Special Session

American / Genres and Audiences

Martin Japtok (Palomar College)
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Carlton Floyd (University of San Diego)
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"(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?