Talk:Octavia E. Butler

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Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment[edit]

This article was the subject of a Wiki Education Foundation-supported course assignment, between 1 September 2021 and 20 December 2021. Further details are available on the course page. Student editor(s): Renee6434.

Above undated message substituted from Template:Dashboard.wikiedu.org assignment by PrimeBOT (talk) 05:34, 17 January 2022 (UTC)[reply]

1977 / 1980 prequel/sequle[edit]

the 1977 work is described as a sequel to the 1980 work

Strictly speaking, Wild Seed (1980) is a prequel to Mind of my Mind (1977)

  • I agree that the language could be clearer. For example, calling Patternmaster the fifth in the series could also be confusing. Naq (talk) 04:42, 31 October 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Items that should be included[edit]

While surfing the web came across this quote on SciFi.com:

  • From the WGA, West web site, the Open Door program "was designed to mentor Latino and African-American writers".


From the web site of the Smithsonian Institution's Museum of African American History and Culture:

  • Her birth name is Octavia Estelle Butler.
  • She was born in Pasadena, California.
  • In October 2000, received a lifetime achievement award in writing from PEN.
  • Won two Nebula Award for Parable Of The Talents (2000 best novel) and for Bloodchild (1984 best novelette).
  • Won two Hugo Award for Speech Sounds (1984 best short story) and for Bloodchild (1984 best novelette). --Tony Hecht 01:03, 24 August 2005 (UTC)[reply]


How does the "diagnosis" of dyslexia fit in with all of the early writing? At least a comment is needed to explain this apparent conflict.

Dyslexia relates to difficulties with reading/writing, not difficulties with having a wonderful imagination. Thus, I feel that there's no conflict. Also, I haven't found where Butler discusses her dyslexia, so it might be hard to find sourced material to add. Naq 01:34, 1 December 2007 (UTC)[reply]

New articles for Butler works[edit]

I've just made new articles for the Patternist series, Xenogenesis and Parable books. For the most part, I've just copied the material from this article on each series and created three new articles around it. I hope others with an interest in Octavia Butler will help expand and improve these pages. My intention, if no one objects, is to remove most of the plot summary information about these books from Butler's own page and just have it located on the subsidiary articles.

I'm also considering merging the Oankali and Ooloi pages into the Xenogenesis article--if you have a feeling about this one way or the other, please post on the Talk:Oankali page. Nareek 05:22, 27 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Possible error(s)[edit]

This Wikipedia page lists her cause of death as an apparent stroke, but the linked article says that her cause of death was from a head injury due to a fall. The description on the Recent Deaths page also says head injuries. For the sake of accuracy, someone needs to find more sources that can confirm the cause of death. SailorAlphaCentauri 18:50, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Butler was on many medications for her blood and other health problems, and it is suspected that she went off the medication because it was giving her writer's block. People explain her lack of medication for her death when she fell. It was too much for her body when she hit her head. I don't have proof of this, but it's how my English professor described it. 66.66.143.123

Lesbian?[edit]

Was Octavia Butler gay? It's been in, out and now back in this article. It does have a source now, but we have to bear in mind that a passing mention in an article dated February 28, 2006 might have had Wikipedia as a source--which underscores the need for us to get it right, one way or the other. I've looked through a lot of Google links for "Octavia Butler lesbian," and I haven't found any other references to her sexuality--and a number of places where one might have thought it would have come up.

If it does stay in, it should probably be moved up--it's kind of odd where it is now. Nareek 21:58, 28 February 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Dr. Ron Buckmire, a math professor at Occidental College, very near where Miss Butler lived until her move to Seattle, writes in his blog his reflections on her passing. He says that he knew her casually and does remark that she was a lesbian. Mwelch 01:31, 1 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]
Here's another article that says she's a lesbian, but the source may well have been here: http://www.slate.com/id/2137269/ —Preceding unsigned comment added by 128.240.229.6 (talk • contribs)
Octavia Butler was a lesbian. I've known her well for 21 years both professionally and as a friend. Since her move to Seattle I've spent a lot of time with her and knew her very well. She discussed her relationship history with men quite openly with me and a few of her other friends many times and was clearly heterosexual. I'm dead certain that this neighbor made an assumption that is incorrect. LeslieH —Preceding unsigned comment added by 24.22.156.167 (talk • contribs)
It should go without saying, but apparently it doesn't, that not wanting to include in this article a poorly sourced claim that Octavia Butler was a lesbian has nothing whatsoever to do with not wanting Octavia Butler to be a lesbian--it has to do with making sure that the facts in WP are verifiable. Nareek 16:56, 27 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

The "fact" that she was a lesbian was even mentioned in the LA Times obit for her. On the other hand, when I went looking for a good primary source on the internet, I couldn't find anything. There are several interviews of her that are available on the internet, and she often lists a whole series of categories that she fits in, but she never mentions being a lesbian. There is even a discussion on the MIT website that she did with Samuel Delaney where he briefly talks about being a gay man, and it would seem natural to me that if Octavia Butler was a lesbian she would have mentioned it in that discussion. Unless someone can find a credible source, it should be left out of the article. BlankVerse 06:58, 28 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Best to not make any definitive statements about homosexuality (as several obituaries have done) nor assume that heterosexuality is a default state for anyone. Here's what Butler says in an 1988 interview with Larry McCaffery and Jim McMenamin: "Because of the way I looked, when I was growing up, I was called various and unsavory names by people who thought I was gay (though at the time nobody used that word). I eventually wondered if they might not right, so I called the Gay and Lesbian Services Center and asked if they had meetings where people could talk about such things. I wound up going down there twice, at which point I realized, Nope, this ain't it...At any rate, I was intrigued by gay sexuality, enough so that I wanted to play around with it in my imagination and in my work..."(McCaffery and McMenamin 14) [Source: Francis, Conseula, and Octavia E. Butler. Conversations with Octavia Butler. Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 2010. Print.] -- Mozucat (talk) 21:37, 12 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

