Parable of the Sower | Metafiction as Genre
In the following essay excerpt, Jablon explores how Butler transcends the science fiction and fantasy genre by incorporating elements of black history and serious social commentary into Parable of the Sower.
Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower also relies on social and political ideas to extend the boundaries of fantasy. In Fantasy and Mimesis, Kathryn Hume outlines four types of fantasy: escapism, expressive literature, didactic literature, and perspectivist literature (xiv). Butler’s novel fits Hume’s classification of didactic literature or “the literature of revision.” This classification of fantasy literature “calls attention to a new interpretation of reality” as it “tries to force the readers to accept the proffered interpretation of reality and to...
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