How did Margaret Atwood reinterpret Susanna Moodie in The Journals of Susanna Moodie?

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Canadian literature Canadian writer Alice Munro was lauded as a “master of the contemporary short story” by the Swedish Academy when it awarded her the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2013.

In The Journals of Susanna Moodie (1970), Margaret Atwood reinterprets the 19th-century pioneer author Susanna Moodie by transforming her from the historical figure known for her realistic accounts of wilderness life in Roughing It in the Bush into a modern, symbolic figure of alienation.12

Rather than simply documenting the historical experiences of a pioneer, Atwood uses the persona of Moodie to explore themes of displacement and the psychological impact of the Canadian landscape. By translating Moodie into this contemporary context, Atwood reimagines her as an icon of the outsider, effectively bridging the gap between 19th-century colonial history and modern sensibilities regarding identity and the self.2