Atwood returned to Toronto, where she bought a three-floor house on Hilton street with Jim. Her novel Surfacing found a publisher with Simon and Schuster and, a while after its release, found a readership, too. Atwood began teaching at York University, where she was a professor of creative writing. She took a special interest in illuminating how writers’ lives and times influenced their work and encouraged her students to consider how writers were perceived due to their genders. She gave students the task of systematically studying how reviewers discussed books and authors. Their survey found that most reviewers were male and that they tended to judge women authors more harshly than men.

In 1971 Power Politics, a book of poetry, was published. At this time Atwood was still married to Jim but aware of Graeme’s interest in her. Graeme and Shirley’s marriage was coming apart, and Shirley tried to seduce Jim, who was increasingly unhappy in Toronto. He did not want to be a writer like Atwood but could not find a teaching job, and their marriage began to feel increasingly uncertain to them both. Meanwhile, Graeme cautiously proposed to Atwood that they should have a life together. Atwood felt uncertain, exploring the issue in therapy but not finding any solid answer at first.