Critics have long recognized the interrelated themes of consumption and consumerism in Margaret Atwood’s debut novel The Edible Woman (1969), but no commentator has yet examined how these concerns relate to another key theme: the state of literary scholarship. The theories of Theodore Roszak, Jean-François Lyotard, Lewis Hyde, and others reveal the novel to be deeply concerned with the commercialization of academic endeavours and the resultant corruption of scholarly values. Through the character of Duncan, a jaded English graduate student, Atwood explores the shift in literary studies from the idealistic pursuit of knowledge for its own sake to the self-interested pursuit of individual rewards, reputation, and career advancement. The Edible Woman reflects the conflicted attitudes that Atwood, a former graduate student, holds about the academy’s ability to privilege the disinterested pursuit of knowledge in the face of increasing pressures from the capitalist economy.
