Forms and Functions of Dystopia in Margaret Atwood's Novels

This book analyses the forms and functions of dystopian writing in Margaret Atwood's novels "The Handmaid's Tale" and "Oryx and Crake". After the great success of "The Handmaid's Tale", "Oryx and Crake is Atwood's latest brilliant dystopia. Both novels provide a shockingly bleak and yet satirically funny outlook on futuristic societies. For the analysis of the novels as dystopian writing, first of all a definition is required of both dystopia and utopia. This leads to a consideration of the aspects of dystopian writing that structure the analysis of the novels. The central aspects of dystopian writing are social organisation, the interaction between dream/nightmare and reality, and finally the aspect of time. Four aspects of social organisations (communication, dress code, surveillance, science and technology) are analysed in order to show that the restriction of the individual through the social organisation plays a key role in Atwood's novels.

M.B.Becker studied English and Philosophy at the University of Cologne and graduated in 2007. In 2003 he received a scholarship with the PAD and the British Council to spend a year in England as an assistant teacher. Presently he is teaching at the Europaschule Köln.