Margaret Atwood.Photo: Penguin Random House
In a video that dropped Tuesday, the acclaimed author Margaret Atwood uses a flamethrower on an"unburnable" editionof her dystopian novelThe Handmaid’s Tale.
“Let’s hope we don’t reach the stage of wholesale book burnings, as inFahrenheit 451,” she continued. “But if we do, let’s hope some books will prove unburnable — that they will travel underground, as prohibited books did in the Soviet Union.”
“There’s a precedent in real life for everything in the book,“Atwood told PEOPLEabout her novel in 2017. “I decided not to put anything in that somebody somewhere hadn’t already done. But you write these books so theywon’tcome true.”
Penguin Random House
As a result, authors, activists and educators are pushing back. Enter the “unburnable” edition ofThe Handmaid’s Tale.
Penguin Random House.
“If there is anyone who can ensure that the book is not consumed, it is Margaret Atwood,” said Suzanne Nossel, PEN America CEO, in a statement. “She has found a way to fight fire with fireproofing, taking on book banners and burners with a potent reminder that the power of books is indestructible.”
She continued: “In the face of a determined effort to censor and silence, this unburnable book is an emblem of our collective resolve to protect books, stories and ideas from those who fear and revile them. We are thankful to be able to deploy the proceeds of this auction to fortify this unprecedented fight for books.”
source: people.com
