Page 7 - Boca ViewPointe - November '19

November 2019 Viewpointe, Page 7
Book Review

Adapting To The Times Dickinson, and Melville wrote directly of their own experiences.
Two of our greatest authors have chosen to utilize this genre
Margaret Atwood. The Testaments. New York: Doubleday, for their own purposes. The noted American Muslim Indian
2019 writer Salman Rushdie, who has steadfastly stood up to and put
Salman Rushdie. Quichotte, A Novel. New York: Random his life on the line in opposing the fanaticism of radical Islam,
House, 2019. has presented his message through the impersonation of the
“Get thee to a nunnery.” Hamlet great medieval knight, Don Quixote. Ms. Atwood has chosen
“I am Myra Breckinridge whom no man will ever possess.” to build upon her earlier work.
Gore Vidal Among other purposes, The Handmaid’s Tale was a science
fiction ecological morality tale about the evolution to a society
By Dr. Ronald J. Meyers of concubines or handmaids to respond to the global crisis of
war and infertility caused by chemical pollution. The Republic
Literary adaptation is of Gilead came into being as a necessary progress to save
perhaps the most ubiquitous humanity from extinction. But as Arnold Toynbee showed in his
literary genre. The great great twentieth historical compendium, all societies are organic,
Hebrew Bible drew on the subject to rise, and then decline and fall. And so with Gilead. to note how the work is received in that part of the world.)
range of sources of the time Atwood’s current work is perhaps an exploration of high Politically ruled over by the descendants of Indira Gandhi,
from the Egyptian Book of the feminist thought, less science fiction or a Rachel Carson Golda Meir, and many hope Elizabeth Warren. Women are
Dead, Greek Literature, Code ecological primer. The prologue presents a new Athena, or in restricted from driving, have to be attended by a suitable
of Hammurabi, Babylonian, the modern context, Myra Breckinridge who strives to reflect the Guardian, abortion along with sexual assault are punishable by
Assyrian, Canaanite writing, new woman. The ladies of Gilead are not so much victims of a death. And macho men are depicted as the universal villains,
Epic of Gilgamesh as well crisis in fertility, but women who confront and reject bourgeois evil protuberances of #Metoo fantasies, subject to appropriate
as Jewish History and Myth. The New Testament as well as values of capitalism and marriage. punishment like particicution, being ripped apart for their sexual
the Koran drew mightily upon the themes and teachings of The Testaments presents the back story of Gilead, how misdeeds, committed or imagined.
the Hebrew Bible, for example the stories associated with it became a pristine feminist Dystopia. An autocracy where The story is told through three narrators, Aunt Lydia, Agnes
Abraham and his family, and the achievements of King David freedom is curtailed in a forced hierarchal order, where and Baby Nicole, all of whom document their gospels both
and prophetic writings adapted to the specific revelations and ladies are groomed to thrive without men. According to strict within and outside that community. Aunt Lydia, who presides
teachings of Christianity and Islam. Christian values. The Aunts, for all intents and purposes, have as leader, had a rich secular life together with marriage, abortion
In medieval times, it was virtually the primary literary replaced the Commanders as the keepers of the faith, and in and a career in law before she received the calling and undertook
genre. The Arabian Nights, Boccaccio, Chaucer, Milton and Gilead faith reigns supreme. Not the rigidity of New England the arduous path to the ideals of Gilead. Agnes was born
Shakespeare all made exclusive use of sources; until the Protestantism but more akin to extreme fanatical piety where outside Gilead, a child of love, probably the daughter of Luke
eighteenth century during the Romantic Age where originality love is sublimated into harsh cruelty, such conduct that exists, and Offred, the heroine of The Handmaid’s Tale, but brought
came into popularity, and authors like Wordsworth, Emily for example, in Wahhabi Saudi doctrine. (It would be interesting back, denied knowledge of her true parentage. Daisy, born as
Baby Nicole in Gilead, but smuggled away, and then returns to
Board Of Directors discover her family origins.