It is my understanding from my knowledge of the science fiction field that Octavia Butler was somewhere between heterosexual and asexual. I have never heard anything to substantiate the notion she might be a lesbian. Kathryn Cramer Pleasantville 23:27, 12 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Somehow, the LGBT & lesbian categories have gotten applied to the article (June 2007), even though it's not documented in the article (and as evidenced by the discussion here, highly questionable). I've taken them off; this should be discussed before re-applying them. --lquilter 18:51, 13 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Changed the word "intended" to "internal"[edit]

I made a slight change in the biblio section about the Patternist series; I'm not aware of any evidence that Ms. Butler intended to publish the books in any other order than they actually were. The mere fact that internal action differs from the publication order does not mean that her wishes were not followed, which using the word "intended" implies.

Changed Headings[edit]

FYI, on reading the article it seemd to me that Novels and Other Fiction should really be treated as subheadings of Bibliography (they were all orginally at the same heading level). I assume no one will have any trouble with me making them subheadings, but if they do please let me know. I don't want to step on any toes. --KNHaw 23:26, 23 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

On an African/African-American approach to sci-fi/fantasy[edit]

It has struck me for decades that Butler's approach to writing in the "sci-fi" genre was distinctly African/African-American. The tradition is very African, fundamentally. It has to do with psychic, intrinsic, spiritual, supernatural powers -- metaphysics -- rather than the external, the technological, mechanical and material/physical (dream hardware/cyberware) which is more the approach taken by European/neo-European (read white) writers (spaceships, etc.) I've seen this among other writers, in their approach to the fantastic, as well: Toni Cade Bambara in The Salt Eaters; Gloria Naylor in Mama Day; Walter Flowers' De Mojo Blues; Toni Morrison's initial (IMO incredibly weak - I can't believe I'm criticizing a Pulitzer Prize/Nobel Award winner, but, hey, I am; "lickety split, lickety split": what the hell?) foray into the genre, Tar Baby and, later, the more successful/adept Beloved; Walter Mosley's Blue Light; Jewell Parker Rhodes' Voodoo Dreams a novel on the life of Marie Laveaux; and most particularly possibly in the work of Sophia Stewart (the African-American woman who has laid claim to the story/concept, a short story called "The Third Eye," behind The Matrix trilogy).[1] I wasn't at all surprised, frankly, when she stepped forward. When I saw the first film, I was struck by how African in perspective it was. I remember, in fact, saying out loud that the Oracle had better be black, or the movie was bull****. I wasn't disappointed. :p I haven't followed the story behind Stewart's legal battles at all and just took a break from writing this to do some quick research. The case seemingly has been dropped. So, who the heck knows. The Wachowski brothers seem pretty sleazy from what I've read of them -- but that doesn't mean they aren't creative.

I don't know if any literary critic of note has done an analysis of the African/African-American approach to fantasy writing, but Octavia Butler is at once part of a solid tradition among her fellow African American authors and singular among them. Deeceevoice 19:09, 26 March 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Octavia Butler vs. Octavia E. Butler[edit]

Just want to note for the record that "Octavia Butler" gets more than twice as many Google hits as "Octavia E. Butler". Seems like something that could have been discussed first. Nareek 18:17, 19 July 2006 (UTC)[reply]

Perhaps people doing Google searches tend to minimise and abbreviate search terms. Language used in Google searches is unlikely to be a good basis for factual presentation. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.164.43.98 (talk) 09:30, 3 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Slight re-organization[edit]

I have slightly re-organized. Amongst the changes, I have removed the obituary links. It would fine to cite an obituary or two where the facts of her passing are recounted, and of course obituary's are rich sources for citing to for the many facts of her life.

To preserve the data for easy access, should someone want to read through them to find more important facts to include, here are the obituary links:

Cka3n 07:59, 8 February 2007 (UTC)[reply]

baptist category?[edit]

Octavia described herself in the quote included in the article as a former Baptist. The Category:Baptists self-describes as "Baptists are Christian people who believe and follow Baptist theology. Most belong to various Baptist denominations." To my understanding, this does not accurately describe Octavia Butler. I'm going to remove the category unless some discussion persuades me otherwise (and is properly documented in the article). (added) --lquilter 18:47, 13 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

broken link[edit]

The following link is broken: 

   * A Few Rules For Predicting The Future - science-fiction author Octavia E. Butler - Essence (magazine)

Fholson 11:12, 7 May 2008 (UTC)

    • Fixed both article links, made sources external links. Thanks for the heads-up. Naq (talk) 18:59, 24 December 2008 (UTC)[reply]

Influenced By...[edit]

The source for Samuel R. Delany as an influence seems weak. Did Butler herself ever claim this? In "Racism in Science Fiction" Delany says:

"Now Butler is a gracious, intelligent, and wonderfully impressive writer. But if she were a jot less great-hearted than she is, she might very well wonder: “Why, when you invite me, do you always invite that guy, Delany?”
The fact is, while it is always a personal pleasure to appear with her, Butler and I are very different writers, interested in very different things. And because I am the one who benefits by this highly artificial generalization of the literary interest in Butler’s work into this in-many-ways-artificial interest in African-American science fiction...
With all the attention that has come on her in the last years, Butler has been careful (and accurate) in not claiming that I am any sort of influence on her. I have never written specifically about her work. Nor, as far as I know, has she ever mentioned me in print."

