The Tent is a book by Canadian author Margaret Atwood, published in 2006. Although classified with Atwood’s short fiction, The Tent has been characterized as an “experimental” collection of “fictional essays" or “mini-fictions.” The work also incorporates line drawings by Atwood.
The collection features themes familiar in Atwood’s works, including a feminist portrayal of “national” childhood, the burdens of fame, and the reworking of Classical mythology.
Several of the pieces included in The Tent were previously published to benefit a variety of organizations, the royalties being donated to the World Wildlife Federation, the Indian Ocean Tsunami Earthquake Charities, the Hay-On-Wye Festival in Wales, and the Harbourfront Reading Series in Toronto.
Famous quotes containing the words tent and/or atwood:
“At last I feel the equal of my parents. Knowing you are going to have a child is like extending yourself in the world, setting up a tent and saying “Here I am, I am important.” Now that I’m going to have a child it’s like the balance is even. My hand is as rich as theirs, maybe for the first time. I am no longer just a child.”
—Anonymous Father. Ourselves and Our Children, by Boston Women’s Health Book Collective, ch. 5 (1978)
“Men are not to be told anything they might find too painful; the secret depths of human nature, the sordid physicalities, might overwhelm or damage them. For instance, men often faint at the sight of their own blood, to which they are not accustomed. For this reason you should never stand behind one in the line at the Red Cross donor clinic.”
—Margaret Atwood (b. 1939)