Margaret Atwood’s latest work, “Book of Lives: A Memoir of Sorts,” isn’t just a recounting of personal history. it’s a revealing look at the origins of her iconic storytelling and the cultural forces that shaped her vision. The book, which sold out all 600 tickets for a January 27th event at Harvard Book Store, offers a glimpse into the experiences and observations that fueled her prolific career, including the genesis of her dystopian masterpiece, “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
During a conversation with NPR’s Robin Young, Atwood described a childhood spent in the rugged wilderness of northern Quebec, a formative experience that fostered a need for self-entertainment. “The dark side of that is boredom,” she explained. “So you learn to entertain yourself, and I think part of writing novels is entertaining yourself.” This early need to create worlds would later translate into the complex and often unsettling universes found in her fiction.
The memoir delves into the influences that sparked “The Handmaid’s Tale,” revealing that the novel wasn’t born from a singular moment of inspiration, but rather a growing awareness of political and social trends. Atwood recalled conversations with writer Eve Zaremba about the rising influence of the religious right in the United States and the potential for a rollback of women’s rights. “Removing women’s ability to have ‘jobs and money of their own’ would make that accomplishable,” Atwood wrote, a sentiment that became central to the oppressive regime of Gilead.
The author also connected the novel’s setting to her time as a student at Radcliffe College. She pointed out that the buildings depicted in “The Handmaid’s Tale” are real locations in Cambridge, Massachusetts, with the Harvard Coop reimagined as “Soul Scrolls” and Widener Library serving as the headquarters for a surveillance state. “Don’t you think that’s appropriate?” she quipped, highlighting the novel’s grounding in real-world institutions and the potential for control inherent within them.
Atwood’s work often explores the complexities of female experience, and “Book of Lives” doesn’t shy away from difficult topics. She revisited her novel “Cat’s Eye,” based on her experiences with bullying in fourth grade, and the resistance she faced for portraying women as capable of cruelty. “When I wrote that book called ‘Cat’s Eye,’ we were still in an age in which some feminists said that I shouldn’t say things like that about women, because they were supposed to be perfect,” Atwood explained. She used the novel to depict bullying as a “Machiavellian and…Byzantine court,” a far cry from simple playground aggression.
Interestingly, Atwood noted that in the letters she received about “Cat’s Eye,” more readers identified as the bullied than as the bully, suggesting a universal tendency to remember the harm done to us more vividly than the harm we inflict. A surprising postscript to this childhood experience involved a former tormentor who later partnered with Atwood in a puppeteering business, charging $5 per birthday party. Atwood admitted she never knew if her former bully remembered their past interactions, but suspected a “vestigial memory” might linger.
Her earlier novel, “The Edible Woman,” published in 1969, also receives attention in the memoir. Atwood described the novel’s exploration of cannibalism as a metaphor for emotional consumption, inspired by the imagery of confectionery and wedding cakes. She recalled a particularly memorable birthday celebration in France where the Sorbonne created a cake for her featuring a naked figure, a playful nod to the novel’s themes.
The timing of “The Edible Woman’s” publication coincided with the rise of second-wave feminism, leading to interpretations of the novel as either a product of the movement or a prescient exploration of its themes. Atwood’s own upbringing, shaped by a mother who enjoyed a relatively free and active life in Nova Scotia, contrasted sharply with the experiences of many prominent second-wave feminists, allowing her to challenge the notion of a monolithic female experience.
The enduring relevance of “The Handmaid’s Tale” was also a topic of discussion. Atwood acknowledged that the novel’s continued popularity isn’t solely due to its literary merit, but rather to the ongoing political and social realities that mirror its dystopian vision. As a recent article in USA Today noted, Atwood attributes the book’s resurgence to events like the 2016 and 2024 elections and the subsequent rollback of reproductive rights. “It’s not due to me or the excellence of the book,” she said. “It’s partly in the twists and turns of history.”
Attendees at the Harvard Book Store event echoed this sentiment. Kristen L.K. Brewitt described Atwood as “an amazing human” and “the observer of humanity,” while Erica R. Pallo, a library assistant at Baker Library, admired Atwood’s ability to translate her writing into visual storytelling for the television adaptation of “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Olga Yulikova simply described Atwood as someone you’d want to share a cup of tea with, a testament to her warmth and accessibility.
“Book of Lives” ultimately presents a portrait of an artist deeply engaged with the world around her, constantly observing, questioning, and translating those observations into compelling and thought-provoking narratives. It’s a memoir that not only illuminates Atwood’s personal journey but also offers a valuable insight into the creative process and the enduring power of storytelling.
