“History Does Not Repeat Itself, But it Rhymes” — Narrators Change Literary Style in Margaret Atwood’s Novels The Handmaid’s Tale and The Testaments
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2021-06-30
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en
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The topic of this thesis is Margaret Atwood's novel The Handmaid's Tale (1984) and its sequel, The Testaments (2019). These two novels were written under different societal influences: the prevalent literary style for the 1980s was Postmodernism, and The Handmaid's Tale shows the Postmodern characteristics of fragmentation and the absence of absolute truth as an integral part of the narrator's experience. The style that best fits The Testaments is Metamodernism, a recently identified new movement distinguished by its aesthetics, goal, and a search for absolute truth. The difference between the usage of these two styles can be explained by the narrators of the respective novels. All four occupy distinct positions in society that make Postmodernism and Metamodernism, respectively, styles that enhance their character arcs as well as the plot.
Keywords: Margaret Atwood, The Handmaid's Tale (1985), The Testaments (2019), Postmodernism, Metamodernism, Gérard Genette, Narratology.
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Faculteit der Letteren