"America has riots; Canada has panel discussions on riots," Canadian author Margaret Atwood told about 250 people yesterday at the Kennedy School's Forum.

Delivering a lecture on "Survival in North America," Canada's premier literary figure used the occasion to launch an appeal for better U.S. understanding of Canada.

"Canada is a circumference without a center. America has a center, but mistakes it for the whole circle," Atwood said in a speech sprinkled with quips and aphorisms.

A graduate student in English at Harvard in the early 60's, Atwood is highly regarded for her prose and poetry. Her book of literary criticism, "Survival," has sparked debate about the quality of Canadian literature since its 1972 publication.

At the Kennedy School yesterday, Atwood traced her development as a Canadian nationalist and a feminist. "For a long time, 'Canadian writer' was an oxymoron," she said.

Referring to the dispute in Canada over acid rain caused by the American coal industry, she said, 'Canadians are touchy about imported noxious influences. If we want our lakes killed, we'll do it ourselves--not that you're not doing a good job."

She also poked fun at her native country. "Americans consistently give my books better reviews. Americans worship success; Canadians find it in bad taste."

Survival

Returning to her theme of survival, Atwood said, "There once was a revolution with the slogan, 'No taxation without representation.' The revolutionary slogan for 1981 should be 'No annihilation without representation.'"

She characterized American attitudes toward Canada-U.S. relations as something akin to, "You're cute when you're mad, honey," adding that it represented "unconscious imperialism."

She also warned the U.S. to consider its general foreign policy in broader terms. "The Russians are better chess players," Atwood said.

"You have to remember that we're all in this together," she concluded. "All the oxygen in the world isn't American."