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Margaret Atwood

Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth Paperback – October 7, 2008

by Margaret Atwood (Author)

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Collected here, the Massey Lectures from legendary novelist Margaret Atwood investigate the highly topical subject of debt. She doesn’t talk about high finance or managing money; instead, she goes far deeper to explore debt as an ancient and central motif in religion, literature, and the structure of human societies. By looking at how debt has informed our thinking from preliterate times to the present day, from the stories we tell of revenge and sin to the way we order social relationships, Atwood argues that the idea of what we owe may well be built into the human imagination as one of its most dynamic metaphors. Her final lecture addresses the notion of a debt to nature and the need to find new ways of interacting with the natural world before it is too late.

Print length

230 pages
Language

English
Publisher

House of Anansi Press
Publication date

October 7, 2008
Dimensions

5.5 x 0.5 x 8 inches
ISBN-10

0887848001
ISBN-13

978-0887848001
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Margaret Atwood
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Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

Starred Review. Atwood's book is a weird but wonderful mélange of personal reminiscences, literary walkabout, moral preachment, timely political argument, economic history and theological query, all bound together with wry wit and careful though casual-seeming research. Every debt comes with a date on which payment is due, Atwood observes on this conversational stroll, from the homely and familiar notion of fairness and notion of equivalent values in Kingsley's Water Babies to the thornier connection between debt and sin, memory and redemption in Aeschylus's Eumenides. Any debt involves a story line, Atwood points out as she leads the reader into the nineteenth century [when] debt as plot really rages through the fictional pages, and ruin is financial for men, but sexual for women. Things get even darker on the shadow side where the nastier forms of debt and credit—debtors' prisons, loan sharks and rebellions—abide. Atwood is encyclopedic in her range, following threads wherever they lead—credit cards and computer programs, Sin Eaters, Saint Nicholas, Star Trek, the history of pawnshops and of taxation, Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty and Dante's Divine Comedy, Christ and Faust—and a consistently captivating storyteller. (Nov.)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Review

Atwood's book is a weird but wonderful mélange of personal reminiscences, literary walkabout, moral preachment, timely political argument, economic history and theological query, all bound together with wry wit and careful though casual-seeming research....Atwood is encyclopedic in her range, following threads wherever they lead--credit cards and computer programs, Sin Eaters, Saint Nicholas, Star Trek, the history of pawnshops and of taxation, Elmore Leonard's Get Shorty and Dante's Divine Comedy, Christ and Faust--and a consistently captivating storyteller. --Publishers Weekly, starred review, September 29, 2008

In her witty, acutely argued and almost freakishly prescient new book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth Margaret Atwood reminds us that debt is not just a political and economic issue. It's not just a matter for CEOs, heads of state, hedge fund managers or people with mortgages--sub-prime or otherwise. Debt is a cultural issue....Payback plugs a huge hole in our society-wide contemplation of the current financial crisis. In so many discussions of the ongoing mess in global markets, there is little mention of the venerable cultural ideas that underlie borrowing and lending.... All of this is presented, of course, not as something dry and scholarly, but as an arch--even, at times, ornery--argument that is vintage Atwood. --Chicago Tribune

Review

In her witty, acutely argued and almost freakishly prescient new book, Payback: Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth scheduled to be published next week, Margaret Atwood reminds us that debt is not just a political and economic issue. It's not just a matter for CEOs, heads of state, hedge fund managers or people with mortgages--sub-prime or otherwise. Debt is a cultural issue. Debt figures prominently in our most familiar and revered imaginative works, from biblical stories to fairy tales to 19th Century novels to the fall TV lineup....Payback plugs a huge hole in our society-wide contemplation of the current financial crisis. In so many discussions of the ongoing mess in global markets, there is little mention of the venerable cultural ideas that underlie borrowing and lending. Yet as Atwood points out, "Like all our financial arrangements, and like all our rules of moral conduct--in fact, like language itself--notions about debt form part of the elaborate imaginative construct that is human society".... All of this is presented, of course, not as something dry and scholarly, but as an arch--even, at times, ornery--argument that is vintage Atwood. It's a fine accompaniment to her great novels.

