Titulo español:El Cuento de la criada
Les informations fournies dans la section « Synopsis » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.
from the Introduction
In the spring of 1984 I began to write a novel that was not initially called The Handmaid’s Tale. I wrote in long hand, mostly on yellow legal notepads, then transcribed my almost illegible scrawlings using a huge German-keyboard manual typewriter that I’d rented.
The keyboard was German because I was living in West Berlin, which was still encircled by the Berlin Wall: the Soviet empire was still strongly in place and was not to crumble for another five years. Every Sunday the East German air force made sonic booms to remind us of how close they were. During my visits to several countries behind the Iron Curtain—Czechoslovakia, East Germany—I experienced the wariness, the feeling of being spied on, the silences, the changes of subject, the oblique ways in which people might convey information, and these had an influence on what I was writing. So did the repurposed buildings. This used to belong to . . . But then they disappeared. I heard such stories many times.
Having been born in 1939 and come to consciousness during World War II, I knew that established orders could vanish overnight. Change could also be as fast as lightning. It can’t happen here could not be depended on: anything could happen anywhere, given the circumstances.
By 1984, I’d been avoiding my novel for a year or two. It seemed to me a risky venture. I’d read extensively in science fiction, speculative fiction, utopias and dystopias ever since my high school years in the 1950s, but I’d never written such a book. Was I up to it? The form was strewn with pitfalls, among them a tendency to sermonize, a veering into allegory, and a lack of plausibility. If I was to create an imaginary garden, I wanted the toads in it to be real. One of my rules was that I would not put any events into the book that had not already happened in what James Joyce called the “nightmare” of history, nor any technology not already available. No imaginary gizmos, no imaginary laws, no imaginary atrocities. God is in the details, they say. So is the devil.
Back in 1984, the main premise seemed—even to me—fairly outrageous. Would I be able to persuade readers that the United States of America had suffered a coup that had transformed an erstwhile liberal democracy into a literal-minded theocratic dictatorship? In the book, the Constitution and Congress are no longer: the Republic of Gilead is built on a foundation of the seventeenth-century Puritan roots that have always lain beneath the modern-day America we thought we knew.
The immediate location of the book is Cambridge, Massachusetts, home of Harvard University, now a leading liberal educational institution but once a Puritan theological seminary. The Secret Service of Gilead is located in the Widener Library, where I had spent many hours in the stacks, researching my New England ancestors as well as the Salem witchcraft trials. Would some people be affronted by the use of the Harvard wall as a display area for the bodies of the executed? (They were.)
In the novel, the population is shrinking due to a toxic environment, and the ability to have viable babies is at a premium. (In today’s real world, studies in China are now showing a sharp fertility decline in Chinese men.) Under totalitarianisms—or indeed in any sharply hierarchical society—the ruling class monopolizes valuable things, so the elite of the regime arrange to have fertile females assigned to them as Handmaids. The biblical precedent is the story of Jacob and his two wives, Rachel and Leah, and their two handmaids. One man, four women, twelve sons—but the handmaids could not claim the sons. They belonged to the respective wives.
And so the tale unfolds.
GET READY for THE TESTAMENTS, the highly anticipated SEQUEL, by reading the BESTSELLING DYSTOPIAN NOVEL
NOW AN AWARD-WINNING TV SERIES STARRING ELISABETH MOSS
Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead, a religious totalitarian state in what was formerly known as the United States. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford – her assigned name, Offred, means ‘of Fred’. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs.
Masterfully conceived and executed, this haunting vision of the future places Margaret Atwood at the forefront of dystopian fiction.
'As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it...no television event has hit such a nerve ...The Handmaid’s Tale is more relevant one year after the first season’ Guardian
'Don’t expect to be gripped by a more potent or involving drama this year' Telegraph
Les informations fournies dans la section « A propos du livre » peuvent faire référence à une autre édition de ce titre.
