I recently read Payback by Margaret Atwood. It’s been hailed as another example of her amazing abilities of prediction. Atwood is known for her keen observation of social trends. Her predictive talent is so famed that she recently donated a prophecy for charity (the woman who bought it posted a blog about it–there was mention of the washing machine breaking).
Payback is a book about economic collapse and debt, written before our current crisis.
It’s not about what to do or how things should be run, though there are some didactic parts at the end about environmental conservancy. Instead, this is an amazing read about the socio-cultural of debt, from law to religion/mythology to literature. She crosses time and geography, but manages to give close readings of both our stories and behaviors surrounding debt.
I especially like her reading of fairy tales (did you know why it was significant to be a Miller’s daughter? I didn’t), Madame Bovary, and The Merchant of Venice. She also tells us about the Victorian literary movement of a new form of revenge: “not seeing your enemy’s red blood all over the floor but seeing red ink all over his balance sheet.”
Particularly astute is her discussion of words, in connotation and denotation. Why does forgiving “trespasses” appear in some version of The Lord’s Prayer while other versions say “sin”–what’s the difference and how does it relate to forgiving debt? Why is it “currency”? If a Roman tax collector is a publican . . . well, she doesn’t say it, but it makes me wonder what a “re”publican is.
Read this book–it’s more approachable than you think and you’ll be surprised at what you learn.
Is that a current photo of her? God, I can only hope to age as gracefully as she has. Also, I’ll bite: why IS it significant to be a Miller’s daughter? (eh, I’ll just buy the book and find out)