Abstract:

Margret Atwood appears to be obsessed with storytelling in her novel Oryx and Crake, not just the stories themselves but the actual act of storytelling. This essay will explore how the act of storytelling promotes a communal culture that utilizes storytelling to survive in the world that culture inhabits. Surviving in the post-apocalypse of Oryx and Crake means: coping with loss, understanding the world, understanding other people, and bringing people together. I argue that the act of storytelling is shown to do all of these things in Oryx and Crake.

Preliminary Bibliography:

Atwood, Margaret. “The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake ‘In Context’”. PMLA 119.3 (2004): 513-517. Web. 23 November 2015.

Canavan, Gerry. “Hope, But Not for Us: Ecological Science Fiction and the End of the World in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood”. Literature Interpretation Theory 23.2 (2012): 138-159. Web. 23 November 2015.

DiMarco, Danette. “Going Wendigo: The Emergence of the Iconic Monster in Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake and Antonia Bird’s Ravenous”.College Literature 38.4 (2011): 134–155. Web. 23 November 2015.

Domínguez, Pilar Cuder. “Margaret Atwood’s Metafictional Acts: Collaborative Storytelling in The Blind Assassin and Oryx and Crake.” Revista Canaria de Estudios Ingleses 56 (2008): 57-68. Web. 23 November 2015.

Skeiker, Fadi Fayad. “Once Upon a Time: Performing Storytelling in Damascus”. Storytelling, Self, Society 6.3 (2010): 223–230. Web. 23 November 2015.