The most important contexts for situating the work of Margaret Atwood include her position as a Canadian writer, particularly given that she began writing at a time when a tradition of Canadian literature was not visible; her own criticism, which emerged partly out of this absence of a critical heritage; and her relationship with feminism. This chapter, in focusing on the historical, literary and cultural forces against which Atwood's work must be placed, thus begins by situating Atwood within the Canadian canon.

Consider the historical situation of Canada: it came into being as a political entity in 1867 as British North America, and only achieved absolute independence from the UK in 1982 by way of the Canada Act. Atwood had already been publishing her work for twenty years by this point. It has the USA as its southern, powerful and loud neighbour, and most Canadians live within 100 miles of the border (Corse 158), making it difficult to establish any clear natural distinctions between the two countries. Yet, in an era of increasing internationalization, increasing awareness of the ‘otherness’ of identity, Canada – at least in some literary quarters – holds fast to a sense of a Canadian identity which is separate from and clearly distinguishable from ‘America’. It has two official languages, English and French, as well as multiculturalism enshrined in law, all of which militate against a singular literary canon.