To Orwell Today,

Hello Jackie,

I have just discovered the Orwell Today website, and as a big fan of dystopian literature, I have to say it is a researcher's dream come true.

Have you read Margaret Atwood's 1986 novel "The Handmaid's Tale?" I think it is remarkable because it incorporates one factor that Huxley and Orwell both dismissed outright in their societal models, that is, the rise to power in Western society of fundamental religious zealots who appear to be nothing more than tools of the corporate power structure, and will not tolerate the view of any citizen who does not buy completely into a pure fundamentalist model.

It seems to me that politicians on both sides of the War on Terror, both Christian and Islamic, are simply using fundamentalism to advance their own power agendas, while basically prostituting themselves to the oil companies. What do you think of that?

Sincerely and respectfully, Paul Corman-Roberts

Greetings Paul,

No, I haven't read "The Handmaid's Tale" although I have of course heard about it. Atwood is a feminist writer here in Canada who is very smiled-upon in literary circles. Her books are always up for some award or another (which she often wins). I read her earlier books about twenty years ago but not her recent ones as I don't find them interesting.

I never read "A Handmaid's Tale" because Atwood is a defender of abortion-on-demand and so I assumed her book about forced child-bearing would be a warped version of motherhood and birth. She has always struck me as a person who dislikes men and would prefer they weren't involved in procreation, or if they were, that they be the ones who carry the "burden".

But I'll rent the video now that you've reminded me of the book and maybe then I'll be able to tell you what I think about it.

All the best,
Jackie Jura