What is the name of the professor who analyzes the Handmaid's tale in the novel's epilogue?

Professor Pieixoto is the professor who analyzes the Handmaid's tale in the novel's epilogue.

He appears in “Historical Notes,” the metafictional concluding section of Margaret Atwood's 1985 novel. The section presents a transcript of a future academic conference where scholars discuss a recorded account attributed to a woman who lived under Gilead's rule.

Pieixoto is not presented as a conventional narrator of June's experiences. Instead, he is a historian examining audio cassette tapes that were later transcribed and assembled into the narrative. He questions the reliability and authenticity of the material because records from Gilead's early years are incomplete.

The epilogue also reveals how academic institutions can distance themselves from human suffering. Pieixoto treats the account as an intriguing historical puzzle, sometimes making jokes and focusing on identifying male figures such as the Commander. Readers often confuse him with Atwood, the novel's author, or with a Gilead official, but Professor Pieixoto belongs to the fictional future world of the epilogue.