![]() Un fantastique essai sur l'oeuvre et la vie d'Octavia Estelle Butler présenté de manière chronologique de sa jeunesse à sa mort. I love Butler I didn't know how much, or that I could love a biography, too. I knew the broad strokes of Butler's story before picking this up, but Canavan reflects and elaborates and coalesces, integrating personal notebooks with published stories, and if the balance tips too far towards readings of Butler's fiction then I still found it engaging-and profoundly sympathetic. His approach is, in a word, compassionate. Canavan makes compelling arguments for a number of dichotomies: Butler's desire to write likable bestsellers, and the troubled, challenging pessimism that inspired her speculative fiction the way her punishing perfectionism refined the themes of her work while unfairly limiting what reached the public eye the things she was unable to achieve even as she revolutionized speculative fiction. I am very eager to try more of the Masters of Science Fiction series now, and greatly look forward to reading more of Butler's novels, in a new, more informed light.Ī biography, seen through the Huntington Library collection as well as Butler's body of work, including readings of Butler's fiction which explore her reoccurring themes and tie them to her lived experiences as a black woman and an author. It finds a good balance between the academic and fan tones, which I think suits readers like me who want to know more about a favorite author, but aren't looking for a dense academic project. Butler to be a fantastic and absorbing read. For some reason, this particular fact about Butler's writing really struck me.Īll in all, I found Gerry Canavan's Octavia E. And yet while she wanted to write a positive book, or a utopian story, ultimately every story she wrote seemed to reverse on her. Butler had mantras, her "positive obsessions", and rituals or routines aimed at helping her write a "yes-book". But I think now I will find her stories richer and juicier to discuss. and in her stories, as I have to conclude. I came away thinking that there are a lot of dark sides to Butler's career. Frequently her heroes turn sour, or become suspect, or seem to cross unthinkable lines of ethics and integrity in the name of survival." This extends even to the level of her plots: very commonly, almost characteristically, she would wind up writing the opposite of the narrative she originally set out to write. This was a great insight into a body of fiction, but also into how an author's imagination can be influenced long term by early experiences.īutler's stories are about power, and power corrupting, and all things defined by their opposites: "It seemed very difficult for Butler to think of anything without immediately thinking also of its opposite(s) and of how all supposed opposites are dialectically intertwined. ![]() I was also very interested in how Canavan teases out the similarities and Patternist world building that underlies all of Butler's work. Canavan's access to Butler's entire, meticulous library of personal notes allowed him to read and then offer up to his audience the most interesting "what-ifs?" from her career, which was truly great. Very fascinating to me is how this book is just as much about the stories that Butler didn't write or didn't publish as it is about the ones she did. His analysis was both very accessible and informative to me, as an interested reader who hasn't yet read her entire canon. Why are her stories so dark? Why do protagonists make these challenging decisions? Why are relationships so heteronormative? Why am I uncomfortable with the power dynamics and lack of consent? Canavan summarizes and analyzes all of Butler's published work and a large amount of her unpublished stories and (many!) alternative drafts. Suffice it to say, I've become increasingly interested in reading her work over the last few years, and when given the opportunity to read Gerry Canavan's overview, I knew I needed to read this to better my understanding.įirst, this book gave me real insight into some of the difficulties I've had with Butler's work. I have always heard of her as one of the most highly-regarded women SFF writers, and one of the top two perennial picks when anyone lists black SFF authors (I usually say flip a coin whether #1 on the list will be her or Delany). Over the years, I have read two novels (Dawn and Wild Seed) and one story ("The Evening, and The Morning, and the Night") by Octavia E.
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