Delany appears to outright deny influencing Butler, and the citation for his influence in the article appears to be merely that he taught her Clarion workshop and helped her with her writing. Not the same thing as being one of her major literary influences!

Is the reason for his listing merely that they so often appeared together, which he appears to attribute to the subtle racism of lumping all the African-American SF writers together?

Their respective styles don't seem all that alike to me. I'm wondering if there is any better citation for his influence or if it should be removed? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 75.144.246.5 (talk) 19:02, 13 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

The article as it is doesn't cite an influence, but does imply it given the location of the mention of Delany. I'm fine with taking out that mention, especially since it is not within the citation that it would appear to be in according to the article. Dkreisst (talk) 19:15, 13 September 2011 (UTC)[reply]

best-known?[edit]

Butler was one of the best-known women in the field

In what respect? This is a subjective assessment, without reference or justification. Of the 53 women in the field's authoritative guide to awards, Butler is 23rd in total wins and nominations. One-sixth the tally of Le Guin, the field's most-honored woman. Respectable, but not enough to warrant the lead paragraph's description. (There are other measures of notability than awards, but others are either not objective or hard to verify.)

Enoent (talk) 23:39, 16 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Her writing has influenced a number of prominent authors[edit]

Why are not these authors listed, so that we can know who they are? 74.229.102.208 (talk) 00:33, 17 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Because assertions like that must be sourced. If Joan Notablewriter said in an interview in Janus or Trap Door that Butler influenced her writing, then it could go in the article; otherwise, not. --Orange Mike | Talk 21:40, 17 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Biography errors[edit]

While reading the Kindred wikipedia page on suggestion I can give to the writer is to fix certains facts about the book use capilizations, revise for grammar and punctuation and fix the run-on sentences.Watoflifej23 (talk) 14:50, 17 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

It would probably be more useful to make that suggestion on the talk page of that article. --Orange Mike | Talk 01:00, 28 March 2014 (UTC)[reply]

"While reading the Kindred wikipedia page on suggestion I can give to the writer is to fix certains facts about the book use capilizations, revise for grammar and punctuation..."

Oh, the irony. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 86.164.43.98 (talk) 09:26, 3 March 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Pictures, detail, and praise[edit]

Jaflemin (talk) 19:42, 19 October 2014 (UTC)It could be beneficial for this wikipedia page to contain more pictures of Octavia throughout her life. Providing some visual examples of Butler’s success, such as receiving an award, would increase the readers awareness of just how successful Butler was in the field of science fiction writing. When people see imagery on a wikipedia page, it tends to stick in their head longer than just reading facts about someone. Another contribution that would benefit this page is a subcategory describing in depth what Butler’s personality was like. Laying the foundation for who a person was helps the readers connect more with the other information they are learning about the person. So far, only a few lines describe how “shy” Butler was. I want to know what inspired her to write such world renown works, not just that she was more introverted. Lastly, I would love to see a subcategory explaining and praising the impact Butler has had as a woman and both a person of color in the science fiction world. Butler is a female of color, thriving in a field mostly dominated by white males. This is both inspiring and rare; and I would like to know more information on how this might have impacted her personally as well as how it impacted the lives of others. Incorporating a few lines where people of importance pay tribute to Butler would help the readers of this page realize her significance. The more detailed page an author has, the more serious the readers of the page will take them.[reply]

I will get on it, Jaflemin (talk). I will begin by (slowly) cleaning up the External Links and moving from there. :-) --DrX (talk) 20:21, 20 January 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Suggestions for improvements to entry from Fall 2015 ENG103 class at LaGuardia[edit]

[Note: These sections have been started for students; these will be organized afterward.--Mozucat (talk) 19:55, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Life and education[edit]

Team 1[edit]

She was influenced by her family ( Mother and Grandmother) when it came down to the hardships of being a black woman of thed times. Stories that included heavily on her works referencing her mother are Wild Seed.

Her mother’s maiden name is Octavia Margaret Guy (Gant-Britton), she worked as a maid and when she finished working, she used to bring home books from the trash of her work. (Positive Obsession)

She graduated John Muir High School before she attended college (Gant-Britton)

Since when she was three she learned that she was more interested in knowing others and discovering who they are and why they are.(The oprah magazine) Might be relevant to mention her first award in a high school writing competition at age 18 (Gant-Britton)

What about all the odd jobs she worked while struggling as a writer? Factory, clerical, warehouse work. She called them “terrible little jobs” (Gant-Britton).

She received many rejection slips before she first published, which was in 1971, an important fact to mention (“Crossover,” a short story). (Gant-Britton)

She was reflectant on how things could have been different in her life. In Rowell’s interview with Butler she said that she wondered on how her life would have been different if her mother had continued her education, and not get pulled out of school at a young age. She was as reflectant on is she would have been different if any of her siblings had survived. In writing Kindred she developed the general idea for it from a young black man from the Black Power Movement saying “ I’d kill all these old people who have been holding us back for so long. But I can’t because I’d have to start with my own parents.” Holding on to this comment for thirty years she implied sexism by for “rules of submission” would et men killed off in her stories and the women alive.

