{"id":155502,"date":"2023-04-14T23:01:43","date_gmt":"2023-04-14T23:01:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/culture.org\/?p=155502"},"modified":"2023-04-14T23:01:43","modified_gmt":"2023-04-14T23:01:43","slug":"celebrating-25-years-of-octavia-butlers-kindred","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/culture.org\/art-and-culture\/celebrating-25-years-of-octavia-butlers-kindred\/","title":{"rendered":"Celebrating 25 Years of Octavia Butler’s “Kindred”"},"content":{"rendered":" \r\n\r\n\r\n \r\n\r\n
This year marks the 25th anniversary of the groundbreaking novel “Kindred” by Octavia Butler, first published in 1979.<\/span><\/p>\n The novel has made a significant impact on readers and has even been adopted by cities as part of their reading programs.<\/span><\/p>\n Recently, Rochester chose “Kindred” as their city read, similar to Los Angeles selecting Fahrenheit 451.<\/span><\/p>\n Although both “Kindred” and “Fahrenheit 451” are often categorized as science fiction, Butler’s work defies this classification.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, the author herself clarified that “Kindred” is not a science fiction novel due to its lack of scientific elements.<\/span><\/p>\n Rather, it focuses on a modern-day Black woman who travels back in time to the antebellum South and must struggle to survive the horrors of slavery.<\/span><\/p>\n Butler started writing at the age of ten, finding solace in the craft and eventually realizing that it could be a way to make a living.<\/span><\/p>\n Her first three novels were published under the science fiction label, with Doubleday publishers taking a chance on her as an unknown author.<\/span><\/p>\n However, these early works did not achieve the same level of success as “Kindred.”<\/span><\/p>\n To research her novel, Butler initially turned to libraries, specifically the history room of the Los Angeles public library.<\/span><\/p>\n However, she soon realized that she did not know how to properly research a historical novel, struggling to find details about daily life in the antebellum South.<\/span><\/p>\n It was only after talking to older family members, including her mother, that she discovered how close history truly was.<\/span><\/p>\n Her family’s stories and experiences provided valuable insight into the time period she wanted to portray in her novel.<\/span><\/p>\n To further immerse herself in the world of “Kindred,” Butler used the money she received from selling her third novel, “Survivor,” to take a three-and-a-half-day Greyhound bus trip to Maryland.<\/span><\/p>\n This journey allowed her to walk the roads and absorb the atmosphere of the region, inspiring her writing.<\/span><\/p>\n In fact, she wrote what would become the first and last chapters of the novel during a layover at a bus station in Maryland.<\/span><\/p>\n “Kindred,” remains a portal through which many readers first encounter Butler’s work and continues to shape discussions about the untended wound of slavery and its influence on our present-day environment, connections, and communities.<\/p>\n <\/span>\r\n\r\n One of the most striking aspects of “Kindred” is the protagonist’s missing arm, which she loses upon her final return from the past.<\/span><\/p>\n Butler explains that the character could not come back from the brutal experience of slavery unmarked and whole.<\/span><\/p>\n The loss of the arm symbolizes the lasting impact of slavery on Black people in America, as well as the protagonist’s struggle to write about her experiences.<\/span><\/p>\n “Kindred” remains an influential and powerful novel that transcends genre and offers a unique exploration of the African American experience in the United States.<\/span><\/p>\n As we celebrate the 25th anniversary of its publication, it is clear that Octavia Butler’s work continues to resonate with readers and inspire discussions about identity, heritage, and the power of storytelling.<\/span><\/p>\n Sixteen years after her death, science fiction writer Octavia Butler is experiencing a renaissance, as her work continues to resonate with new readers.<\/span><\/p>\n Her imaginative stories have been recognized with the highest honors in science fiction, including the MacArthur “genius” grant in 1995.<\/span><\/p>\n Butler’s personal journals reveal her aspirations to buy a beautiful home, help poor Black youngsters, travel the world, and have her books read by millions of people.<\/span><\/p>\n She was also a prominent influence in the Afrofuturist movement before the term even existed.<\/span><\/p>\n Today, her novels have inspired various forms of art and are included in university syllabuses and high school reading lists.<\/span><\/p>\n Five adaptations of her fiction are currently in development for film and television, with producers like J.J. Abrams, Issa Rae, and Ava DuVernay attached.<\/span><\/p>\n In 2020, during the early days of the Covid-19 pandemic, her 1993 novel “Parable of the Sower” became a New York Times best-seller, fulfilling her lifelong dream 14 years after her death.<\/span><\/p>\n Throughout her career, Butler demolished walls as a Black woman and writer, focusing on themes that seemed uncategorizable.<\/span><\/p>\n Her work is celebrated for its predictive qualities, as her vision of the climate crisis, political and societal upheaval, and power hierarchies is both sobering and prescient.<\/span><\/p>\n This year marks the 75th anniversary of her birth, and her themes, ideas, and characters continue to inspire readers seeking a map for a way forward.<\/span><\/p>\n “Kindred,” remains a portal through which many readers first encounter Butler’s work and continues to shape discussions about the untended wound of slavery and its influence on our present-day environment, connections, and communities.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":18,"featured_media":155503,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[410],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-155502","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-art-and-culture"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155502"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/18"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=155502"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/155502\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/155503"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=155502"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=155502"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/culture.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=155502"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Beyond the Label of Science Fiction<\/strong><\/h2>\n
The Journey to Writing “Kindred”<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A Greyhound Bus Trip to Maryland<\/strong><\/h2>\n
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The Significance of the Missing Arm<\/strong><\/h2>\n
A Lasting Legacy<\/strong><\/h2>\n