Historical Context for the Handmaid's Tale

In this lecture, Dr Madeleine Davies (University of Reading) explores some of the contexts that are important to keep in mind when reading Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale, focusing in particular on: (i) where and when Atwood wrote the novel; (ii) her engagement with contemporary politics – both the totalitarianism of Soviet Russia and the religious extremism of the New Right in the United States; and (iii) the influence of texts such Anne Frank's Diary, Nathaniel Hawthorne's The Scarlet Letter, and George Orwell's Nineteen Eighty-Four.

This lecture is part of a larger course on Margaret Atwood's The Handmaid's Tale. The full course can be found here: https://www.massolit.io/courses/atwoo...

MASSOLIT works with university academics to produce short video lectures in the arts, humanities and social sciences. It is available to schools and colleges on an institutional license as well as via private subscription: https://www.massolit.io/?source=yt