1. Printable Version
2. Download PDF
3. Cite this Page

J. Brooks Bouson (essay date 1989)

SOURCE: "Comic Storytelling as Escape and Narcissistic Self-Expression in Atwood's Lady Oracle," in his The Empathic Reader: A Study of the Narcissistic Character and the Drama of the Self, The University of Massachusetts Press, 1989, pp. 154-168.

[In the following excerpt, Bouson explores the psychology of the protagonist in Lady Oracle.]

Margaret Atwood's Lady Oracle has tantalized, amused, and baffled critics who are fascinated with its duplicitous, protean narrator-heroine. "The task of fitting the pieces of the puzzle together, the puzzle of Joan Foster," writes one critic, "is left to the reader." As Joan narrates the story of her life and exposes her narcissistic anxieties, hurts, and rage, she is undeniably funny. But even while we laugh at her comic descriptions of her mother-dominated childhood, her childhood obesity, her recurring fat lady fantasies, and her troubled...

Join eNotes

The above is a free excerpt. Get total access to this content with the:

eNotes Pass

1. Introduction
2. Criticism
   1. Barbara Hill Rigney (essay date 1978)
   2. Carol P. Christ (essay date 1980)
   3. Estella Lauter (essay date 1984)
   4. John Lanchester (review date 23 July 1987)
   5. Dave Smith (review date Summer 1988)
   6. Helen Yglesias (review date July 1989)
   7. J. Brooks Bouson (essay date 1989)
   8. Margaret Atwood with Earl G. Ingersoll (interview date Spring-Summer 1990)
   9. David Lucking (essay date 1990)
   10. Earl G. Ingersoll (essay date October 1991)
   11. Marilyn Patton (essay date October 1991)
   12. James Wilcox (review date 24 November 1991)
   13. Merle Rubin (review date 27 December 1991)
   14. Jill LeBihan (essay date 1991)
   15. Peter Kemp (review date 6 November 1992)
   16. Nathalie Cooke (essay date 1992)
   17. Laura Shapiro (review date 8 November 1993)
   18. Margaret Atwood with Lauri Miller (interview date February-March 1994)
3. Further Reading
4. Copyright

Related Topics