At the age of 23 she sold her first 2 short stories to writer-editors who were teaching at Clarion. (Positive Obsession)

She won a Locus award. (Pfeiffer)


References 1-11 issues

part about racial and sexual ambiguity needs a citation. (between 8 & 9)

Reference #2’s link doesn’t even work. Here’s the actual link: http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer

Reference #5 is someones essay which is not a very good source to use.

Our references: (1,,8,9) https://muse.jhu.edu/journals/callaloo/v020/20.1butler.html - Mazuyuki Eizoku

(2, 3, 5, 6, 7) Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. -Lagccstudent

(4) Butler, Octavia E. "Octavia Butler's Aha! Moment." O, The Oprah Magazine. May 2002. Oprah.com. Web. 03 Mar. 2015. -Divergentforever

(11) Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Richard Bleiler. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147-158. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. -Princessmishell

(10) Butler, Octavia E. "Positive Obsession." Bloodchild and Other Stories. New York : Seven Stories, 2005. 123-136.-andyyecua

--Lagccstudent (talk) 20:07, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Princessmishell (talk) 20:08, 13 March 2015 (UTC) Mazuyuki Eizoku (talk) 20:10, 13 March 2015 (UTC) Divergentforever (talk) 20:11, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Andyyecua (talk) 20:24, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 2[edit]

1) Mother’s Influence on her early life should be added. - P.O.

2) Her social struggles help facilitate her radical themes in her literature. - Robert W. Logan

3) The way she self identified was not proper described. - John Pfeiffer

4) Mr Pfaff encouragement helped boost her confidence at a vulnerable age. - P.O.

5) Didn’t include the fact that she actually gave back to those who helped her become the person she was. - John Pfeiffer.

6) Held a different point of view from most of society. - The Oprah Magazine


References - Link Modify (Correct Links)

(2) - http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer

(4) - http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/butlerOctavia.php

--Santuros (talk) 19:57, 13 March 2015 (UTC) --Mona's mistake (talk) 19:59, 13 March 2015 (UTC) --ElzeyBurg (talk) 20:01, 13 March 2015 (UTC) --Houston Jay (talk) 20:01, 13 March 2015 (UTC) --X Rush (talk) 20:02, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Sportsfan00 (talk) 20:12, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 3[edit]

Estebanvrgs09, Purplelover0516, NeverFall_MVR, Dr.Droog Group 3 Octavia Butler

1. Butler’s aunt didn't believe that she would be able to become a writer because of her social status and gender, not to mention race. (PO)

2. Butler mother had four boys that died before Octavia was born.(PO)

3. Butler’s mother was pulled out of school and put to work at a plantation when she was young to support her family because she was the oldest daughter, while her oldest brother, got to attend school.( Rowell pg 50)

4. Butler appreciated the struggles her Grandmother and mother went through in order to support her. She used that as inspiration and motivation to fuel her passion for writing. (Rowell pg51)

5. Kindred (1979) is based on an experience she had with a young black classmate who did not share her appreciation for the generational struggle his people had been through when he stated to her, “I’d like to kill all these old people who have been holding us back for so long. But I can't because I’d have to start with my own parents”. (Rowell pg 51)

References:

(1) Has to be removed: Website cited (Beacon Press) is a publisher & offers scarce information on author apart from book prices

(2) http://www.aaregistry.org/historic_events/view/octavia-butler-science-fiction-writer

(3) Has to be removed because the link sends user to a teacher’s syllabus

(4) Need to be changed to this link for a more specific website http://voices.cla.umn.edu/artistpages/butlerOctavia.php

(7)Needs to be changed to this link to a more speicifc website http://www.salon.com/2006/03/17/butler_3/

(11) Website Title: Issuu Article Title: Locus #543 (April 2006) Date Accessed: March 13, 2015 http://issuu.com/locus/docs/locus__543__april_2006_ P. 7

NeverFall MVR (talk) 20:11, 13 March 2015 (UTC) 146.111.144.130 (talk) 20:11, 13 March 2015 (UTC) Dr.Droog (talk) 20:12, 13 March 2015 (UTC) --NajahLovesPink (talk) 20:16, 13 March 2015 (UTC) Estebanvrgs09 (talk) 20:19, 13 March 2015 (UTC),Purple lover0516 (talk) 20:21, 13 March 2015 (UTC), Sportsfan00 (talk) 20:23, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 4[edit]

OwenZeph: In Life and Education the fact that her mother gave her books to read all the time was not included and that the genre for these book were mostly fantasy which gave her an interest in science fiction.(John Pfeiffer) Also even though she is very shy she was also bullied which made her want to stay to herself and write.(P.O.) The first couple of times that she had submitted short stories they had all been rejected. When she was a freshmen in college she won first prize in a school wide short story contest that was meant for older and more experienced writers(P.O.) It was mentioned that she was in the Clarion Science Fiction Writers Workshop but what they didn’t mention was that, that is where she sold her first two Short Stories at the age of twenty-three but only one got published, after that she hadn’t sold another piece of work for 5 years. (P.O.) Her works have received many major writing and achievement awards in and out of the science fiction field. (John Pfeiffer) She received an Associates of Arts degree at Pasadena City College, but then later denies that she received a degree. (John Pfeiffer)

Japanize_myself: →In life and education section, we should change that Octavia was seven years old when her father died from excessive food and drink (Gant-Britton). →Octavia mother was born and raised in Louisiana along with strict racial segregation (Positive Obsession). →Octavia’s mother worked as a “maid” should be switched to “domestic worker” because it sounds much better. →In the second paragraph of the same section we should include that Octavia began “pecking out stories two-fingered” on an old-fashioned typewriter that her mother had purchased (Gant-Britton) when young Octavia wanted to escape from boredom. →In the third paragraph, “After getting an associate’s degree from Pasadena City College…” we should add that it was a degree in History (Gant-Britton). →In the paragraph where mentions that Octavia moved to Washington, the fact that she moved to another state after her mother passed away (Gant-Britton). →We should include Octavia’s minor discouragement from her aunt when she was told that “negroes can’t be writers” (Positive Obsession).

