Friday, April 28, 2017

Atwood - riding the zeitgeist

There has been quite a bit of ink spilled on how Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale is proving quite prophetic, particularly in the U.S. where quite a few states are approaching theocracies, specifically over their attempts to control women's reproductive rights.  Here is Atwood herself recalling the writing of the novel and its main influences.  The number of articles has only increased since Atwood released an updated audiobook that expands on the questions and answers that form the last chapter of the book.  Will I try to borrow it just to hear them?  I haven't decided.  And of course, The Handmaid's Tale is coming to the small screen (or at least Hulu).  In Canada, it will be on Bravo (starting this Sunday in fact) and then can be streamed on Crave.  This sounds like something I probably ought to watch (along with Amazon's The Man in the High Castle), but I really have cut so far back on TV that I can't imagine how long it would take me to get through the whole series.  Nonetheless, I will see if I can get the PVR to record it.

What is perhaps more impressive (or at least less gut-wrenching at least immediately) is how the sex robots that she mentioned in The Heart Goes Last are coming along.  I suppose this was a case where she picked up on something that was already underway and only extrapolated a bit (here I am confining her prognosis to the sex robots -- there are other parts of The Heart Goes Last that are more of a stretch from today thankfully).  As I found out in a limited way recently, it can be a shock when something you imagined becomes a reality.  Anyway, for those who want to learn more on the subject, there are articles here and here.

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