Retelling Apocalypse in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake and The Year of the Flood

Abstract

In this article, I analyse how Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (2003) and The Year of the Flood (2009) retell apocalypse in a revisionary and ironic way. Taking into account Marlene Goldman's observations about the apocalyptic theme in Canadian literature and James Berger's considerations on the representations of apocalypse, I read both novels as counterparts. In such a reading, Oryx and Crake is the tale of the reluctant elect and The Year of the Flood is the story of the non-elects.