Margaret Atwood is one of the most famous, if not THE most famous, Canadian writer. She has written more than 50 books, her work has been published in more than forty-five countries and she has won literature awards. The genre she is mostly known for is fiction, like The Handmaid’s Tale (1985), Oryx and Crake (2003) and her most recent work The Testaments (2019).
The Handmaid’s Tale is a novel about a woman called Offred who lives in fictional Gilead, a state that is highly religious, patriarchal and totalitarian. She is part of the suppressed social class of the “handmaids” who are forced to produce children for the ruling class of men. Atwood says that while the novel is a work of fiction, none of the events described in the book are fictive. She explains further that “it’s a response to ‘it can’t happen here.’
The Handmaid’s Tale was turned into a TV series produced by Bruce Miller for the American streaming service Hulu in 2016. While the first season is directly based on the book, the seasons imagine what would have happened after the book, and they take a closer look at what could have led to such a totalitarian state in the first place.
In 2019 Margaret Atwood wrote a called The Testaments which is set 15 years after The Handmaid’s Tale. She coordinated what happened in The Testaments with the events in the TV series. Now, it looks like Hulu is working on a series based on this new book.
Canadian viewers can currently watch The Handmaid’s Tale on Crave. When you watch the series, pay attention to the expressions. Both the book and the series use religious-sounding greeting formulas and other expressions that are not actually common in the English language. For example, instead of “Hello, how are you? – I’m well, thanks,” residents of Gilead say: “Blessed Be the Fruit. – May the Lord open.” Can you find more?
If you can’t decide whether to read the book or watch the series first, we would suggest reading the book first. And if you’re not sure if you’re comfortable reading a whole novel in English, you could try to find a sample chapter online to try.
Another fun activity would be to check if the conversations in the first season match the ones in the book exactly. A little hint: Listen for expressions like “old what’s-his-face”, “tough luck” and “they smoked them out” in the first episode. Which did you prefer: the book or the TV series? Let us know on social media or write to us at lesbonsmots@lesateliers.ca.