The plot has to do with accepting the strict values of Gilead,
April 2019 – April 2020 Officers/Executive Committee or risking death by escape. Agnes the heroine coming of age
has to decide whether to marry in a culture where the stricture
“better to marry than to burn” is interpreted quite literally.
Chairman and President Barry J. Haberman District 5 Dan Gabrielle (La Corniche) Instead enroll in a kind of women’s finishing school or college
Vice Chair Steve Retzer Esplanada, Caravelle, Palomar, La Corniche,
Vice President Gail Ehrlich and El Dorado of mid-twentieth century exclusive to women where they are
2nd Vice President Jim Collins District 6 Marvin Lazarowitz (Villa Stel) educated in the qualities of leadership that will be required for
Secretary Steve King Villa Flora, Montego Bay, Villa Stel, and Palladium the new Herland.
Treasurer Harvey Kaplan District 7 Joyce Britt (Villa Sonrisa) Rushdie presents his version of the notable medieval
The Plum/Cortina and Villa Sonrisa knight in search of his ideal. For Cervantes it was ultimately
District Directors District 8 Len Kagan (Costa del Sol) symbolic of the medieval Catholic spiritual quest. Here a
District 1 Alvaro Fernandez Caballero (Encantada) Costa del Sol and Costa Brava retired South Asian Pharmaceutical salesman travels in his Ford
Encantada, Valencia and The Palms District 9 Robin Gliboff (Edgewater) Cruze through the U.S. in pursuit of his American Dream, in
District 2 Steve King (Imperial Royale) Edgewater Pointe Estates and Stratford Court this instance a compatriot from Bombay Salma R. who took
Promenade, Imperial Royale, Imperial, Regency Bollywood the Indian cinema by storm, and now turns her
and Panaché At Large Directors At Large Directors sights on Hollywood. He is accompanied by his son, Sancho
District 3 Steve Retzer (La Mirada) Through 2020 Through 2021
La Mirada and Meridiana Carsten Bethge (Valencia) Howard Davis (La Corniche) Ponza, who is born of his fertile imagination creating life, but,
District 4 Bob Greenstein (La Paz) Jim Collins (Caravelle) Gail Ehrlich (Villa Flora) as in the original, the teenager provides a kind of reality check
El Viento, La Paz, and Southwinds Harvey Kaplan (Meridiana) Barry J. Haberman (Encantada) to the excesses of his seventy year old pater. There is a magical
realism, a playfulness that is characteristic of Salman Rushdie’s
style. Talking statues, caricatures like Evil Cent, a cricket guru
who sprouts wisdom, and the Human Trampoline (Quichotte’s
sister, sensible and rational) perhaps my favorite character.
Both authors eschew sex in their work. The Ceremony of
Sexual Intercourse, a threesome in fact, is central to the religion
of The Handmaid’s Tale. Here Atwood elevates the medieval
notion of abstention, and search for spiritual purity such as found
in the medieval classic, The Diary of Margery Kempe. Rushdie
sublimates love to the romantic ideal of worship. Both offer
Do you know a family member, critiques of the current state of secularism in the United States
of America. Quichotte assaults the superficiality of American
friend or a neighbor in need of pop culture, in particular characteristic television fare. For
Home Health Care? Atwood, freedom (capitalism) and promiscuity gone amok,
which necessitate extreme measures. Both works are satires,
which reflect the two authors’ disdain for modern times.
Both works excel in avant-garde literary techniques.
Atwood’s novel is told in the first person, but the challenge is
to deduce which character is speaking, or telling her story. The
Home Health Aides / Certified Nursing Assistants / Registered Nurses to assist you with: plot, an intricate Gothic Political thriller, vacillates between
Revolutionary ardor and Counter Revolutionary repression, and
• Personal Care • Companionship • Respite Care • Alzheimers & Dementia Care ultimate demise due in large measure to betrayal by leadership.
• Medication Management • Transportation • Meal Preparation Quichotte also has several levels, the story of the knight in his
• Light Housekeeping • Grocery Shopping • Post Surgery Care adventures in the U.S.A., the story of the London author of the
novel, multiple allusions to a variety of literary works like Moby
Dick that find a voice in the narrative. The superficialities of
Complimentary In-Home Consultation American life, evil of racism and the opioid crises are the serious
takeaways from the novel. In the end, the Man of La Mancha
Care provided in the comfort of your Home, Hospital, or Facility is happily and eternally united with Dulcinea by providing her
with his gift of love.
We accept All Long Term Care Insurance Policies and Private Pay – Affordable Rates All in all, eccentric, obscure, and whimsical. Might those
also apply to The Testaments? Which I can heartily recommend
Family owned and operated. Boca Resident for 30+ years and Boca Pointe Members. as a gift, one a winner, the other finalist for this year’s esteemed
Booker Prize for Fiction, that you may wish to confer upon your
CALL TODAY: 561.740.8667 all-too-literate friend.

www.auracalshc.com
Florida Licensed and Insured NR# 30211558, NR# 30211706 Dr. Ronald J. Meyers, a resident of La Paz, is an Emeritus
Professor of English. rmeyers@esu.edu. 