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Margaret Atwood to publish sequel to ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’
Washington Post ^ | November 28, 2018 | Ron Charles

Posted on 11/28/2018 7:38:47 AM PST by EdnaMode

Margaret Atwood is working on a sequel to “The Handmaid’s Tale,” the most popular and influential feminist novel ever written.

Her sequel, titled “The Testaments,” opens 15 years after the conclusion of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and is narrated by three women, according to a statement released by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday on Wednesday.

In a note to readers, Atwood wrote, “Everything you’ve ever asked me about Gilead and its inner workings is the inspiration for this book. Well, almost everything! The other inspiration is the world we’ve been living in.”

“The Testaments” will be published on Sept. 10, 2019, with a massive first printing of 500,000 copies.

“The Handmaid’s Tale” has sold 8 million copies in English since it was first published in 1985.

Atwood’s depiction of a violently misogynist society has resonated with a new generation of readers since the election of Donald Trump and the TV adaptation of the novel, which began airing in 2017. (A third season of the TV show, starring Elisabeth Moss and Joseph Fiennes, is currently in production.) For the past two years, “The Handmaid’s Tale” has frequently appeared on the paperback bestseller list, and the red-robed women of the novel and series have become common avatars of feminist protest during the Trump era. Abortion rights activists dressed in red cloaks and white bonnets have marched in Washington and in state capitol buildings around the country.

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Arts/Photography; Books/Literature; Chit/Chat; TV/Movies
KEYWORDS: antichristian; atwood; feminazism; gilead; handmaidstale; hysteria; liberalbigot; margaretatwood; mythmaking; thehandmaidstale
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Will there be a chapter when one of the handmaids falsely accuses one of the commanders of sexual harassment?
1 posted on 11/28/2018 7:38:47 AM PST by EdnaMode
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To: EdnaMode

Oppressor Porn.


2 posted on 11/28/2018 7:42:06 AM PST by Skooz (Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us Gabba Gabba we accept you we accept you one of us)
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To: EdnaMode

Liberals would rather believe a work of known fiction than open their eyes to a known reality...................


3 posted on 11/28/2018 7:47:06 AM PST by Red Badger (We are headed for a Civil War. It won't be nice like the last one....................)
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To: EdnaMode

The Handmaids Tale is non-fiction...in nations like Malaysia, Iran and Saudi Arabia. But Atwood isn’t brave enough to take on true oppression of women.


4 posted on 11/28/2018 7:47:23 AM PST by montag813
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To: Skooz

Which character is really Trump? You know there has to be one.


5 posted on 11/28/2018 7:52:28 AM PST by Salman (Democrats. The other religion of peace.)
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To: EdnaMode

The only Canadian woman nuttier than Margaret Trudeau.


6 posted on 11/28/2018 7:53:52 AM PST by Catmom (We're all gonna get the punishment only some of us deserve.r)
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To: Red Badger
Exactly.

They can't find the 'rape culture' they claim is everywhere so they write 'rape fiction' to confirm their own twisted beliefs.

7 posted on 11/28/2018 7:55:03 AM PST by yesthatjallen
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To: EdnaMode

Wondering what the handmaids will look like after they trade their bonnets for pu*sy hats...


8 posted on 11/28/2018 7:57:09 AM PST by redhead (PRAYfor little ones in pedo pipeline: child livestock: raped, tortured, and satanically sacrificed.)
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To: EdnaMode

9 posted on 11/28/2018 7:57:18 AM PST by \/\/ayne (I regret that I have but one subscription cancellation notice to give to my local newspaper.)
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To: montag813

I heard the book was written after a trip to a Muslim country


10 posted on 11/28/2018 7:57:56 AM PST by AppyPappy (How many fingers am I holding up, Winston?)
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To: EdnaMode

Dear Canada an US....coming to a Muslim neighborhood near you.

Oh, forgot, already there.


11 posted on 11/28/2018 8:05:45 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Da Coyote

Drat, hate it when I have a Occasional Cortex moment.

That’s “and” not “an”.


12 posted on 11/28/2018 8:06:37 AM PST by Da Coyote
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To: Red Badger

Ha! Well put and TRUE!


13 posted on 11/28/2018 8:07:39 AM PST by GOP Poet
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To: EdnaMode

Everyone looks at the Handmaid’s Tale as a criticism of how women are treated in society. And maybe that is what the author intended. But I look at it another way.

It isn’t a story about our current society. It is about a society that exists after some cataclysmic event happens which threatens the survival of the human race. Something has happened leaving all but a handful of women sterile. If any society was faced with such a threat of extinction, they would (and should) take drastic measures to survive.

During times of war we have had a draft. We, as a society, have decided that it is acceptable to take young men and force them against their will to serve in the military and go into battle. Men can be (and certainly have been) sent to their death. And they were given no choice. If they were to refuse, they would be jailed at best and quite possibly executed. And we, as a society, accept this as necessary. It doesn’t mean we like it - it just means we accept the reality that it is necessary at times.

If we were faced with extinction due to a lack of women who could reproduce, would we not fight to survive? I see the concept of the Handmaids as something similar to the draft. They are forced against their will to train for a service which they might not agree with. One which they might find horrendous. But it is one that is necessary to ensure survival. Some would volunteer willingly. Some would not like it, but go along because it was their duty. Some would only accept their role under threat of imprisonment or death. And some would fight against it.

That is what is told in the Handmaid’s Tale. I think it is a reasonably thought through premise of what would happen to society.

But I don’t see it as a criticism of that society.


14 posted on 11/28/2018 8:07:58 AM PST by sipow
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To: EdnaMode

Oh good, more man hate.....

Biggest mistake ever, listening to that stinking hot mess hoping for a story. Never again. That author, though laughing bank-ward, can keep any future drek to herself.

Never again!

KYPD


15 posted on 11/28/2018 8:09:11 AM PST by petro45acp (All those disopian movies? applefacebookgoogletwitteryahooutoob....you are the bad guys!)
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To: EdnaMode

She sees the $$$$$, even if they are Canadian $$$$$.


16 posted on 11/28/2018 8:11:06 AM PST by proxy_user
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To: EdnaMode

I think that Atwood was prescient in seeing the rise of the Islamic patriarchy.

She identified the religion incorrectly but got everything else right about the Moslims and Islam.


17 posted on 11/28/2018 8:13:19 AM PST by Chickensoup (Never count on anyone, ever.)
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To: EdnaMode

Sequel? You mean it’s fiction? Or are you just carrying water for the white male oppressors....


18 posted on 11/28/2018 8:15:50 AM PST by Psalm 73 ("I will now proceed to entangle the entire area".)
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To: EdnaMode

Why doesn’t she write a true-to-life novel of women living under a strict sharia society? That might be something worth reading.


19 posted on 11/28/2018 8:16:34 AM PST by Rummyfan (In any war between the civilized man and the savage, support the civilized man. Support Israel.)
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To: Chickensoup

I mean, she had over a thousand years of Islamic history to go off of.


20 posted on 11/28/2018 8:26:32 AM PST by TarasBulbous
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