30-year-old classic a cautionary tale

IT’S an uncomfortable feeling when a work of fiction accurately reflects wider sentiments displayed in the “real” world. And so it is with Margaret Atwood classic The Handmaid’s Tale.

Despite being written more than three decades ago, some readers (and viewers of the newly released television series based upon the story) have drawn parallels between the totalitarian regime of the book and the present-day Trump administration.

Atwood wrote in a March edition of The New York Times that she had never intended the novel to be prophetic.

“Let’s say it’s an antiprediction,” she writes. “If this future can be described in detail, maybe it won’t happen. But such wishful thinking cannot be depended on either.”

And Atwood is correct. We can’t rely on the idea that just because terrible things have happened in the past, they will not happen again.

We humans have short memories, to our detriment.

Atwood’s story may be fiction but it still serves as a cautionary tale. I look forward to watching the series upon its Australian release.

Also in this Weekend, Joe Wicks serves up a hearty and healthy curry on our easy eating pages, while in travel Gary Chigwidden discovers the “real” Greece that is recovering its tourist trade following a tidal wave of refugees from Turkey.

And in our home section, our Stay At Home Mum shares her experience of autism in the school system.

Enjoy the read, in this Weekend.