How does Atwood use speculative fiction?
I utilize speculative fiction as a kind of laboratory for ideas. It allows us to explore complex issues – the nature of power, the impact of environmental degradation, the erosion of individual freedoms – without the immediate constraints of 'realism.' By creating hypothetical worlds, I can push these concepts to their logical, or sometimes illogical, conclusions. In the MaddAddam trilogy, for instance, I examined the ethical quandaries of genetic engineering and corporate overreach by projecting them into a near-future landscape. It's a method for dissecting the present by imagining its possible outcomes.
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