Canada’s queen of dystopia
UNFORGETTABLE SAGAS, SCOOPS AND SCANDALS
from Toronto Life’slong-form archives |
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Dear reader, Everyone knows Margaret Atwood has a gift for prophecy. Her novels, non-fiction books and plays have predicted everything from climate change to the SARS epidemic to the 2008 financial crisis. Then, of course, there’s The Handmaid’s Tale. If we thought she had a crystal ball during Donald Trump’s first term—as women were systematically stripped of their reproductive rights—that’s only truer now, as Americans flee a government hurtling toward fascism. Over the past decade, Atwood’s beloved 1985 novel has found a new audience thanks to its wildly successful television adaptation. The sixth and final season of the show premieres next week, bolstered by recent news of a forthcoming sequel series, The Testaments. As Atwood’s cultural reign continues well into her 80s, we’re revisiting a profile of Canada’s queen of dystopia. For more great long-reads from Toronto Life, subscribe to our print edition here. |
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| —Madi Haslam, digital editor |
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Months before the market crumbled, she wrote a bestseller about careless investment and crushing debt. This isn’t the first time she’s had prophetic visions. The strange truth behind Margaret Atwood’s reinvention as an economics guru |
BY KATHERINE ASHENBURG | FEBRUARY 1, 2009 |
Prescient is the word most people use to describe Margaret Atwood. “Do I have a crystal ball?” she asks. “No. Do I read tiny bits in the back of the paper? Yes.” While she claims she’s merely paying attention to the world around her, her work has an uncanny ability to predict the darkest of historical events. Atwood points out our follies and perils, often before we’ve realized them ourselves, but insists that we have it in our selfish and often silly power to fix at least some of our mistakes. She is our Dickens: an acute observer, a moral voice, a political activist and a public entertainer with a penchant for broad strokes. Here, a profile of the country’s most visionary writer. |
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