Parable of the Sower
| Title | Parable of the Sower |
| Year for Search | 1993 |
| Authors | Butler, Octavia E[stelle](1947-2006) |
| Date Published | 1993 |
| Publisher | Four Walls Eight Windows |
| Place Published | New York |
| Keywords | African American author, Female author |
| Annotation | Complex dystopia set in a future after a complete governmental collapse has resulted in a lack of security, scarcity, and poverty. The protagonist, who has what Butler calls “hyperempathy” or a high sensitivity to the sensations of others, leaves her community with some other survivors after her family is murdered. They try to start a new community where her religion, called “Earthseed,” can take root. A religion emerged based on the novel; see https://godischange.org/the-book-of-the-living/ See also 1998 Butler. |
| Info Notes | Bothered by writer’s block and health issues, she was unable to write the third volume. The fragments that exist are held in her papers at the Huntington Library. See Gerry Canavan, “‘There's Nothing New Under The Sun, But There Are New Suns’: Recovering Octavia E. Butler's Lost Parables.” Los Angeles Review of Books (June 9, 2014). https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/theres-nothing-new-sun-new-suns-recovering-octavia-e-butlers-lost-parables/ An opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon premiered at New York University Abu Dhabi November 9, 2017 and had its U.S. premiere at the Carolina Performing Arts Center, Chapel Hill, NC, November 16, 2017. A religion emerged based on the novel; see https://godischange.org/the-book-of-the-living/ |
| Author Note | African American female author (1947-2006) |
| Full Text | 1993 Complex dystopia set in a future after a complete governmental collapse has resulted in a lack of security, scarcity, and poverty. The protagonist, who has what Butler calls “hyperempathy” or a high sensitivity to the sensations of others, leaves her community with some other survivors after her family is murdered. They try to start a new community where her religion, called “Earthseed,” can take root. Bothered by writer’s block and health issues, she was unable to write the third volume. The fragments that exist are held in her papers at the Huntington Library. See Gerry Canavan, “‘There's Nothing New Under The Sun, But There Are New Suns’: Recovering Octavia E. Butler's Lost Parables.” Los Angeles Review of Books (June 9, 2014). https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/theres-nothing-new-sun-new-suns-recovering-octavia-e-butlers-lost-parables/ An opera by Toshi Reagon and Bernice Johnson Reagon premiered at New York University Abu Dhabi November 9, 2017 and had its U.S. premiere at the Carolina Performing Arts Center, Chapel Hill, NC, November 16, 2017. A religion emerged based on the novel; see https://godischange.org/the-book-of-the-living/ See also 1998 Butler. African American female author. |
