Parable of the Sower

TitleParable of the Sower
Year for Search1993
AuthorsButler, Octavia E[stelle](1947-2006)
Date Published1993
PublisherFour Walls Eight Windows
Place PublishedNew York
KeywordsAfrican 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 Butler, Octavia E[stelle] (1947-2006). Parable of the Sower. New York: Four Walls Eight Windows. PSt

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.