ORCID
0000-0001-7178-8438
Keywords
Margaret Atwood, A Handmaid's Tale, post truth, literary criticism
Abstract
Fictional narratives, like the recent Hulu adaptation of Margaret Atwood’s 1986 dystopia novel A Handmaid’s Tale and the original novel, offer a way to explore real anxieties people face in the age of post-truth politics and the Trump presidency. More specifically, these two texts are worth exploring in relation to Trump’s misogynistic comments and the current assault on women’s rights. Both the television series and book blur the lines between fiction and reality. The loss of women’s rights in the television series and novel mirrors real fears some women today face about losing their reproductive rights in the United States. Kenneth Burke’s theory of dramatism and his discussion of terministic screens provide a useful framework to analyze how language reflects and shapes attitudes towards truth and women’s rights in the new adaptation of A Handmaid’s Tale.
Publication Date
2018
Document Type
Paper
Language
English
Copyright Status
Author retained
Publication Version
Pre-print
Rights
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
College
Academic Affairs
Location
Orlando (Main) Campus
Department
Libraries
Accessibility Status
PDF accessibility verified using Adobe Acrobat Pro Accessibility Checker
STARS Citation
Trnka, Rachel E., "Revisiting A Handmaid’s Tale in the Age of Post-Truth Politics" (2018). Faculty Scholarship and Creative Works. 1303.
https://stars.library.ucf.edu/ucfscholar/1303
Included in
English Language and Literature Commons, Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies Commons