Frais de port :
EUR 4,64
De Royaume-Uni vers Etats-Unis
Frais de port :
EUR 2,45
Vers Etats-Unis
Vendeur : WeBuyBooks, Rossendale, LANCS, Royaume-Uni
Etat : Very Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. N° de réf. du vendeur wbs9986735967
Quantité disponible : 1 disponible(s)
Vendeur : WeBuyBooks, Rossendale, LANCS, Royaume-Uni
Etat : Good. Most items will be dispatched the same or the next working day. A copy that has been read but remains in clean condition. All of the pages are intact and the cover is intact and the spine may show signs of wear. The book may have minor markings which are not specifically mentioned. N° de réf. du vendeur wbs8181908182
Quantité disponible : 1 disponible(s)
Vendeur : WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, Royaume-Uni
Paperback. Etat : Good. The book has been read but remains in clean condition. All pages are intact and the cover is intact. Some minor wear to the spine. N° de réf. du vendeur GOR001190117
Quantité disponible : 4 disponible(s)
Vendeur : WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, Royaume-Uni
Paperback. Etat : Fair. A readable copy of the book which may include some defects such as highlighting and notes. Cover and pages may be creased and show discolouration. N° de réf. du vendeur GOR001191765
Quantité disponible : 3 disponible(s)
Vendeur : Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, Etats-Unis
Etat : Fair. Acceptable/Fair condition. Book is worn, but the pages are complete, and the text is legible. Has wear to binding and pages, may be ex-library. 0.5. N° de réf. du vendeur 353-0099740915-acp
Quantité disponible : 1 disponible(s)
Vendeur : Librairie Thé à la page, Montélimar, France
Couverture souple. Etat : Satisfaisant. Vintage collection , 2000. 1 volume broché(s) format In-8 assez bon 324 pages - . N° de réf. du vendeur 463407
Quantité disponible : 1 disponible(s)
Vendeur : WorldofBooks, Goring-By-Sea, WS, Royaume-Uni
Paperback. Etat : Very Good. ** THE SUNDAY TIMES NO. 1 BESTSELLER ** Discover the dystopian novel that started a phenomenon. Offred is a Handmaid in The Republic of Gilead. She is placed in the household of The Commander, Fred Waterford her assigned name, Offred, means of Fred. She has only one function: to breed. If Offred refuses to enter into sexual servitude to repopulate a devastated world, she will be hanged. Yet even a repressive state cannot eradicate hope and desire. As she recalls her pre-revolution life in flashbacks, Offred must navigate through the terrifying landscape of torture and persecution in the present day, and between two men upon which her future hangs. 'A fantastic, chilling story. And so powerfully feminist' Bernadine Evaristo As relevant today as it was when Atwood wrote it Guardian. The book has been read, but is in excellent condition. Pages are intact and not marred by notes or highlighting. The spine remains undamaged. N° de réf. du vendeur GOR001226429
Quantité disponible : Plus de 20 disponibles
Vendeur : Book Deals, Tucson, AZ, Etats-Unis
Etat : Very Good. Very Good condition. Shows only minor signs of wear, and very minimal markings inside (if any). 0.5. N° de réf. du vendeur 353-0099740915-vrg
Quantité disponible : 1 disponible(s)
Vendeur : AwesomeBooks, Wallingford, Royaume-Uni
Paperback. Etat : Very Good. The Handmaid's Tale (Contemporary Classics) This book is in very good condition and will be shipped within 24 hours of ordering. The cover may have some limited signs of wear but the pages are clean, intact and the spine remains undamaged. This book has clearly been well maintained and looked after thus far. Money back guarantee if you are not satisfied. See all our books here, order more than 1 book and get discounted shipping. N° de réf. du vendeur 7719-9780099740919
Quantité disponible : 5 disponible(s)
Vendeur : GreatBookPrices, Columbia, MD, Etats-Unis
Etat : good. May show signs of wear, highlighting, writing, and previous use. This item may be a former library book with typical markings. No guarantee on products that contain supplements Your satisfaction is 100% guaranteed. Twenty-five year bookseller with shipments to over fifty million happy customers. N° de réf. du vendeur 1377840-5
Quantité disponible : 4 disponible(s)