Apache50 -at her age 58 she was suffering from hypertension and from other health problems for years before her death.(logan) -there should be some information on what changed her perspective towards how she looked at life ( butler)

NajahLovesPink : Life and education : -Butler would of had four other siblings but unfortunately her mother had three miscarriages and one of the four siblings died at birth. This could of been very problematic and traumatic for someone growing up in a time of racism,segregation and poverty. This could have taken a toll on her self esteem. (Pfeiffer) -Octavia’s ambition really began at a young age, the public library in her hometown was her second home at the age of six. (P.O) Accomplishments: Butler worked at various blue- collar jobs and got up early hours to practice her craft. Her first novel was published in 1976 published by doubleday, Patternmaster. (Logan) She had 5 successful Patternmaster series novels published merely back to back: Patternmaster (1976), Mind of My Mind(1977), Survivor (1978), Wild Seed (1980), Clay’s Ark (1984) (Robert W. Logan)

Beautiful Soul22:--Beautiful Soul22 (talk) 20:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC) She was 58 years old when she died. It was a Friday, February 24,2006 at her home in Lake Forest, Washington. She slipped and hit her head on the cobbled walkway outside her Seattle home. She was also suffering from hypertension and there were also other forms of health problems.[reply]

Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Richard Bleiler. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147-158. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. (read pp. 147-148). Butler, Octavia E. "Positive Obsession." Bloodchild and Other Stories. New York : Seven Stories, 2005. 123-136 Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual Literature Collection. (read pp. 97-99) "Neda Ulaby, Sci-Fi Author Octavia Butler Dies". National Public Radio. February 27, 2006. Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005. http:/www.oprah.com/spirit/Octavia-Butlers-Aha-Monent#ixzz3QVO6UFyf from the may 2002 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

--Apache50 (talk) 20:11, 13 March 2015 (UTC),--Beautiful Soul22 (talk) 20:11, 13 March 2015 (UTC), OwenZeph (talk) 20:12, 13 March 2015 (UTC), --Japanize myself (talk) 20:14, 13 March 2015 (UTC)20:17, 13 March 2015 (UTC)NajahLovesPink (talk)[reply]

Team 5[edit]

After reading the actual Wikipedia article on Octavia Butler’s life and the articles assigned for homework, it shows that the Wikipedia article displayed very little of her life. In this article they failed to mention her life throughout her twenties, the lack of encouragement she received wanting to pursue a writing career being a black women, the fact she lived in segregation not just a “ racially mixed neighborhood, and the reason for her insecurities. After receiving multiple rejection letters, and having her writing negatively judged, at the age of twenty-three she sold her first two short stories in which only one of those short stories was published. Five years later, she then sold her first novel and since then, she’s managed to sell eight novels. In the Wikipedia article, the phrase “She remained throughout her career, a self-identified science fiction fan, an insider who rose from within the ranks of the field” describes very little of her life and the events that took place. From this statement it doesn't tell us how she became a fan and the fact she found a copy of “The Writers”,a magazine that she had never heard of and that made her interested in going to the library to learn more from the writers. In the Logan article it mentions that her books were all linked by story lines. It states, “ Among major themes they cover are racial and gender-based animosity, the ethical implications of biological engineering, the question of what it means to be human, the unethical uses of power, and how the assumption of power changes people.” Oppose to the wiki article only stating that her books were only about “racial and sexual ambiguity.” There were many elements of her life that were neglected and ignored.

Works Cited[edit]

Octavia Butler Birth of A Writer [1]

Robert W Logan Octavia Butler Biography [2]

  1. ^ Butler, O.E. "Birth Of A Writer." Essence (Essence) 20.1 (1989): 74. Academic Search Complete. Web. 6 Mar. 2015.
  2. ^ Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005.

Unconsciouseclecticism (talk) 20:03, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

LajEvelyn (talk) 20:03, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

James.johnson21 (talk) 20:08, 13 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Notability and themes[edit]

Team 3[edit]

NajahLovesPink

Octavia Estelle Butler, She also focused on themes such as power, power fantasy, love, longevity/ immortality, apocalypse, hubris, addiction, genetics, social engineer, myth, pain and ecology. She was widely ranged in science fiction and not limited to Afrofuturism.(John)--NajahLovesPink (talk) 20:17, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]


Houston Jay

Butlers work has had some feminism style of fiction with novels such as Alien to Femininity:Speculative Fiction and feminist Theory. Thus, Butler's exploration of the themes of isolation and power struggles in futuristic settings, often with black protagonists, allows her work to fall under this critical category.--Houston Jay (talk) 20:19, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Beautiful Soul22

According to De Witt and Samantrai, “Memorial To Octavia E. Butler” , she was measured by conferred after her death. She significance the ability to indicates that she was becoming more essential. --Beautiful Soul22 (talk) 20:14, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 1[edit]

