Recently, Republicans have been demonstrating their love of freedom in unusual ways: by not letting teachers and students discuss LBTQIA+ issues and by banning books. There have even book burnings. But there’s one tome they won’t be able to reduce to ashes.
As per The Hill, Penguin Random House is releasing a limited edition of The Handmaid’s Tale, Margaret Atwood’s classic novel about a theocratic/patriarchal dystopia in which women have been stripped of even basic human rights. The new edition is made of fireproof materials, including a “black Cinefoil dust jacket, white heat shield foil pages, section sewn with nickel wire, a phenolic hard cover, stainless steel head and tail bands and a Kapton high temperature adhesive.”
With all that, it can withstand heat up to a whopping 2,600 degrees Fahrenheit.
The unburnable Handmaid’s Tale won’t be available in your local Barnes & Noble. Instead it will be up for auction at Sotheby’s New York, with proceeds going to the advocacy group PEN America, which defends free expression.
Atwood’s novel, first published in 1985, has been a target of book banning for ages. It’s attracted new interest in the last five years, partly because of its acclaimed (and still-going) Hulu TV adaptation, which premiered in the early days of the Trump administration. Since then, the “red maiden” costume worn by its protagonist has become a popular one to wear at protests. There was even a “sexy” version of the get-up that wound up being pulled, in part due to copyright infringement.
You can watch a video about the new edition, which includes the sight of Atwood herself trying — and failing — to torch her most famous work with a blowtorch.
(Via The Hill)