The Journals of Susanna Moodie

The Journals of Susanna Moodie, by Margaret Atwood (1970). In these poems, Atwood recreates the life of a 19th-century English settler in Canada, exploring the irrational and mythic dimensions of human experience. Journal 1 (1832-40) follows Susanna Moodie as she lands at Québec and, alien and dispossessed, struggles to accommodate the confusion and terror of life in the bush; Journal 2 (1840-71) finds Mrs Moodie in Belleville, haunted by dreams of the wilderness, but beginning to accept an alternate reality and a dual vision; and Journal 3 (1871-1969) takes Mrs Moodie into death and beyond, when she appears in the present, fully a part of the land she once despised. This collection, with its laconic style and intricate structure, is considered one of Atwood's major poetic achievements.