In the THEMES OF SOCIAL CRITICISM, we need to correct Octavia of being Afrofuturistic to really not much of being one because she includes many characters of different races.[1] Include the fact that she was a feminist science fiction author.[2] Add that fact that she was also interest in themes with the human development and the interaction on a sociocultural plane.[3] “...the Science Fiction Research Association, the International Conference for the Fantastic in the Arts, and the Modern Language Association show continued interest in evaluating the content and influence of her work. This activity indicates that she became an essential part to science fiction.” [4] Butler’s tales “are not simple future-history scenarios extrapolating utopian solutions to contemporary troubles. Her narratives can be grim and are often tragic.” [5] We need to include that she was the first to imagine a future with minority groups and giving the protagonist role to strong females.[6] The topics of her stories were not only to draw parallels with a black experience, rather to be transgressive, colorblind and applicable to all human or non human beings.[7] Include the fact that she hated to be pigeonholed as a genre writer. While themes such as slavery and race were highly important, by only mentioning these we are neglecting and ignoring the humongous range of themes that her stories include, for example future of humanity in general, incest, genetic modification and all the moral imperative that they represent.[8] The word ancient in the first line of the paragraph about social themes is odd, the themes that Octavia Butler writes about are mostly contemporary. Rather than explain her work as “hyperbolic reach of speculative fiction”, we can explain that her work is mostly influenced by personal experiences, subjective to the author mixed with fiction. Since the paragraph is about social criticism is highly important to remark that by the time she started writing, she was the only female African American science fiction author, and inside the genre she was one of the fewest. This is important because this experiences shaped the way she wrote her stories.[9]

  1. ^ Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361.
  2. ^ Grace McEntee. “Octavia Butler ( 1947-2006).” Writing African American Women: An Encyclopedia of Literature by and about Women of Color. Ed. Elizabeth Beaulieu. Westport, CT: Greenwood P, 2006.
  3. ^ Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.
  4. ^ Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361.
  5. ^ Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler." Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361.
  6. ^ Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005.
  7. ^ “Butler, Octavia 1947-2006.” Black Literature Criticism: Classic and Emerging Authors since 1950. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. 2nd ed. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 244-258. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.
  8. ^ Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005.
  9. ^ “Butler, Octavia 1947-2006.” Black Literature Criticism: Classic and Emerging Authors since 1950. Ed. Jelena O. Krstovic. 2nd ed. Vol.1. Detroit: Gale, 2008. 244-258. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.

--Japanize myself (talk) 20:08, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

--ElzeyBurg (talk) 20:18, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Unconsciouseclecticism (talk) 20:22, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 4[edit]

Octavia Estelle Butler is an award winning novelist, essayist and short story writer who have challenged the gender roles, women and people of color in the future. She won the hugo Nebula and Locus awards and 295,000 MacArthur fellowship. Instead of categorizing Butler’s genre as afro-futuristic, she has portrayed a multicultural setting including characters from different color and race. She was a feminist and It heavily influenced her protagonist Many of her characters had complex and personalities that were nurturer, healers, conciliator and black womenshe focused on ethnic and sexual prejudices She did not experience segregation throughout her life. She never went to a segregated school nor lived in a segregated neighborhood; hence the unimportance of a segregated sci-fi setting when putting her characters together. “Butler’s body of work spans multiple genres of science, speculative, and feminist fiction and examines host of interrelating themes She addresses science fiction’s concern with the implications of technology.” “Butler herself said that she was responsible for three audiences: there called the science fiction audience, Black audience and the Feminism Audience”- Potts 72 Butler aims to attract an adult audience talking deliberately about sex, dominance and submission, the master and the slave. rape is a constant danger in the nicest relationships among the characters.

Mazuyuki Eizoku (talk) 19:58, 20 March 2015 (UTC) Mona's mistake (talk) 20:05, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 2[edit]

She did not only use afrofuturistic communities, she was also interested in mixed communities in her stories.

She introduced female characters of color to the main role in science fiction writing.

She is one of the few authors who reached a significant non-genre audience.

She was responsible for the science fiction, black, and feminist audience.

She mostly wrote about tragedies and even though her work seemed hopefully for human prospect she was never sentimental,a lot of her work centers on her bleak yet hopeful vision of humanity’s future. In the design of her characters she used a sociobiological background for them, they stemmed from mutation or encounters with other kinds of beings.

Butler makes readers reevaluate long-standing attitudes with her “implied treatment of sexual and racial prejudice and the direct treatment of social power structures”

“Butler’s fiction reflects and refracts the attempts- and failures-of the twentieth century to deal with ethnic and sexual prejudice”(Butler, American ethnic Writers” She normally creates images of horror so that the reader cannot see the individual that is being described as human.

“Her stories are told from the the first or third person perspective of someone who is passive or disfranchised” (Logan,Robert) Much of her work stems from her study of physical science and studies of human behavior, through her work she expresses the idea that humanity has to learn to adapt and coexist with microorganisms.

She was one of the few science fiction writers who didn’t write about heros, her protagonists did not need to save other only themselves.

Work Cited


Gant-Britton, Lisbeth. "Butler, Octavia (1947– )." African American Writers. Ed. Valerie Smith. 2nd ed. Vol. 1. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2001. 95-110. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.

Kilgore, De Witt Douglas and Ranu Samantrai. "A Memorial to Octavia E. Butler."Science Fiction Studies 37.3 (November 2010): 353-361

Pfeiffer, John R. "Butler, Octavia Estelle (b. 1947)." Science Fiction Writers: Critical Studies of the Major Authors from the Early Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Ed. Richard Bleiler. 2nd ed. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999. 147-158. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.

