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Wired has a recent article about author Octavia Butler and how her work presaged the "Make America Great" again campaign.
Octavia Butler, who died in 2006, was the author of such visionary science fiction novels as Kindred, The Parable of the Sower, and Dawn. Gerry Canavan, who just published a book-length study of Butler, describes her as one of the greatest writers of her era.
"I think you'd put her up there with Philip K. Dick and Le Guin and Delany and these other people who really made an impact on the way that science fiction circulates," Canavan says in Episode 234 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "Especially that mode of literary science fiction that's somewhere in the middle between genre fiction and prize-winning novels, she has to be top two, top three in that list."
Butler made headlines this year when fans noted that her 1998 novel The Parable of the Talents features a fascist politician who rises to power by promising to "make America great again." The comparisons to Donald Trump are obvious, but Canavan says the character was actually inspired by Ronald Reagan.
[...] Butler had a singularly dark imagination, and often had to do multiple rewrites in order to tell her stories in a way that readers would find palatable. But Canavan says that in the current political climate, Butler's dim view of humanity is starting to seem ever more relevant.
"She often thought about how easy it would be for everything to just kind of go back to the way it was," he says. "That the things that seemed like they were permanent progress were really just a kind of epiphenomenon of the wealth of the United States in the latter half of the 20th century, and that when that fell apart, all the bad days would come back again."
(Score: 5, Interesting) by Magic Oddball on Sunday December 18 2016, @07:46PM
It meets the classic/original criteria for science fiction that I learned of long ago as a teenage SF fan: fiction that takes place in the future or an alternate present, with the story at least partly anchored in speculation of what life might be like under different scientifically plausible circumstances. Classic science fiction included both the hard *and* soft sciences, typically with the 'hard' science providing the background change that drives the story (e.g. environmental disaster, genetic engineering, AI robot companions) and the 'soft' science (psychology, sociology, etc.) deciding how the characters handle that reality.
In that sense, "Parable of the Talents" sounds like it's not particularly different from the work of classic SF writers like Asimov, Card, Bradbury, Dick and Orwell — all of whom wrote some stories or novels that were much more blatantly activist–minded. Keep in mind, of course, that when authors write about things, most of them automatically use their own race & often gender for their protagonist, and throw aspects of their own quirks or concerns into the plot.
Consider another summary with a couple of details changed that wouldn't make a difference in the overall story arc:
“Michael's love is divided among his young daughter, his community, and the revelation that led him to found a new faith that could transform human destiny. But in the wake of environmental and economic chaos, the Martian government turns a blind eye to violent bigots who consider the mere existence of an Earth–born leader a threat. Soon, Michael realizes he must either sacrifice his child and followers — or forsake his must closely–held beliefs.”
If you read that summary on its own, would you dismiss it as "virtue signalling" and "racial activism"? If not, you might take into consideration that without reading the book, you might well be reacting more to the character's race/gender than to the actual story. (Even if slavery is part of the background, that could fit easily into the Martian/Earth story; Jane Yolen came up with something like that for her "Pit Dragon" series by placing the story on a planetary penal colony, for example.)
(Score: 3, Interesting) by bradley13 on Sunday December 18 2016, @08:07PM
Absolutely fair point - well said
Everyone is somebody else's weirdo.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday December 18 2016, @08:08PM
Its funny how you give him the benefit of the doubt when his own words make it clear he neither deserves it nor wants it.