Changing Bodies in the Fiction of Octavia Butler 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb ii 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb iiii 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM Changing Bodies in the Fiction of Octavia Butler Slaves, Aliens, and Vampires Gregory Jerome Hampton Lexington Books A division of ROWMAN & LITTLEFIELD PUBLISHERS, INC. Lanham (cid:129) Boulder (cid:129) New York (cid:129) Toronto (cid:129) Plymouth, UK 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb iiiiii 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM Published by Lexington Books A division of Rowman & Littlefield Publishers, Inc. A wholly owned subsidiary of The Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group, Inc. 4501 Forbes Boulevard, Suite 200, Lanham, Maryland 20706 www.lexingtonbooks.com Estover Road, Plymouth PL6 7PY, United Kingdom Copyright © 2010 by Lexington Books All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the publisher, except by a reviewer who may quote passages in a review. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Information Available Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Hampton, Gregory Jerome, 1968- Changing bodies in the fiction of Octavia Butler : slaves, aliens, and vampires / Gregory Jerome Hampton. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-0-7391-3787-1 (cloth : alk. paper) — ISBN 978-0-7391-3789-5 (eBook) 1. Butler, Octavia E.—Criticism and interpretation. I. Title. PS3552.U827Z69 2010 813'.54—dc22 2010026991 (cid:2) ™ The paper used in this publication meets the minimum requirements of American National Standard for Information Sciences—Permanence of Paper for Printed Library Materials, ANSI/NISO Z39.48-1992. Printed in the United States of America 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb iivv 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM For my family, Maria, Safi, and Hodari 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb vv 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb vvii 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM Contents Acknowledgments ix Introduction: Octavia Butler & Science Fiction xi 1 Kindred: History, Revision, and (Re)memory of Bodies 1 2 Wildseed: The Paradox of Bodily Inscriptions 25 3 Patternmaster: Hierarchies of Identity 47 4 Discussing Duality and the Chthonic: Octavia Butler, Wole Soyinka, and W.E.B Du Bois 67 5 Religious Science Fiction: Butler’s Changing God 83 6 Migration of the Hybrid Body 99 7 Vampires and Utopia: Reading Racial and Gender Politics in the Fiction of Octavia Butler 115 Afterword: Vast Frontiers 129 On the Phone with Octavia Butler (October 2002) 133 New Frontier Panel Discussion: Butler, Barnes, Due, and Hopkinson 135 Bibliography 147 Index 155 vii 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb vviiii 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb vviiiiii 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM Acknowledgments Iw ould like to thank Dr. Nahum Chandler for his support and encourage- ment during my years working on my doctorate degree. Without him, I would not have been brave enough to write this book. Thanks are also due to Drs. Doug Taylor, Dana Williams, and Greg Carr for their candid and insightful draft critiques and intellectual discussions. Dr. Wanda Brooks played an instrumental role in helping me get my manuscript in the right hands and for this I am eternally grateful. The students in my “Major Au- thor” course at Howard University have been creatively influencing this project for the past seven years. Their heated discussions, never ending questions and raw passion for Butler’s fiction has been inspirational. My most heartfelt thanks are due to my wife Maria. Without her love and support I would not have possessed the time or sanity needed to produce this book. Earlier versions of chapters 5 and 7 appeared in the College Language Association Journal (CLAJ) as “Migration and Capital of the Body: Octavia Butler’s Parable of the Sower” http://cassell.founders.howard.edu:2109/ citation.asp?tb=1&_ug=sid+AB6B7165%2D6208%2D4564%2DA153%2D2 B319AA6D8E2%40sessionmgr6+dbs+aph+1A9E&_us=frn+1+hd+True+h s+True+cst+0%3B1%3B2+or+Date+ss+SO+sm+KS+sl+0+dstb+KS+mh+1 +ri+KAAACB1C00056896+5022&_uso=hd+False+tg%5B0+%2D+st%5B0 +%2Dhampton%2C++Gregory+db%5B0+%2Daph+op%5B0+%2D+mdb %5B0+%2Dimh+0513&fn=1&rn=1 CLAJ 49.1 (Sep2005): 56-73, and “Vam- pires and Utopia: Reading Racial and Gender Politics in the Fiction of Octavia Butler” CLAJ 52.1(Sep2008):74-91. I thank the editors of the CLAJ for permission to reprint this material. ix 99778800773399113377887711__tteexxtt..iinnddbb iixx 99//2200//1100 1100::3311 AAMM