後現代主義將文學的發展方向由經典帶向大眾、由主流帶向非主流，使得文字創作及研究有更活潑的面貌和更多樣化的展現。臺灣的英美文學系所原有偏向以英美文學主流為教學和研究重點的弊病，而今在女性主義及所謂〞邊緣〞文學受到重視下，逐漸開拓更寬闊的研究領域。本文是以一次教學試驗就臺灣英美文學系學生對女性主義及邊緣論述和顛覆典律之當代文體的反應來看二十世紀末的臺灣學生對於〞邊緣性〞和當代文學研究的敏感度與接受度。 瑪格麗特．艾伍德（ Margaret Atwood ）是筆者選定的作者，原因是她不但自命是女性主義作家，特別強調加拿大的邊緣地位，且以綜合了詩、散文、與小說的文體顛覆了傳統文類的侷限，可以說是後現代主義文學多面向的一個代表性作家。 瑪格麗特．艾伍德堪稱是加拿大最有名的女作家。她已出版八本長篇小說，十本詩集，三本短篇小說集，和一本重要的文學批評集及無數的短文與評論。在臺灣主修英美文學的學生可能只有在專門探究短篇小說或有關女性主義作家的課程裡，才有可能接觸到艾伍德的作品。不論是在哪一門課裡，他們在課堂裡最有可能閱讀並加以討論的艾伍德的作品應該是＜強暴幻想＞（ Rape Fantasies ）。＜強暴幻想＞寫於一九七五年，並被收錄在許多文選中（如朗文的＜文學導讀＞和諾頓的＜諾頓女性作家選集＞）。更有意義的是，這可能是臺灣大學生所讀到的少數－甚至是唯一的－加拿大作家的作品之一，也是當代女性主義作家的短篇小說之最佳範例之一。 我又另選了艾伍德的另一個短篇，＜女體＞（ The Female Body ）給學生樂閱讀，主要是因為本篇也探討了性別政治的主題。此外，由於這兩個短篇寫就的時間相隔約二十年之久，藉此或可透析作者在女性主義議題上的進展。雖然艾伍德曾被批評為有「身為女性主義作者、加拿大人、及詩人的三重障礙」，但這「三重障礙」卻也成為艾伍德小說的獨特標記。因此，在教授上述的篇作品時，便有必要討論艾伍德的這種「三重障礙」，並進一步指出她的作品表現出她對自己身為加拿大說英語（以別於說法語者）之白人女性的強烈認同，同時她也據此對國籍與性別的刻板印象提出質疑，挑戰這種定位產生的種種限制，且更進一步揭示這些人為的限制如何影響我們去了解自己和他人所共有的人性。儘管一個英語非母語的臺灣學生在閱讀艾伍德這兩個短篇時可能會有種種疑問，但艾伍德以她一貫的反諷筆觸提醒讀者不該被動的接受對任何事物的任何過於簡單且理所當然的定義；這對臺灣學生而言，應該會有相當的啟發與提示吧。

　　　　　Probably the most famous Canadian female writer, Margaret Atwood has produced eight novels, ten books of poetry, three short story collections, in addition to an important book of literary criticism and numerous essays and reviews. Students who major in English in Taiwan are likely to encounter Atwood in either a survey course on the short story or a course on feminist writers. In either case, the first work by Atwood that they probably read and discuss in class is "Rape Fantasies", which was written in 1975 and is found in many an anthology (such as Longman's An Introduction to Literature and Norton's The Norton Anthology of Literature by Women). Interestingly enough, this is probably one of the first stories, if not the first story, produced in Canada that Taiwanese students in literature read. For all of the above reasons, I have chosen to discuss the reception of Atwood's story by English majors. "Rape Fantasies" is Atwood's most widely read story here and is an excellent example of a modern short story by a feminist writer. I have also selected "The Female Body" mainly because it is related to the theme of sexual politics, which repeats Atwood's constant theme, as in the case with "Rape Fantasies". Moreover, since the stories were written almost twenty years apart, I will attempt to demonstrate the author's evolution in dealing with the issue of feminism. Even though Atwood has been criticized for "the triple handicap of being a token "feminist" author, a Canadian, and a poet," ironically that "triple handicap" spells out the distinctive marks of her fiction. Therefore, in teaching the above two stories, it is necessary to discuss this "triple handicap" of atwood and show not only how her writing is grounded in a strong sense of her own cultural identity as a white, English speaking, Canadian female, but also how she challenges the limits of such categories by questioning the stereotypes of nationality and gender, exposing cultural fictions and the artificial limits they impose on our understanding of ourselves and others as human beings. Regardless of the questions an Asian, non-English-speaking student might raise in reading these two stories by Atwood, the ultimate answer would be that, in her insistently ironic vision, Atwood challenges her reader's complacent acceptance of easy definitions about anything.