to the text, not just a list of sources or connotations at the end of each chapter) and well-researched and it was a delight to read. I made a short list for myself to read a few of the authors and a few works of the authors that I hadn’t read before as I think I am now ready to re-visit my adolescent fascination with the SF genre.
(less)

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Dec 18, 2012 Alice rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: 2012, audio, nonfiction, science-fiction, dystopian, classic, literary

I've read a lot of Margaret Atwood's fiction, but not a lot of her nonfiction. I was hoping for some insight into why she uses the SF trappings she does in her books, and, in that, I was not disappointed. I also learned some things, along the way, including a whole other way to think of genre fiction, no matter how you label it.

Atwood is known for resisting a "science fiction" label, and she explains within these pages why. It's not because she looks down on science fiction, but because she cons...more I've read a lot of Margaret Atwood's fiction, but not a lot of her nonfiction. I was hoping for some insight into why she uses the SF trappings she does in her books, and, in that, I was not disappointed. I also learned some things, along the way, including a whole other way to think of genre fiction, no matter how you label it.

Atwood is known for resisting a "science fiction" label, and she explains within these pages why. It's not because she looks down on science fiction, but because she considers her works to be speculative fiction, a branch she considers separate. (I use it as a catch-all for science fiction, fantasy, urban fantasy, etc.)

The book is broken up into personal essays and reviews or commentaries on specific works. The publication of these items is often years apart, and so there's some overlap and repetition. What's interesting is that there is no contradiction. By the time Atwood wrote the first of these pieces, she already knew things she's only grown to solidify.

Atwood's higher education background is in Victorian literature. A lot of this book, then, involves themes and novels of that time period, though she does branch out to cover mythology and modern science fiction and superheroes.

The result is a surprisingly cohesive package covering several concepts regarding science fiction's role in our lives. She addresses the snobbish literary attitudes toward genre, pointing out that its greatest sin is that people enjoy reading it. She discusses "ustopia," which is neither dystopia nor utopia, or maybe it's both. It's how she classifies her own works that others (including me) have classified as dystopian: The Handmaid's Tale, Oryx and Crake, and The Year of the Flood. She goes into what influenced these books, and how she feels they distort the modern world, rather than predicting a probable future.

The reviews cover an array of classics and modern stories, from Gulliver's Travels to Never Let Me Go. I was amused to find that, with one exception, I'd either read the books in question, or never heard of them in my life. Luckily, with Atwood's commentary, it sounds like I've been spared having to read them for myself. There's only so much sexism, repression, and colonialism a modern reader can take.

The essays can be repetitive, but this only serves to underline her main points about the universal truths even pulpy science fiction is tapping into. Through these essays, Atwood helps to elevate science fiction, if not to the same level as literary, at least out of the mud into which many critics have kicked it.

If you want to think about your science fiction differently, as part of a greater whole in the history of fiction, I highly recommend you pick this up.

I "read" the audio edition, which is narrated by Margaret Atwood and Susan Denaker. I like to hear the author's intonation when I'm reading a book, though Atwood lacks Denaker's polish. Still, they picked a narrator who sounds similar enough to Margaret Atwood that I forgot the narrators had switched until it switched back. Atwood has a slight Canadian accent, and her voice fades every hour or so, but I enjoyed hearing her read her essays, and I wish she'd been able to read it all. I understand why she couldn't, though, and I'm happy with her temporary replacement.(less)

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Apr 12, 2012 Brandy rated it 2 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, sf-fantasy

First, I greatly enjoy Margaret Atwood as an author. I have read many of her books and enjoyed all of them. I think "A Handmaid's Tale" is one of the most powerful, and scary books I have ever read.

However, this book irritated me to a certain extent, more then anything. It is a collection of her thoughts, reviews and insights on how she relates to science fiction. The part that irritates is that she still denies to a certain extent that some of the books she has written fall under the term scien...more

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Oct 19, 2011 Tatiana rated it 3 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: non-fiction, 2011, sci-fi

This is basically a collection of previously published bits and pieces of science fiction and science fiction-related writing of Atwood's.

The first (and the most interesting) part of the book is more or less a transcript of the author's lectures which include notes on the evolution of her interest in and understanding of SF, her musings about the connections between science fiction and mythology and religion, and some insight into the intentions and inspirations behind her own speculative ficti...more

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Thoraiya "Most of the fans of HG have never read any SF" - why not?

Why has the publisher seen fit to call it "dystopia" when shelving it in SF next to Bacigal...more
Oct 20, 2011 04:00pm

Tatiana This genre anxiety is a little foreign to me and I have even harder time understanding what difference it makes how a book is labeled as long as it is...more
Oct 20, 2011 04:11pm

Jan 08, 2012 Scotchneat rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: canadia, sci-fi-fantasy, science, short-stories

Atwood doesn't set out to write a definitive anything about "science fiction" or "fantasy", as she says clearly in the introduction.