From The Washington Post

From The Washington Post's Book World/washingtonpost.com Reviewed by David Liss You can't say no one saw it coming. Margaret Atwood did. Frankly, I don't even want to know when she wrote this book. Either Atwood -- unlike, say, Alan Greenspan -- predicted the global economic meltdown a long time ago, long enough to write the book and see it through the slow conveyer belt of publication, or she wrote it so recently and so quickly that my head would spin with jealousy and wonder. Payback is a delightfully engaging, smart, funny, clever and terrifying analysis of the role debt plays in our culture, our consciousness, our economy, our ecology and, if Atwood is right, our future. At the beginning of the book, she presents her work as an inquiry into "debt as a human construct -- thus an imaginative construct -- and how this construct mirrors and magnifies both voracious human desire and ferocious human fear." If this sound dry and forbidding, have no worries. Atwood breezily approaches her subject with anecdotes, memories and references ranging from Plato to Star Trek. If Scrooge is too highbrow for you, just hang in there and she'll woo you with a trenchant analysis of Scrooge McDuck. Atwood, a Canadian novelist and woman of letters, is interested in debt as a large concept, a thread that worms its way through all aspects of human life: our psychology, religions, relationships and, of course, finances. She goes back to ancient worship to show how, in the afterlife, the soul's status was valued using models of credit and debit. The word for sin and debt, Atwood observes, are the same in Aramaic, the language spoken by Jesus. Indeed, she points out how the language of debt permeates religious and moral discourse. Jesus comes to earth to redeem sinners. Criminals go to prison to pay their debts to society. There is, she says, a whole language of financial exchange embedded in our moral compasses. As for why this should be so, Atwood relies on a couple of pillars to prop up her argument. First, she sees narrative as central to human consciousness, and narrative works in terms of debits and credits. If motivations and desires can be reduced to a credit and debit system, then the stories we tell -- and she finds plenty of examples from Marlowe, Dickens, George Eliot and countless others -- are often literally, and always metaphorically, about the human desire to even things up. "Without story," she writes, "there is no debt," but the argument appears to work both ways. Without debt, there is no story. This point leads to the second, and perhaps more sturdy, pillar of her argument: management of debt is an exercise in fairness. One of the metaphors to which she returns frequently is that of an experiment done with capuchin moneys who are rewarded for performing simple tasks with a piece of cucumber. Then some of the monkeys begin receiving grapes -- a more prized food -- for performing the same task. Soon none of the monkeys is willing to work, because once they view their labor as worth grapes, there's no way they are going to expend their energy if all they are going to get is a lousy cucumber. What we most want, says Atwood, is to be treated fairly or, better yet, more than fairly -- but never unfairly; that is not acceptable. At times it seems to be Atwood's own notion of unfair treatment that motivates this book. Not her personal grievances, of course, but her perception of global imbalances, her feelings of cosmic injustice when she looks upon those who get all the grapes and the dangerous resentment brewing among those who are lucky even to get cucumbers. If systems, from personal relationships to global financial markets, operate on the assumption of basic fairness, then what happens when actors cannot or will not repay their debts? As we've seen with investment giants over-leveraged with bad derivatives, everything begins to break down, including the illusions that once held things together. Early in Payback, Atwood recalls learning about banks and interest as a child, at first finding them as mysterious as the tooth fairy. "If I stopped believing in banks, would they too expire?" she wondered. Later in the book, she observes that "when people lose faith in the value of a currency . . . money simply melts away, like the illusion it always has been." These are scary times for this sort of observation. Financial chaos, global warming, food shortages, environmental degradation and the possible extinction of the human race are all potential results of a monumental credit imbalance. A small number of people have way too many grapes. Inequity is reaching a boiling point, and on human, national, economic and environmental fronts, we are setting ourselves up for some monumental payback. It's scary stuff, but lucky for us it is also extremely entertaining.
Copyright 2008, The Washington Post. All Rights Reserved.

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ House of Anansi Press; Fourth Impression edition (October 7, 2008)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 230 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 0887848001
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-0887848001
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 8.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.5 x 0.5 x 8 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #1,829,772 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #3,570 in Economic History (Books)
- #4,635 in Folklore & Mythology Studies
- #7,978 in Cultural Anthropology (Books)

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Margaret Atwood

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Margaret Atwood is the author of more than fifty books of fiction, poetry and critical essays. Her novels include Cat's Eye, The Robber Bride, Alias Grace, The Blind Assassin and the MaddAddam trilogy. Her 1985 classic, The Handmaid's Tale, went back into the bestseller charts with the election of Donald Trump, when the Handmaids became a symbol of resistance against the disempowerment of women, and with the 2017 release of the award-winning Channel 4 TV series. ‘Her sequel, The Testaments, was published in 2019. It was an instant international bestseller and won the Booker Prize.’

