Oh, this hurts. This really does. I read her novels "Parable of the Sower" and "Parable of the Talents" at one of the bleakest moments of my existence. There was a lot of movement in my life and I couldn't seem to ground myself. A phrase from these books kept resonating with me: "God is Change."
She was classified as a science fiction writer, but her work went far and above this genre. She wrote about race and class and religion and war and love and hate and family and enemies. Reading her work was a life affirming experience. I understood that writing can make a difference. Read all about it: http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/6420AP_WA_Obit_Butler.html
3 comments:
god is change
mmmm... yes... i like
thank you!
Oh my god. I gasped out loud when I read this. I loved her early books, and I am reading her latest--well, last, I suppose--"Fledgling" right now.
I took some of her books to China with me when I visited my mother there in the mid-ninties. Mom gave them to a friend when she left. I'm pretty sure they were the only copies there at the time, and I love the idea of them being passed around and around.
Butler dealt with some big concepts. I like that in a writer.
I'm not familiar with her work, but you've convinced me to check her out. After just finishing reading a book on the poet Paul Celan, and another on the philospophers Leibniz and Spinoza, I could use something life-affirming to read.
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