ARCHETYPAL PATTERNS IN CONTEMPORARY DYSTOPIA
ARCHETYPAL PATTERNS IN CONTEMPORARY DYSTOPIA

ATWOOD’S THE HANDMAID’S TALE AND ONDAATJE’S THE ENGLISH PATIENT, A CASE STUDY

Summary/Abstract: The present paper situates its concerns at the crossroads of literary studies, anthropology and the theory of culture in order to investigate how contemporary dystopian literature employs archaic structures in order to subvert the authority and authenticity of grand narratives such as mythology and religion. In this respect, the present study looks at two particular instances of contemporary Canadian fiction, Margaret Atwood’s iconic dystopia, The Handmaid’s Tale, and Michael Ondaatje’s more discreet The English Patient, as they appear to be complementary in illustrating how the use of culturally consecrated archetypal patterns is directed towards demythologizing and eventually dismantling the Western cultural narrative. Departing from classical anthropological theories, this paper argues that contemporary dystopia incorporates archetypal structures in a subversive, yet totally pertinent challenge of old idols. Thus, the disenchantment of the world and of experience is paradoxically achieved, once more, through storytelling.

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