Onyett, N. (0223) ‘Painting the lion: female characters and their stories’, English Review, 33 (4), pp.2-5.
Nicola Onyett compares three texts across time in which female characters make us think about whose stories are shared, and whose are suppressed. This includes a dicussion about The Handmaid’s Tale.
Mellor, C. (2022) ‘Dystopian realities: The Handmaid’s Tale and Oryx and Crake’, English Review, 33 (1), pp.8-11.
Clare Mellor explores the cponnections between two of Atwood’s dystopias and how we read them in today’s Covid world.
Murkett, K. (2021) ”The Handmaid’s Tale’: the power of language and the language of power’, Emagazine, 92, pp.11-14.
Kristina Murkett asks questions about linguistic relativism, the unreliability of Offred’s narration, and how language offers scope for subversion and a route out of passive acceptance in Atwood’s narrative.
Baty, K. (2020) ‘Under his eye: seeing and surveillance in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale”, Emagazine, 87 pp.30-33.
Sight, seeing and being seen are at the heart of this novel, in which ‘eyes’ are everywhere and what you do is constantly observed. Kate Baty explores the importance of this idea in the whole texture of the novel, from the plot and themes to the language and symbolism.
Onyett, N. (2020) ‘Foiled again: Moira and Janine in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale”, English Review, 30 (4), pp.6-9.
Nicola Onyett compares two very different characters from Margaret Atwood’s dystopian classic, who reveal much about the treatment of women in the Republic of Gilead and shed light on the behaviour and attitudes of the text’s protagonist
Onyett, N. (2019) ‘Insights: the first Offred’, English Review, 29 (3), p.15.
Nicola Onyett offers insights into the significance of a minor character in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘.
Onyett, N. (2017) ‘Agony aunt: Aunt Lydia in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale”, English Review, 28 (1), pp.30-34.
Nicola Onyett explores the genesis and motivations of Aunt Lydia to illuminate her role in Margaret Atwood’s dystopian world.
Bleiman, B. (2016) ‘Transforming the text: a creative experiment on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale”, Emagazine, 71, pp.52-53.
‘Emagazine’ co-editor Barbara Bleiman shows how creative transformations, as well as being a lot of fun, can give you sharp new critical insights into the texts you’re studying. She uses Margaret Atwood’s novel as her example.
Howells, C. A., Cargill, A. and Page, E. (2016) York Notes for A Level: The Handmaid’s Tale: Margaret Atwood. London: York Press.
Onyett, N. (2016) ”The Handmaid’s Tale’: a study in scarlet’, English Review, 26 (3), pp.10-13.
Nicola Onyett considers clothing and identity in Margaret Atwood’s novel.
Onyett, N. (2016) Study and Revise: The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. London: Hodder Education.
(2015) ‘Texts in context: ‘The Handmaid’s Tale”, English Review, 26 (2), pp.20-21.
Clist, T. (2013) ‘Language and resistance in ‘The Handmaid’s Tale”, Emagazine, 60, pp.33-35.
From names, strange coinages and biblical borrowings to punning and Scrabble, Tim Clist reveals how Margaret Atwood’s novel explores linguistic control, and the limits of language as a form of control.
Murr, K. (2009) ‘Fragmenting the whole: the narrative inventiveness of ‘The Handmaid’s Tale’, Emagazine, 45, pp.47-49.
A Level student Katy Murr argues that on ‘The Handmaid’s Tale‘, fragmentation and the focus on playing with and laying claim to language, is closely connected to Atwood’s feminist slant on dystopia.
