The Tent by Margaret Atwood. Nan A. Talese (176pgs.) $18.95

Atwood's latest offering is a collection of pieces described by the publisher as "mini fictional essays." More precisely, these very short stories, taken together, function as an extended lyrical essay about creation, loss and the persistence of life beyond the artificial boundaries of storytelling.

I always found more than a passing kinship with Angela Carter in Atwood's writings -- none so much as in this collection. Carter was a writer who liked to rattle the cages of the literary establishment and I felt a lot of that here. Atwood's tales are rather dark and ironic. Magic realism, deconstructionist myth-making and re imagined fables are part of this collection. In "King Log," for example, the fabled king of frogs laments from his exile and wishes to be reunited with his subjects. In another, Horatio speaks his mind about Hamlet. "Voices," is an exercise in disassociation in which the author's voice becomes a separate entity from the author. In the title offering the creative process, itself, transforms from refuge to prison. Atwood writes about the world after "happily ever after," as stark and as necessary as we could ever imagine it to be.

Her writing is vital and written with an honesty that is brutal bordering on the grotesque and is not necessarily for everybody. Indeed, I would not recommend The Tent as an introduction to Atwood's writing. It is a difficult read that must be done in small chunks and reread over time to have its full impact. For those already in love with Atwood's body of work, buy it, read it, and enjoy it, as this feast of words is a love letter from Atwood to her fans.

--Review by JCE