The Handmaid’s Tale: an intertextual transformation through storytelling

D’Antonio, C. S. (2021) The Handmaid’s Tale: an intertextual transformation through storytelling. American Review of Canadian Studies, 51 (4). pp. 592-610. ISSN 1943-9954 doi: 10.1080/02722011.2021.1997484

Abstract/Summary

This article analyzes how Offred, the protagonist of The Handmaid’s Tale, reconstructs her fragmented self through storytelling in a dialogic thought process that is connected to the intertextual references. She recollects her memories and engages in a parodic critique of Gileadean propagandistic discourse. This implies a process of transformation that involves both her body and her mind and critically deconstructs the role the regime has assigned to her. The readers are invited to take a stand if this is not the world they want to live in. The novel challenges the narrative of Gilead in an attempt to rewrite it from a female point of view. This process is connected to the disruptive and heterogeneous disposition of the novel, which Kristeva calls semiotic and links to the maternal chora. The dichotomous view is therefore denied at the root and a multifaceted perspective is proposed.

Item Type	Article
URI	https://reading-clone.eprints-hosting.org/id/eprint/101610
Identification Number/DOI	10.1080/02722011.2021.1997484
Refereed	Yes
Divisions	Arts, Humanities and Social Science > School of Literature and Languages > English Literature
Publisher	Routledge
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