In this wide-ranging history of debt Margaret Atwood investigates its many meanings through the ages, from ancient times to the current global financial meltdown. Many of us wonder: how could we have let such a collapse happen? How old or inevitable is this human pattern of debt? Imaginative, topical and insightful, Payback urges us to reconsider our ideas of ownership and debt - before it is too late.
Payback: Debt as Metaphor and the Shadow Side of Wealth
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'A fascinating, freewheeling examination of ideas of debt, balance and revenge in history, society and literature - Atwood has again struck upon our most current anxieties' The Times 'A stimulating, learned, and stylish read from an eminent author writing from a heartfelt perspective ... very provocative' Conrad Black 'Could hardly be more timely ... as clear a summary of the situation as I have read' Financial Times 'Lively and exceedingly timely ... At a time when so many of us are mired in debts of the financial variety it is worth remembering that it is the other, non-financial debts that we owe - to the planet, and to each other - that may prove most important' Observer
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`With this...lively and exceedingly timely book, Margaret Atwood has written what might be described as an intellectual history of debt ...'
--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.
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53 of 53 people found the following review helpful
By G. Hallett
Format:Hardcover
This little book, as attractive in its format as in its verbal felicity, is based on a series of lectures about debt. They must have been memorable. It is not about the credit crunch - although the book's publication is timely - but about the imaginary constructions underlying concepts of indebtedness in the widest sense. Using folklore, religion, ancient history, literature, computer simulations and experiments in animal behaviour, Atwood shows that a sense that there should be balance and fairness in relations between debtors and creditors lies deep in the human psyche and that when this is absent, things turn nasty. This applies even among the higher animals, as shown by a fascinating experiment in which monkeys were taught to trade stones for bananas. She concludes with an examination of the `debt to nature', arguing that mankind cannot go on taking rather than giving, without destroying the Earth on which it depends, the point being illustrated with a chilling modern version of Dicken's A Christmas Carol.
Atwood makes the most serious points in a way that is engaging to read, constantly throwing new light on familiar things - from The Merchant of Venice to the meaning of `publicans' and `trespasses' in the New Testament. Once started, the book is hard to put down. It would make salutary reading for economists, politicians and City folk.
Graham Hallett
Atwood makes the most serious points in a way that is engaging to read, constantly throwing new light on familiar things - from The Merchant of Venice to the meaning of `publicans' and `trespasses' in the New Testament. Once started, the book is hard to put down. It would make salutary reading for economists, politicians and City folk.
Graham Hallett
1 of 1 people found the following review helpful
Format:Paperback
What could be more timely, in these economically unstable days, than a discussion about debt?
The essays in Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth were presented as a series of radio lectures in Canada in November 2008. While I often enjoy the non-fiction writings of writers who are more famous for their novels (Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen King, among others), such collections are usually on a variety of topics or on a fiction-related topic such as writing. In Margaret Atwood's case though, she has taken on the subject of debt, although not exclusively financial debt.
Starting with a history of debt that is sprinkled with childhood memories of Scrooge McDuck and her first bank account, she examines the morality of owing other people. Using examples from literature and from nature, Atwood explores the universality of the concept of fairness. When capuchin monkeys realize that when one of their group is being rewarded with juicy grapes while the rest of them are being rewarded for the same work with lesser treats, they know it's a rotten deal and they rebel.
Atwood looks at how changing attitudes toward debt have affected the way we look at debt in literature. In Shakespeare's A Merchant of Venice, for example, Shylock is a moneylender, which is a necessary, but not very respectable profession. Until the recent fiascos, banking was one of the most respected professions, which of course, is mainly moneylending.
Debt isn't just about money. Atwood explores the concept of forgiveness, such as when Nelson Mandela was finally released from prison and knew he had to forgive those who'd persecuted him over the years and he had to do it before he walked out of the prison grounds. Otherwise he would carry those resentments with him forever. We know, as he did, that failing to forgive does more harm to ourselves than it does to those who wrong us, but we want payback. Payback for those psychic debts. It's only right, isn't it?
Atwood concludes with a modern-day Christmas Carol that puts all of these debt-related conundrums into perspective. God bless us, every one. Except maybe the bankers. (Still working on the forgiveness lesson.)
The essays in Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth were presented as a series of radio lectures in Canada in November 2008. While I often enjoy the non-fiction writings of writers who are more famous for their novels (Amy Tan, Barbara Kingsolver, Stephen King, among others), such collections are usually on a variety of topics or on a fiction-related topic such as writing. In Margaret Atwood's case though, she has taken on the subject of debt, although not exclusively financial debt.
Starting with a history of debt that is sprinkled with childhood memories of Scrooge McDuck and her first bank account, she examines the morality of owing other people. Using examples from literature and from nature, Atwood explores the universality of the concept of fairness. When capuchin monkeys realize that when one of their group is being rewarded with juicy grapes while the rest of them are being rewarded for the same work with lesser treats, they know it's a rotten deal and they rebel.
Atwood looks at how changing attitudes toward debt have affected the way we look at debt in literature. In Shakespeare's A Merchant of Venice, for example, Shylock is a moneylender, which is a necessary, but not very respectable profession. Until the recent fiascos, banking was one of the most respected professions, which of course, is mainly moneylending.
Debt isn't just about money. Atwood explores the concept of forgiveness, such as when Nelson Mandela was finally released from prison and knew he had to forgive those who'd persecuted him over the years and he had to do it before he walked out of the prison grounds. Otherwise he would carry those resentments with him forever. We know, as he did, that failing to forgive does more harm to ourselves than it does to those who wrong us, but we want payback. Payback for those psychic debts. It's only right, isn't it?
Atwood concludes with a modern-day Christmas Carol that puts all of these debt-related conundrums into perspective. God bless us, every one. Except maybe the bankers. (Still working on the forgiveness lesson.)
1 of 2 people found the following review helpful
By P. J. Sharp
Format:Paperback
Very, Very, Very good.
Atwood takes you through the history, the mythology, the religion and reasons for the whole economic breakdown we are currently experiencing. The fact that it has happened so many times before, with terrible outcomes - maybe known to the reader, but the parallels in her writing are spot on.
The book led my wife and I to discuss the thoughts and theories over and over.
Even the beautifully presented, pocketsized binding makes this to a pleasure to hold, if not necessarily to read.
Five Stars, and I will be buying copies as gifts for a long time to come.
Atwood takes you through the history, the mythology, the religion and reasons for the whole economic breakdown we are currently experiencing. The fact that it has happened so many times before, with terrible outcomes - maybe known to the reader, but the parallels in her writing are spot on.
The book led my wife and I to discuss the thoughts and theories over and over.
Even the beautifully presented, pocketsized binding makes this to a pleasure to hold, if not necessarily to read.
Five Stars, and I will be buying copies as gifts for a long time to come.
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No problems with the product or the services I received but I just couldn't get into this book. It just wasn't what I expected. Read more
Published on 21 Dec 2009 by J. C. Baker
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Payback, by M.Atwood
MY BEST EVER CANADIAN AUTHOR, READ ALL HER PUBLISHED WORK,LOVE HER INTELLIGENCE AND SENSITIVE INSIGHT.
Published on 29 Nov 2009 by Ms. Victoria E. Hills
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