A few of our classmates have blogged about their narrative expectations and/or disappointment with the prospect of Doro’s return, or lack thereof.  John’s post “Doro Aint Dead“, and Andre’s post, “Victories in the Web” come to mind. I too struggled with an unfulfilled narrative expectation in Clay’s Ark and Patternmaster—an expectation molded by the paratext of The Patternist Series, specifically the back cover. Paratext, as defined by literary theorist Gérard Genette in his book, Paratexts: Thresholds of Interpretation, is “a zone between text and off-text, a zone not only of transition but also of transaction: a privileged place of pragmatics and a strategy, of an influence on the public, an influence that … is at the service of a better reception for the text and a more pertinent reading of it.” As I understand Genette, paratext includes images on the covers of books, footnotes, prefaces, and other parts of the text that are not the literary text written by the author, yet still have a profound effect on one’s reading of a literary text.

Continue reading Paratext, Narrative Expectations, and the Pleasures of Violence →

I remember during one of our first class discussions on Dawn, Dr. McCoy admitted that she had always experienced problems in trying to read the “ooloi” species within the novel as neither male nor female but sexless—she caught herself having implicitly assigned a gender to the ooloi even as they were constantly referred to as “it.” Similarly, I found myself in a battle against my own unconscious inclination to read Gan from Bloodchild as female, even though he is described as a male and referred to as “he.” I’m not sure whether this had to do with the fact that throughout the semester, a great deal of protagonists in Octavia Butler novels we’ve encountered thus far have been female, such as Anyanwu, Mary, Shori, and so on, and that that guided my assumptions. It’s also possible that, within Bloodchild, given that the story involves a pregnancy, I unconsciously assumed that Gan was a female, since according to the logic of the “real” world only females can become pregnant (as far as I know).

Continue reading The Power of Pronouns →

When Dr. McCoy shared with us that Octavia Butler had given up on writing save the world novels and instead, wrote Fledgling without taking any medication (which was the cause of her writer’s block) made me feel sad. Because through my readings of her work I have felt her passion in grappling with the contradictions and troubles of humanity and her exploration of ways humanity can become better for itself. I find myself contemplating about such aspects of humanity on a regular basis as I continue making an effort to see the good in people. That contemplation requires confrontation with our current and developing beliefs, whether it is by reading a writer’s work or by our own continuous and developing desires. Humanity is complex, of course. Just indulging in Butler’s works thus far has made me contemplate the littlest things which makes me question my normative actions such as finding a pen on the ground, even in a secluded area, and deciding whether or not to take it and call it mine. Continue reading You’re in Control? Guess Again. →

I too, like John, felt the human resisters to be dispiritingly disappointing, which has consequently been something that has thus far been one of the most difficult feelings for me to acknowledge while reading this series–mainly that of the pessimistic view Butler takes in regards to humanity. No one will argue that we as both an intelligent and hierarchical species are incapable of someday committing “humanicide” against our earth and ourselves and coming to terms with that realization the other day really struck me. This is a plausible, very likely predicament we may as a species someday find ourselves in, so how can one not agree that the humans need help? And, who better than the Oankali to salvage the fragments of what is left of humanity and the earth when they can save what we can’t and instead appear, as a species, to be intent on destroying? For me it is essentially impossible to disagree with the Oankali here, in that the human species really did and does need help if they are going to survive after this head-on collision of two world powers and the nuclear war that followed nearly destroying them– however, I am unsure as to how I feel about the price that this ultimately costs humanity in the end. Continue reading Humanity’s “Salvation”: What is the Price? →

“’Human beings fear difference,’ Lilith had told him once. ‘Oankali crave difference. Humans persecute their different ones, yet they need them to give themselves definition and status. Oankali seek difference and collect it. They need it to keep themselves from stagnation and overspecialization. If you don’t understand this, you will. You’ll probably find both tendencies surfacing in your own behavior.’ And she had put her hand on his hair. ‘When you feel a conflict, try to go the Oankali way. Embrace difference.’” (Adulthood Rites p. 329)

Why do we fear change so much? As I read through Butler’s Xenogenesis  I can’t help but see the foolishness of how the human race fears difference and change. The resisters are a prime example of this foolishness. Their only reason they have to oppose mating with the Oankali is a desire for racial purity and fear of being different. This resistance isn’t a unique idea to science fiction. Continue reading Getting Over the Human Identity →

This semester we’ve talked a lot about scent and the powerful role it can play on people. There have been some really great posts that I remember by John Panus and, most specifically, Laura Major about senses, in particular smell. Laura talked about it as one of the things that ‘brings people together’ and John talked about how intuitive and ‘trusting’ we may have to be when it comes to sense. I was reminded of these posts recently when I read an article in the New York Times titled “Art for the Knowing Nose.” Continue reading Smelly Art →