"(Almost) 50 Years Later: Reception of Octavia Butler's Kindred" invites new readings of Octavia E. Butler's novel Kindred but also examinations of earlier
readings. Has the way readers have understood the book shifted? Have
different concerns moved into the foreground? Why is it this Butler novel that
has found the largest readership and continues to find new readers?
Kindred was published in 1979,
but its setting is the bicentennial of the U.S. in 1976. Almost 50 year
have passed since its publication, and a large body of secondary literature on the novel
exists, as it continues to be Octavia E. Butler's best known book. This session
invites new readings of the novel but also examinations of earlier
readings. Has the way readers have understood the book shifted? Have
different concerns moved into the foreground? Why is it this Butler novel that
has found the largest readership and continues to find new readers?