SOURCE: "On the Villainess," in San Francisco Review of Books, February-March, 1994, pp. 30-32, 34.

In the following excerpt, Atwood discusses her writing process and the role of the literary villainess in reference to her book The Robber Bride.

[Miller]: In The Robber Bride, your character Zenia is cruel, cold-blooded and calculated, so able to manipulate the female protagonists in the book …

[Atwood]:… And the male …

In a recent New York Times article you said there has been a gap in the literary appearance of the villainess. Has this been particularly on the part of women writers, and have you met any resistance to Zenia from feminists?

No. There is a whole list of manipulative characters, some of them written by women. We need go back no further than Edith Wharton. Have you read The Custom of the Country?

No, I haven't.

Well, you should. (She laughs.) It is about...