Instead, she gives us a collage of readings, reviews and analysis, linked into her lifelong interaction with other worlds, creatures and so on.

I especially enjoyed Atwood's attempts to define science fiction, fantasy, speculative fiction, dystopia, utopia. Particularly tied to her ongoing discussion with Ursala K Le Guin about it (and to whom the collection is dedi...more

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Oct 15, 2011 Meg - A Bookish Affair rated it 4 of 5 stars

Shelves: 2011, fantasy-sci-fi, memoir, non-fiction

Imagine being able to pick a really famous author's (like Margaret Atwood) brain. This book is sort of like that. I really like Atwood. Her books are what I would call sort of underhanded science fiction. There are definitely science fiction elements there but the scenarios and the characters have something realistic about them.

The book is divided in a few different sections. Atwood talks about her writing process from when she was a little kid (the story about the flying bunnies was adorable a...more

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Oct 30, 2011 Heather rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Atwood’s desire to write this book stemmed from a book review that was written for two of her books: Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood. In the review written for the Guardian in 2009, Ursula K. Le Guin–a well-established author of the Sci-Fi and Fantasy genres who has won numerous awards for her work–brought up the fact that Atwood doesn’t want any of her work to be called science fiction. She disagreed with Atwood’s definition of what science fiction is, and accused Atwood of sloughing o...more

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Sep 15, 2012 John E. Branch Jr. rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: literature-history-criticism, sf

For any number of reasons, writers of fiction aren't necessarily good tour guides to their work, their personal development, or the history of their field. Margaret Atwood is good at all those things, it turns out. I had little doubt of it after hearing her speak in fall 2011, at an event where I bought this book, and reading the book amply confirms it.

In Other Worlds contains personal history, critical reflections, and even a few stories--one of which is a "short" story indeed. All of it is ins...more

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Oct 31, 2011 Sean the Bookonaut rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

In Other Worlds: SF and the Human Imagination is a curious book. But to understand some of its raison d'être you need a little background.

Once upon a time...

Margaret Atwood seems to have had tense relationship with some elements of the science fiction community( and vice versa) since her release of the novel The Handmaid's Tale in 1985.

Atwood was awarded the Arthur C Clarke[1] for The Handmaid's Tale , which was also nominated for a Nebula[2] and a Prometheus [3] – all science fiction awards. I...more

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Nov 04, 2012 Scott Lee rated it 3 of 5 stars

If I were rating the book on the smoothness and beauty of the prose, or the wit of the author I would have to bump this at least a star, instead, I am reviewing the book as a whole, and it is, sadly, somehow less than the sum of its parts.

The book is divided into three sections: "In Other Worlds" (doctored speeches from Emory University in Georgia in 2010), "Other Deliberations," and "Five Tributes." Other than the introduction to the text and some doctorings here and there, none of this is ori...more

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Feb 27, 2012 Georg rated it 5 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Margaret Atwood indeed stands apart. She refuses to
put herself or let others put her into a narrow role.
Indeed, desdpite the quality of her fantastic works
and my great lifelong fandom in SF--well, she rubs me
a little wrong. SHe seemw to look down on SF and related
new genres.
But by its very word "novel" is something n e w. And
I appreciate her penetrating insights in her non-fiction.
Her Canadian viewpoint (a land I've had so much to do with)
her uncompromising straightforwardness--well, let us...more

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Sep 28, 2012 Alex rated it 3 of 5 stars

Shelves: non-fiction, sci-fi-heaven

Atwood's thoughts on the definition for science fiction are interesting because she admits the fluidity of the various genres and sub-genres. It is hard to pinpoint much work as specifically one thing or another. However I think she feels this way to help avoid her own work being classified as science fiction. She instead insists on the phrase "speculative fiction." It is safe and vague and doesn't take away from all of the "literature" she also writes. The book reviews are far more interesting...more

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Apr 28, 2012 Erin rated it 4 of 5 stars · review of another edition

Shelves: nonfiction, to-buy, books-about-books

Margaret Atwood read to us from this one when she came to speak at Dickinson College in November 2011. Since I seem to be on a nonfictiown kick lately, I picked it up when I saw it at the library to try it out. I'm actually pretty sad that I got it at the library, because I spent the first third scribbling down quotes from it, furiously wishing I could just underline in the book. That first third (a series of lectures about Atwood's own books and young reading experiences with speculative fictio...more

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About Margaret Atwood

Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa and grew up in northern Ontario, Quebec, and Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master's degree from Radcliffe College.

Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honourary degrees. She is the author of more than thirty-five volumes of poetry, childr...more

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Books by Margaret Atwood

The Year of the Flood (MaddAddam Trilogy, #2)

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“A writer's age at the time of a work's composition is never irrelevant.” — 3 people liked it

“[A]nother thing about myths: they gather in and circumscribe their target audience. They make a collection into a collective.” — 3 people liked it

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