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The Handmaid's Tale

Not to be confused with The Handmaiden.
"Marthas" redirects here. For other uses, see Martha (disambiguation).
For the television series, see The Handmaid's Tale (TV series). For the film, see The Handmaid's Tale (film). For the opera, see The Handmaid's Tale (opera).

The Handmaid's Tale
Cover of the first edition
AuthorMargaret Atwood
Cover artistTad Aronowicz,[1] design; Gail Geltner, collage (first edition, hardback)
LanguageEnglish
GenreDystopian novel
Speculative fiction
Tragedy[2][3][4][5]
PublisherMcClelland and Stewart Houghton Mifflin Harcourt (ebook)
Publication date
1985
Publication placeCanada
Media typePrint (Hardcover and Paperback)
Pages311
ISBN0-7710-0813-9
OCLC12825460
819.1354
LC ClassPR9199.A8 H3618
Followed byThe Testaments 

The Handmaid's Tale is a futuristic dystopian novel[6] by Canadian author Margaret Atwood published in 1985.[7] It is set in a near-future New England in a patriarchal, totalitarian theonomic state known as the Republic of Gilead, which has overthrown the United States government.[8] Offred is the central character and narrator and one of the "Handmaids": women who are forcibly assigned to produce children for the "Commanders", who are the ruling class in Gilead.

The novel explores themes of powerless women in a patriarchal society, loss of female agency and individuality, suppression of women's reproductive rights, and the various means by which women resist and try to gain individuality and independence. The title echoes the component parts of Geoffrey Chaucer's The Canterbury Tales, which is a series of connected stories (such as "The Merchant's Tale" and "The Parson's Tale").[9] It also alludes to the tradition of fairy tales where the central character tells her story.[10]

The Handmaid's Tale won the 1985 Governor General's Award and the first Arthur C. Clarke Award in 1987; it was also nominated for the 1986 Nebula Award, the 1986 Booker Prize, and the 1987 Prometheus Award. In 2022, The Handmaid's Tale was included on the "Big Jubilee Read" list of 70 books by Commonwealth authors, selected to celebrate the Platinum Jubilee of Elizabeth II.[11] The book has been adapted into a 1990 film, a 2000 opera, a 2017 television series, and other media. A sequel novel, The Testaments, was published in 2019.

  1. ^ Cosstick, Ruth (January 1986). "Book review: The Handmaids Tale". Canadian Review of Materials. Vol. 14, no. 1. CM Archive. Archived from the original on 18 September 2016. Retrieved 26 June 2016. Tad Aronowicz's jaggedly surrealistic cover design is most appropriate.
  2. ^ Brown, Sarah (15 April 2008). Tragedy in Transition. John Wiley & Sons. p. 45. ISBN 9780470691304. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  3. ^ Taylor, Kevin (21 September 2018). Christ the Tragedy of God: A Theological Exploration of Tragedy. Routledge. ISBN 9781351607834. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  4. ^ Kendrick, Tom (2003). Margaret Atwood's Textual Assassinations: Recent Poetry and Fiction. Ohio State University Press. p. 148. ISBN 9780814209295. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  5. ^ Stray, Christopher (16 October 2013). Remaking the Classics: Literature, Genre and Media in Britain 1800-2000. A&C Black. p. 78. ISBN 9781472538604. Archived from the original on 23 March 2023. Retrieved 3 October 2020.
  6. ^ "The Handmaid's Tale Study Guide: About Speculative Fiction". Gradesaver. 22 May 2009. Archived from the original on 16 June 2014. Retrieved 23 May 2009.
  7. ^ Atwood 1985.
  8. ^ Isomaa, Saija; Korpua, Jyrki; Teittinen, Jouni (27 August 2020). New Perspectives on Dystopian Fiction in Literature and Other Media. Cambridge Scholars Publishing. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-5275-5872-4. Although theonomy originally refers to the Biblical past, in fiction it can be seen as a possible form of futuristic dystopian society, as is evident in Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale (1985). The theonomic government ruled by Lord Protector Cromwell in The Adventures of Luther Arkwright is quite different from the one in Atwood's novel because there is a constant power struggle.
  9. ^ Cite error: The named reference AtwoodNYT2017 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference :2 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ "The Big Jubilee Read: A literary celebration of Queen Elizabeth II's record-breaking reign". BBC. 17 April 2022. Archived from the original on 6 June 2022. Retrieved 18 June 2022.
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