El cuento de la criada

Under the guise of fighting terrorism, theocratic politicians seize power and, as their first act, suppress freedom of the press and women's rights. This unsettling and dark plot, which could easily be found in any contemporary work, actually belongs to this novel written by Margaret Atwood in the early 1980s, in which the renowned Canadian author strikingly foreshadowed a latent threat in today's world. In the Republic of Gilead, Offred's body serves only to procreate, as dictated by the rigid rules established by the puritanical dictatorship that rules the country. If Offred rebels—or if, reluctantly agreeing to cooperate, she is unable to conceive—she faces death by public execution or exile to the Colonies, where she will succumb to the pollution of toxic waste. Thus, the regime controls with an iron fist even the smallest details of women's lives: their food, their clothing, even their sexual activity. But no one, not even a despotic government hiding behind the supposed mandate of an all-powerful god, can govern a person's thoughts. Much less their desires. The inherent dangers of mixing religion and politics; the determination of all absolute power to subjugate women as a step toward subjugating the entire population; the irrepressible force of desire as a transgressive element: these are just a few of the themes explored in this harrowing tale, seasoned with the subtle sarcasm that is Margaret Atwood's hallmark. A universal writer who, with the passage of time, continues to amaze us with the lucidity of her ideas and the power of her prose.