SOURCE: “Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale: A Contextual Dystopia,” in Science-Fiction Studies, Vol. 16, Part 2, July, 1989, pp. 209-17.

In the following essay, Ketterer examines the cyclical structure and historical perspective of The Handmaid's Tale. According to Ketterer, Atwood breaks from traditional dystopia conventions by juxtaposing present and post-dystopia contexts.

Until recently Margaret Atwood's interest in SF and fantasy has found only incidental expression in her creative work. At the conclusion of Lady Oracle (1976), the narrator, a writer of “Costume Gothics,” reflects: “maybe I'll try some science fiction. The future doesn't appeal to me as much as the past, but I'm sure it's better for you.” Atwood herself has since tried some SF, most notably The Handmaid's Tale (1985), which was nominated for the Ritz-Paris Hemingway Prize in France, shortlisted for the prestigious Booker Prize, and won the Los Angeles Times Prize, the Governor General's Award in Canada, and the first...