by: Ellen C. Caldwell
for JSTOR Daily
The late Octavia E. Butler made the news recently, with the realization that her 1998 dystopian novel predicted Donald Trump’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. (Ronald Reagan also used “Let’s Make America Great Again” in his campaign, possibly even inspiring the use of the slogan in Butler’s novel.) Set in 2032, Parable of the Talents traced the rise of fictional Senator Andrew Steele Jarret who bears more similarities to Donald Trump than just the slogan.
Ten years after her death, the writing of Octavia E. Butler remains influential, well beyond the science fiction genre. In 2006, Gregory Hampton wrote a memoriam for Butler, exploring her themes and lasting impact on the literary and visual arts world.
A pioneer in science fiction, Butler not only helped to pave the way for future male and female African American sci-fi writers, but reshaped the genre itself, bringing it into the 21st century with her complex treatments of race, identity, and the body politic—all explored as changing, fluid constructs…