Random House Announces They Will Re-Publish Margaret Atwood's Classic Debut Novel, ‘The Edible’

By Dan Pearce

CanLit icon Margaret Atwood was under scrutiny of the Twitter public this week, after sharing an a article written by Rosie DiManno entitled “Why Can't We Say 'Woman' Anymore?”

(At this point The Toronto Harold would just like to remind you, the reader, that we only printed the W word as a means of staying authentic to the quote, and we ourselves would never use the W word in our publication or anywhere for that matter)

As a satirical news website, we don't normally publish pieces on other satirical journalists, but it's become such a high profile story that we simply must talk about Rosie DiManno's work. And it's difficult for us because we truly admire her headline writing skills.The joke efficiency of claiming that you can't say a word while literally saying that same word is masterful satirical writing which we could only dream of coming up with at the Harold.

Even though Margaret Atwood did not write the article herself, many people see Atwood's support of the journalist as evidence that she may have some old fashioned views about gender identity. This suspicion was even further supported by the evidence that Margaret Atwood is 81 years old, a fact which many Twitter users learned this week, after googling Margaret Atwood.

Will the author of Handmaid's Tale and many other classic TV shows be the next up on the chopping block of cancel culture? Random House is already making changes to their publications of Atwood's work: After the 50th anniversary of her 1969 debut The Edible W****, future copies of the book will be printed with it's less controversial title, The Edible. 

It's pretty wild that they ever even published a book which had the W word on the front cover, but 1969 was a different time. And of course that's what made Margaret Atwood so revolutionary...she wasn't afraid to say the W word.

Hyperbole is a fundamental part of comedy writing, which is why Rosie DiManno's hyperbolic headline serves as a perfect lure for other bigots. It's too ridiculous to be taken seriously, but targets a true enough sentiment that anyone who feels the same way will feel fired up. Fired up about a problem that doesn't actually exist. A problem Rosie made up so that she could talk about what she really wants to talk about: How more gender inclusive language is erasing her femininity, how we are losing sight of what it truly means to be a 'woman', and how being a 'woman' is mostly about having babies. Margaret Atwood supporting this sentiment is quite shocking, but it truly seems like Atwood is longing for the good old days, when 'woman' still meant 'baby making machine'.

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Dan Pearce is a contributing writer for The Toronto Harold. Dan can be found on both Twitter and Instagram @danfromlinkedin.