Nuclear and environmental disasters, infertility, pollution, a continued war with a foreign power, a government of extreme religious fundamentalists that took over and nullified the Constitution after staging a coup, and women living in a subservient or enslaved existence - this is The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s dark and frightening speculation of what America could devolve into.
Written more than 30 years ago and dismissed by some critics when it was first released, The Handmaid’s Tale reads more as a dire warning than a “what if” dystopian fiction. To the novel’s credit, despite being challenged in some schools, it has never fallen out of print and is still widely read. Now Atwood’s book has been reimagined as an original streaming series for Hulu premiering April 26.
To mark the occasion, Evesham Library will be hosting Page to Screen: The Handmaid's Tale on April 29 at 12:30 pm. We'll be showing the 1990 film adaptation starring Natasha Richardson, Faye Dunaway, Robert Duvall and Aidan Quinn. For years, the film has been difficult to find, but with the premiere of the new Hulu series, this adaptation is being rereleased.
About the Book
Set in the near future, it describes life in what was once the United States, now called the Republic of Gilead, a monotheocracy that has reacted to social unrest and a sharply declining birthrate by reverting to, and going beyond, the repressive intolerance of the original Puritans. The regime takes the Book of Genesis absolutely at its word, with bizarre consequences for the women and men of its population.
About the Author
Margaret Atwood was born in 1939 in Ottawa, and grew up in northern Ontario and Quebec, and in Toronto. She received her undergraduate degree from Victoria College at the University of Toronto and her master’s degree from Radcliffe College. Throughout her writing career, Margaret Atwood has received numerous awards and honorary degrees and is the author of more than forty books of fiction, poetry, and critical essays.
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