This summer, while in a second hand bookstore, I was given this bookmark along with my purchases.
My first reaction was goody Margaret Atwood has written a new book. My second reaction was puzzlement. It wasn’t until I listened to this years Massey Lectures that I understood.
The five part lecture series is narrated by Atwood herself. She says curiosity motivated her to explore the concept of debt. Debt, she says, is deeply ingrained in our Protestant notion of payback. Whether we are enjoying a few days of nice weather, a piece of calorie laden chocolate cake or record windfalls on the stock exchange, it won’t last, eventually we will have to pay for our enjoyment.
It is classic Atwood. She illustrates her thesis by exploring her own life as well as the lives of fictional characters. The Charles Dickens character Ebenezer Scrooge, from A Christmas Carol, is the person whom her whole argument revolves around.
In discussing revenge and forgiveness she cites the lords prayer, specifically the part,
And forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive them that trespass against us"
surmising what would have happened if America had forgiven the instigaters of the nine eleven disaster instead of seeking revenge.
Atwood updates the Scrooge character making him into a self satisfied multinational collector of corporations, whose prime objective is to make more money today than he did yesterday. As in the Dickens story he is visited in turn by the three Spirits of the Future, Past and Present.
Taking the story to its logical conclusion we assume the present day Scrooge, like his Dickens ancestor, listens to the spirits message and changes his life. However, the Dickens character only had his own happiness at stake while Atwoods twenty first century Scrooge has much bigger things to worry about.
The message I got from listening to these lectures is that like Pandora’s box there is hope at the bottom. Averting Global crisis may be achieved if all of us make changes to the way we live our lives and we forgive.
Unfortunately you have to listen to the lectures in streaming time. You cannot download them, although you can buy them or buy Atwoods book. Listen to the lectures here http://www.cbc.ca/ideas/massey.html.
2 comments:
How interesting! I love Margaret Atwood's books and would love to know more about her thought.
I too have also often wondered what would have happened had we turned the other cheek and forgiven after 9/11. As the rhetoric and war machinery spun I couldn't see much of my country in all that. But such a gun culture here and many would cite the bible (I think it's the bible??)--"the very stones cry out for vengeance". The drums were beating for war that very night.
If you have time you might enjoy listening to the lectures. I fixed the links so they work now.
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