Logan, Robert W. "Butler, Octavia E." Black Women in America: A Historical Encyclopedia, 2nd ed. Ed. Darlene Clark Hine. Oxford: Oxford U P, 2005. Oxford Reference. 2005

"Butler, Octavia E." American Ethnic Writers, Revised ed. Vol. 1. Pasadena, CA: Salem Press, 2009. 168-175. Gale Virtual Literature Collection.

OwenZeph (talk) 20:00, 20 March 2015 (UTC) Divergentforever (talk) 20:01, 20 March 2015 (UTC) LajEvelyn (talk) 20:02, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Team 6[edit]

Team 5[edit]

Themes of Social Criticism Revision Team 5: Dr.Droog, james.johnson21 , andyyecua

“I write about people who do extraordinary things. It just happens to be science fiction.” (Octavia Butler: 1997 interview with Joan Fry)

1.Neo-Slave Narrative/ Master Slave Dialectics/ Colonization and Imperialism The psychological and societal consequences for both oppressor and oppressed (dominant and submissive), and challenge racial hierarchy. “...a historically enfranchised class has controlled the bodies and destinies of peoples considered inferior.” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) “Butler’s portrayal of the loner of science and adventure fiction is giving depth and complexity by the implied treatment of sexual and racial prejudices and the direct treatment of social power structures”. (John Pfeiffer “Octavia Estelle Butler”)

2.Utopianism “Where is there a society in which men and women are honestly considered equal? What would it be like to live in such a society? Where do people not despise each other because of race or religion, class or ethnic origin?” (Octavia Butler: 1979 interview with Veronica Mixon) Challenges the idea of Utopianism

3.”Cyborg- Feminism”/ Feminism - Challenges focus on white male protagonist and of familiar gender hierarchy. “Readers for whom science fiction is an adventure in which the white, male hero saves humanity (most often in the form of a scantily clad woman) will find in Butler’s work a challenge to generic conventions” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) Gave birth to female protagonists inside science fiction stories

4.Genetic/Biological Engineering (Sociobiology); Contact; Miscegenation and Contamination (“Catastrophe of sex”) Forced evolution Rape “If humanity as a whole is subject to the fear of bodily violation and exploitation, In butlers futures is the black woman who have the longest familiarity with it. Such unfortunate experts know the best strategies for survival.” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) “The trope of a radically, sometimes violently, remade homo sapiens, altered either due to its own mutations or as a consequence of its encounters with other kinds of beings…” (Kilgore, Samantrai “Memorial to Octavia Butler” p.355) Potential and danger of medicine In the Xenogenesis trilogy (Patternmaster series), cancer becomes a genetic tool with the potential to mutate certain a number of humans

6.Apocalyptic Future “...an increasingly posthuman society.” (Lisbeth Gant-Britton p.97) “She does not envision a liberal-pluralist federation in which heterogeneity of the whole shields homogeneity of the parts. Nor is the result the mixed blessed community” “ A relentlessly brutal and almost hopeless future, based on extrapolation of the most alarming and destructive trends visible in contemporary society” (John Pfeiffer “Octavia Estelle Butler” p.148)

7. Ethics/ Morality/ Humanity Butler’s fiction reflects and refracts the attempts and failures of the twentieth century to deal with ethnic and sexual prejudice. (Pfeiffer “Octavia Butler” p.148)

8. Violence

9. Point of view characters

10. Agency vs. Destiny Dr.Droog (talk) 20:11, 20 March 2015 (UTC) James.johnson21 (talk) 20:12, 20 March 2015 (UTC)Andyyecua (talk) 20:14, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Contribution of Society[edit]

Octavia Butler’s work has won numerous awards, including the Locus, Nebula and Hugo awards, and a $295,000 MacArthur Fellowship. Even though she never wanted to teach, she was offered throughout her lifetime, multiple writer-in-residence from separate colleges. Regardless she made multiple guest appearances at the University of Illinois in order to give back to the apprenticeship that she was offered as a youth. Her work has been subject to eighteen doctoral dissertations and different articles in scholarly books as well as prestigious journals. And through interviews and conferences, was able to share about her life and was known as well as a person as she was through her writing. -John Pfeiffer


Contribution of Literature[edit]

Prominent themes in Butler’s work: Sociobiology - Butler uses scientific topics such as evolutionary biology and genetic engineering and mutation to discuss social and cultural issues such as gender and race. (Kilgore and Samantrai)

Contribution to Science Fiction: Unconventional ideas in Sci Fi - while most science fiction features white male protagonists, Butler chooses to both non-white and female leads in her novels. (Kilgore and Samantrai) Crossing of social and biological boundaries - Butler features communities that are not singular and homogeneous but contain a variety of races and species. She also bridges gaps between groups that seem biologically unrelated. She may be symbolically challenging the way people understand racial constructs and conflict. (Kilgore and Samantrai)

Butler’s audiences: She is one of the only authors who reach multiple audiences: black, science-fiction, and feminist audiences. First prominent Sci Fi writer to publish in the African American women’s magazine Essence. (Kilgore and Samantrai)


Contribution to Speculative Fiction[edit]