Atwood has won numerous awards including the Booker Prize, the Arthur C. Clarke Award for Imagination in Service to Society, the Franz Kafka Prize, the Peace Prize of the German Book Trade and the PEN USA Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2019 she was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour for services to literature. She has also worked as a cartoonist, illustrator, librettist, playwright and puppeteer. She lives in Toronto, Canada.

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da.illest.round

A students perspective of "Payback: Debt and the Shadown Side of Wealth

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 13, 2013

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A Students Perspective of Payback
Shortly after reading this non-fiction type novel, Payback: Debt and the shadow side of wealth, I discovered that Margaret Atwood uses a wide amount of allusions and motifs, that refer back to the ancient Egyptians, the more current readings of Charles Dickens's, "A Christmas Carol", all the way down to the breaking down of the legend of Saint Nick; even though she has made a couple Christmas references this book is neither a book close to the idea of the warm season, nor does it present a whole of lot optimism throughout. I would have to say that this book touches on a variety of exposures to debt, and is more of a gathering of stories, put together, to make one big statement about debt, with the absence of argumentative writing.

Broadly described, Atwood uses the amazing subject of debt to write on. The subject itself seems to relate to the main idea of debtors and creditors, as in credit cards, the purchasing of cars, and the purchasing of house. She touches the idea of money as debt quite a bit, but also touches the debts of everyday relationships as a general sense, including gifts, and life as a debt, rather than just a monetary value. She uses her own situations in life, to relate to the subject very well. As humans, we are born with a never ending tally count of debts that we have occurred, and debts that need to be repaid to us. The main theme to this book to me, would have to be the idea, that if I do something wrong to a certain person, I can assume that I will get wronged right back, in a basic sense.

Debt is touched in many different lights. In a religious light Atwood refers to how debts, and sins are not only closely related, but are in fact one of the same. She proves this through the prayer reference, "forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors" or "forgive us our trespasses as we forgive those who trespass against us". She also makes the example that not only the idea of sins and debts are the same, but in context may be interchangeable, and follow with a questioning statement from the above quote, "I wonder why no one has transitioned to say, "forgive us of our debts..." instead".

Atwood certainly has a subtle amount of cockiness to her writing. Her use of many different pieces of work definitely shows her knowledge, but in turn the constant changing of references holds her back from getting too in depth into that piece, and incorporates the other pieces to focus only on that specific idea. In other words it seems she is only pulling the parts of the reference that specifically relate to her perspective, almost as if avoiding any situation of being challenged, or create a controversy. I personally believe her writing would be a lot better if instead of narrating a piece of reference, if she would put the idea of the piece into her own words entirely. I felt as if I read three books at the same time with all the excerpts from other stories and such.

On a more positive note, I believe that Atwood's topic of debt kept me interested enough to finish it. The constant evaluations between biblical references and debts are what made it truly interesting personally. For example, the devil being the almighty creditor who bribes those with the desire for material things, sex, and money, for their lives and souls. Another biblical reference is the Virgin Mary. Atwood elaborates about how the Virgin Mary is the strongest almost "goddess" in Christianity, but even she still cannot change debts and sins. Compared to the Egyptian goddesses, who are there main gods and who are in charge of judgment and balance in its entirety.

In conclusion, Atwood ends the book with a Modern recreation of Scrooge, and leaves off with a major theme, telling that we humans should focus on our debt to the world, and our debts to each other, instead of ONLY focusing on monetary financial debts. This book in total is well written and easily read; the only issue I personally don't like is the slight lacking of originality from her own perspective, and the repetitious ins and outs of allusion.
-Darian C.

