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Octavia Butler and the Aesthetics of the Novel

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  24 November 2014

Therí A. Pickens
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Abstract

Octavia Butler depicts a character with physical or mental disability in each of her works. Yet scholars hesitate to discuss her work in terms that emphasize the intersection with disability. Two salient questions arise: How might it change Butler scholarship if we situated intersectional embodied experience as a central locus for understanding her work? Once we privilege such intersectionality, how might this transform our understanding of the aesthetics of the novel? In this paper, I reorient the criticism of Butler's work such that disability becomes one of the social categories under consideration. I read two prominent analyses of Butler's work because their interpretations—black feminist in orientation—centralize black female identity as a category of analysis. I contend these analyses grapple with ideas that can only be fully understood with disability as an integral portion of the discussion. Since categories of analysis like race, disability, and gender require and create cultural tropes and challenge accepted forms, I outline three components of Butler's aesthetic: open‐ended conclusions that frustrate the narrative cohesion associated with the novel form, intricate depictions of power that potentially alienate the able‐bodied reader, and contained literary chaos that upends the idea of ontological fixity.

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Articles
Information
Hypatia , Volume 30 , Issue 1: Special Issue: New Conversations in Feminist Disability Studies , Winter 2015 , pp. 167 - 180
Copyright
Copyright © 2015 by Hypatia, Inc.

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Footnotes

I extend my sincerest thanks to the anonymous readers who helped me revise this work. As always, I have heartfelt gratitude for the Sister Scholars Writing Group, whose thoughtful criticism and careful readings keep me accountable and honest. Special thanks to Takiyah Nur Amin, Olivia Banner, and Kim Hall. All errors are my own.

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