Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A Marvel of Monsters
- The Epic of Gilgamesh — Selections
- The Bible — Selections
- Hesiod, Theogony — Selections
- Homer, The Odyssey, Odysseus and his Men Encounter the Cyclops
- Bust of Polyphemus
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History — Selections
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, Lycaon and Cadmus
- St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God — Selections (XVI.vii–ix; XXI.vii–viii)
- Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) — Selections
- The Wonders of the East
- Donestre, Huntress, and Boar-Tusked Women
- Beowulf Introduction, Fight With Grendel, the Attack By Grendel's Mother, Fight With Grendel's Mother, and Fight With the Dragon)
- Modern Images of Grendel: (Twentieth Century)
- Marie de France, Bisclavret
- Völsunga saga (The Saga of the Volsungs) — Selections
- The Life of Saint Christopher
- Illumination of Saint Christopher
- The Alliterative Morte Arthure — Selections
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight — Selections
- Ambroise Paré, on Monsters Book 25: Treating of Monsters and Prodigies
- Renaissance Figures of Monsters: First Published in Ambroise Paré, Les Oeuures D'Ambroise Paré, Conseiller, Et Premier Chirurgien Du Roy (Lyon, Chez Jean GréGoire, 1664).
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene — Selections
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest — Selections
- Images of Caliban
- John Spencer, A Discourse Concerning Prodigies: Wherein the Vanity of Presages by them is Reprehended, and their True and Proper Ends are Indicated
- John Milton, Paradise Lost — Selections
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus — Selections
- Frankenstein Frontispiece
- Edgar Allan Poe, “William Wilson”
- Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”
- Illustration of Buy From Us With A Golden Curl
- Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky”
- Illustration of Jabberwocky
- Ambrose Bierce, “The Damned Thing”
- Bram Stoker, Dracula — Selections
- Frontispiece to Bram Stoker, Dracula
- Algernon Blackwood, “Ancient Sorceries”
- H. P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
- Sketch of Cthulhu
- C. L. Moore, “Shambleau”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit, or There and Back Again — Selections
- Theodore Sturgeon, “It!”
- Ray Bradbury, “Fever Dream”
- Edward D. Hoch, “The Faceless Thing”
- John Gardner, Grendel — Selections
- Joyce Carol Oates, “Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl”
- Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake — Selections
- Slender Man
- The SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation
- Contributor Biographies
Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake — Selections
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 26 January 2021
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of Illustrations
- Acknowledgements
- Introduction: A Marvel of Monsters
- The Epic of Gilgamesh — Selections
- The Bible — Selections
- Hesiod, Theogony — Selections
- Homer, The Odyssey, Odysseus and his Men Encounter the Cyclops
- Bust of Polyphemus
- Pliny the Elder, Natural History — Selections
- Ovid, Metamorphoses, Lycaon and Cadmus
- St. Augustine of Hippo, City of God — Selections (XVI.vii–ix; XXI.vii–viii)
- Táin Bó Cúailnge (Cattle Raid of Cooley) — Selections
- The Wonders of the East
- Donestre, Huntress, and Boar-Tusked Women
- Beowulf Introduction, Fight With Grendel, the Attack By Grendel's Mother, Fight With Grendel's Mother, and Fight With the Dragon)
- Modern Images of Grendel: (Twentieth Century)
- Marie de France, Bisclavret
- Völsunga saga (The Saga of the Volsungs) — Selections
- The Life of Saint Christopher
- Illumination of Saint Christopher
- The Alliterative Morte Arthure — Selections
- Sir Gawain and the Green Knight — Selections
- Ambroise Paré, on Monsters Book 25: Treating of Monsters and Prodigies
- Renaissance Figures of Monsters: First Published in Ambroise Paré, Les Oeuures D'Ambroise Paré, Conseiller, Et Premier Chirurgien Du Roy (Lyon, Chez Jean GréGoire, 1664).
- Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene — Selections
- William Shakespeare, The Tempest — Selections
- Images of Caliban
- John Spencer, A Discourse Concerning Prodigies: Wherein the Vanity of Presages by them is Reprehended, and their True and Proper Ends are Indicated
- John Milton, Paradise Lost — Selections
- Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus — Selections
- Frankenstein Frontispiece
- Edgar Allan Poe, “William Wilson”
- Christina Rossetti, “Goblin Market”
- Illustration of Buy From Us With A Golden Curl
- Lewis Carroll, “Jabberwocky”
- Illustration of Jabberwocky
- Ambrose Bierce, “The Damned Thing”
- Bram Stoker, Dracula — Selections
- Frontispiece to Bram Stoker, Dracula
- Algernon Blackwood, “Ancient Sorceries”
- H. P. Lovecraft, “The Call of Cthulhu”
- Sketch of Cthulhu
- C. L. Moore, “Shambleau”
- J.R.R. Tolkien, the Hobbit, or There and Back Again — Selections
- Theodore Sturgeon, “It!”
- Ray Bradbury, “Fever Dream”
- Edward D. Hoch, “The Faceless Thing”
- John Gardner, Grendel — Selections
- Joyce Carol Oates, “Secret Observations on the Goat-Girl”
- Margaret Atwood, Oryx and Crake — Selections
- Slender Man
- The SCP (Special Containment Procedures) Foundation
- Contributor Biographies
Summary
Critical Introduction
Margaret Atwood is perhaps best known for her dystopian novel The Handmaid's Tale, but in the following excerpt from Oryx and Crake, she powerfully envisions a post-apocalyptic future brought on by genetic engineering run amok. The narrator, Snowman (previously known as Jimmy), is one of the only remaining Homo sapiens sapiens survivors of a plague brought on by his best friend, Crake. Oryx, a young girl Jimmy first saw in a child pornography film, is hired by Crake as a prostitute; she and Jimmy begin an affair. After the plague has spread, Crake kills Oryx in front of Jimmy, prompting him to shoot Crake.
This seems to have been Crake's plan all along: Snowman is immune to the plague, which was seen by Crake as a sort of “reset” for the Earth. The planet is now populated by two groups: the “children of Oryx” and the “Crakers.” The children of Oryx are animals that include genetically engineered pigoons (pigs with some human DNA so that they can grow human organs for harvesting), rakunks (a racoon-skunk hybrid), and wolvogs (animals that look like domesticated dogs but have the feral nature of a wolf). Crakers—a beautiful, gentle, vegetarian, genetically-engineered form of human—are Snowman's wards: he represents to them an awesome repository of lore and knowledge while at the same time disgusting them with his appearance and eating habits.
Reading Questions
It is not clear what or who are the monsters in this novel. The Crakers have no fear of wolvogs or pigoons because they have natural defenses against them and the animals are a part of their natural order; they do, however, love and loathe Snowman—who is an anomaly. For Snowman, the rakunks and pigoons are monstrous because he remembers and is part of a different natural order that is gravely threatened by these animals. As you read, then, try to inhabit both points of view (this may take more than one reading) and come to a final conclusion on what you think is the monster of this story.
Editorial Notes
Where portions of the narrative have been omitted, the deletion is indicated with a triple set of hyphens. Where appropriate, a synopsis of the omitted action has been provided, though we have not attempted to summarize the events that happened before the apocalyptic plague.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Primary Sources on MonstersDemonstrare Volume 2, pp. 333 - 344Publisher: Amsterdam University PressPrint publication year: 2018