Octavia Butler’s novels usually deals with futuristic ideas that lead to frightening danger of science and medicine and how they contribute to the downfall of society. Although Butler gets into medicine and the effect of science, she also makes sure she focuses more on the character developments. Making sure that her characters act like actual human beings. In some of her work Butler focuses on her characters dealing with the failed of technology and politics on individuals,families, and communities in the U.S. Butler also explores other ideological responses to those potential crisis. Due to the fact that Butler doesn't just focus on science fiction, it is best to categorize her work as speculative fiction, because her works deals with science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary non realistic fiction, or in other words known as fabulation. Butler focuses her writing on the fantasy and futuristic aspects and the darker, yet also more down to earth feel. Butler’s work usually consist of the factors that technology plays, making some points beneficial and other destructive. For instance she gets into the human relations to disease, genetics, and medicine and how these features may impact the advancement on the evolution of the human race. - Octavia Butler,Lisbeth Gant -Britton

--Santuros (talk) 20:04, 20 March 2015 (UTC) --Lagccstudent (talk) 20:05, 20 March 2015 (UTC) --X Rush (talk) 20:06, 20 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Links needed for the text of the article[edit]

Here are the links I moved from external links that other teams may use in their other sections later.

Mazuyuki Eizoku (talk) 18:37, 24 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Remove "Interviews" section?[edit]

Not the list of interviews, which can later be moved to a page on Butler's works, but the section on Butler being interviewed by Charlie Rose and later by Randall Kenan. In the first passage, the inference made does not follow from the quote, and the second passage merely repeats information better explained in the article for Butler's Kindred.--DrX (talk) 12:49, 19 June 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The interview section is still here, and I agree it's not necessary—a lot of it is useful information, sure, but it seems like the quotes and analysis could fairly easily be integrated into their relevant sections. That last interview with Joshunda Sanders, for example, could even be moved entirely out of this page to the page on Butler's Xenogenesis trilogy; some of the Kenan interview info could be moved to the Kindred page; some of the quotes from and analysis of the Charlie Rose interview could go to the "point of view" section; and so on. Additionally, most pages here on writers don't have an "interviews" section, I think; it defeats the purpose of using useful information from interviews to add to the sections they're most relevant to, so that a reader can find what the information they're looking for more easily. Jaizuss (talk) 18:09, 29 May 2017 (UTC)jaizuss[reply]

OK, here is the section. Will start work on apportioning the information. --DrX (talk) 15:28, 15 January 2021 (UTC)[reply]

Interviews Charlie Rose interviewed Octavia Butler in 2000 soon after she was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship. The highlights are probing questions that arise out of Butler's personal life narrative and her interest in becoming not only a writer, but a writer of science fiction. Rose asked, "What then is central to what you want to say about race?" Butler's response was, "Do I want to say something central about race? Aside from, 'Hey we're here!'?" This points to an essential claim for Butler that the world of science fiction is a world of possibilities, and although race is an innate element, it is embedded in the narrative, not forced upon it.[1]

In an interview by Randall Kenan, Butler discusses how her life experiences as a child shaped most of her thinking. As a writer, she was able to use her writing as a vehicle to critique history under the lenses of feminism. In the interview, she discusses the research that had to be done in order to write her bestselling novel, Kindred. Most of it is based on visiting libraries as well as historic landmarks with respect to what she is investigating. Butler admits that she writes science fiction because she does not want her work to be labeled or used as a marketing tool. She wants the readers to be genuinely interested in her work and the story she provides, but at the same time she fears that people will not read her work because of the "science fiction" label that they have.[2]

In an interview with Joshunda Sanders, Butler commented on the space race and its influence on her work. She noted, "I think of the space race as a way of having a nuclear war without having one." She claimed that Ronald Reagan believed a nuclear war against the Soviet Union was winnable. Butler admitted to being very confused by this idea, and said that it contributed to her idea for the Xenogenesis books. She said "there must be something basic, something really genetically wrong with us if we're falling for this stuff." Butler then commented on how she felt a real fear about nuclear war during the Cold War and that these ideas had a real influence on some of her early works.[3]

In an interview with Marilyn Mehaffy and AnaLouise Keating, for MELUS, Octavia Butler talked about how biology is used to keep groups of people out of power. She said, "[w]hat's made of biology is that the people who are in power are going to figure out why this is a good reason for them to stay in power. Look at the tests that show that women have better linguistic abilities: Yet, how many of our ambassadors are women? How many of the politicians are women? This is not looked at; instead, the argument goes that women don't have the mathematical abilities ... every now and then. So we're much more likely now to be penalized for whatever we're assumed not to have. We're much more likely to find that whatever little genetic thing that's discovered is going to be used against us."[4] The issue of biology defining women and what they can and can't do has long been a part of feminism.[5]

Education[edit]

Did she ever finish the bachelor's degree at UCLA? — Preceding unsigned comment added by 199.112.128.15 (talk) 00:46, 12 March 2016 (UTC)[reply]

I do not believe so--the biographical sources would indicate something that importantDrX (talk) 03:29, 12 March 2016 (UTC).[reply]

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  1. ^ Rose, Charlie. "Octavia Butler". Charlie Rose. Archived from the original on 5 June 2020. Retrieved 5 June 2020.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference Kenan was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ Sanders, Joshunda (March 14, 2004). "Interview with Octavia Butler". In Motion Magazine.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Mehaffy was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Women's Bodies: A Short Introduction". Click – Women's Bodies – Women's Bodies Over the Centuries, Girls' Body Image, 'Ideal Female Body' History, History of Sexualization of Women. Accessed December 3, 2017.
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