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Erikavanessa

Great Read for All

Reviewed in the United States 🇺🇸 on April 1, 2013

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Payback written by Margaret Atwood is a book that takes the common concept of `debt' and analyzes various aspects of it that were not commonly known before. Atwood's insight breaks down and explains debt in a way that is comprehensible by any general reader. Though the topic itself may seem a bit boring and tedious to read about, she utilizes a creative approach to display the multiple aspects of debt that many people in today's society are not already aware of. Her five main points that she goes into depth about are: ancient balances, debt and sin, debt as a plot, the shadow side, and lastly payback through all of which she uses extended comparisons, allusions, and attention grabbing facts that cover the wide range of perspectives within the topic of debt. She makes it so this common topic is relatable to everyone- no matter their age, race, or gender.
Right off the bat, Atwood begins explaining facts that to me, and likely to others, were unknown and intrigued me to read more. For instance, she brings the notion up of how animals and humans seek fairness and equality amongst one another. In order for us to interact properly we seek that we are always reciprocated for our actions in an equal value or manner of another person. Here, she begins uses one of her many examples that reiterate her point in which a study of animals proves that this primitive theory is actually true. Another highlight of her first initial introduction is that debt isn't always how we perceive it to be. It can be something as simple as returning a favor unto someone, repaying your parents for what they have done for you, or even marriage. That being said, debt as we know it today takes numerous forms that we most likely weren't aware of beforehand.
Moreover, she begins to incorporate various allusions to which some are very common to most readers and others may require research in order to understand. Some common examples being Santa Claus and Ebenezer Scrooge and how the perceptions of these characters today are completely inaccurate from how they originated and what they signify. Simple allusions like these makes the reader get a new perspective into how debt and the topic of sin have been connected and going side by side for an immeasurable amount of time. Before, debt was considered to be one of the worst sins one could commit to; however, nowadays it is something that everyone must go through. Her explanation of how history connects debt to the Christian religion is fascinating because once again it shatters all preconceived notions of the mere thought of debt.
Furthermore, Atwood begins to analyze the numerous different types of debt and how the relationship between creditor and debtor begins to work. Whether this be through a mortgage, pawn shops, or something else. But, more importantly she explains that debt is something that has always existed, "without memory, there is no debt...without story, there is not debt" (page 81) and will continue to exist because of the mere fact that we have memory. There is always something to needs to be paid back, or returned to the creditor who had given you the opportunity. Also, she begins expanding upon the fact that wealth brings us to only be consumed by ourselves and not have a care for what is going on around us. She explains this through the allusion of using Ebenezer Scrooge once more; however, she redoes the story of how he realizes that its wrong to keep everything for himself. It was an innovative way to display the same type of moral message through her idea of modern day society.
In conclusion, I would recommend this book to anyone--the reason being that she did not intend her audience to be within a specific range of people, anyone can understand what she has written about. She analyzed, explained, and related every possible aspect of debt to show its connections to history, people, and you along with summing it all up and displaying what it all means. I enjoyed her way of including numerous allusions to reiterate her main points which made it easier to understand as well. Atwood, in my opinion did a splendid job on this work because she opened my mind and eyes to the topic of debt and wealth that I had no prior knowledge of beforehand.

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just me

SURPRISINGLY GOOD

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on November 5, 2021

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I read Margaret Atwood when her Handmaids Tale won prizes years ago. I preferred the TV version. This book however is a really good read of a serious topic which could be seen as difficult. It's a series of lectures yet, or maybe because of that, it flows really well. Totally recommend, which I have done to so many friends I now have no idea where my copy is !!

Sandra

Drowning in detail!

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on September 19, 2021

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I love Margaret Atwood's novels - this started well - very absorbing - but sorry to say I had to give up half-way through - like wading through porridge!

a n other

it reminds us that economics should not be about boring numbers and statistics

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on December 10, 2017

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This is an usual but important book. While the earlier chapters are interesting, it is the final chapter that has most resonance. Written but a non-economist, it reminds us that economics should not be about boring numbers and statistics, but the impact of our actions on the wider society and environment. Oour politicians could read and learn from this.

4 people found this helpful

Frankie Royd

What a wonderful book.

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on May 28, 2019

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This was clever and witty and a great exposee of debt in all its forms, financial, moral and last, but not least, our debt to Mother Earth. Wonderful!

humblePi

Great value

Reviewed in the United Kingdom 🇬🇧 on July 17, 2018

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This 2nd-hand book was in better condition than I expected, from the description. Great value

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