Margaret Eleanor Atwood, one of Canada’s most prolific writers, has many facets to her ever-evolving writing career. She is a poet, a short story writer, a novelist and also a critic. Atwood believes that literature performs the function of a mirror- a mirror that helps people recognise themselves and their surroundings and says that “literature is not only a mirror; it is also a map, a geography of the mind”. Her writings prove an excellent study in power / powerlessness. Through her writings she tries to convey that all lust for power is evil and leads to corruption and exploitation. The range of her victor / victim themes is immense. She not only deals with victim women but also deals with victim men, victim children, victim unborn babies, victim artists, victim animals, victim birds and victim nature at large.
Kamala (Surraiya) Das- one of India’s celebrated writers and syndicated columnist. She has several collections of poetry, novel, short fiction and autobiography to her credit. Das wrote on everything from women’s issues and childcare to politics. Das once said, “I always wanted love and if you don’t get it within your home, you stray a little.” Though some people might label Das as feminist for her candor in dealing with women’s needs and desires but Das has never tried to associate herself with any particular version of feminist activism. Das’ views can be characterized as a reaction that, like her poetry is unfettered by others’ notions of right and wrong. Das has ventured into areas unclaimed by society and provided a point of reference for her colleagues. She continued, throughout her life to be very honest woman in exploring issues pertaining to women.
This book is an attempt to compare the feminine concerns in the selected works of Atwood and Das- two women writers from two different continents and two different cultures. The common link in both of them is that they are not aggressive feminist activists but explore women’s nature and concerns with candor and honesty without restricting themselves to any militant exclusivist vision. This book tries to bring out clearly their attitudes to feminism with of course their respective cultural differences.