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A carregar... Octavia E. Butlerpor Gerry Canavan
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Adira ao LibraryThing para descobrir se irá gostar deste livro. Ainda não há conversas na Discussão sobre este livro. Octavia E. Butler by Gerry Canavan is part of the University of Illinois Press' Modern Masters of Science Fiction series. To quote from their website, "Modern Masters of Science Fiction is devoted to books that survey the work of individual authors...." In other words this is not a biography in the strict sense of the word. In Butler's case her life plays a very important role in what she wrote and how she wrote it so there is a lot about her life here. But that is not the focus of the book or the series. Just wanted to let any potential future readers know what they are looking at. Canavan accessed Butler's archives and it provided a rich source for understanding not only why she wrote the way she did but also the process she went through. Drafts, notes, and every other kind of written material showed a writer who wrestled with her personal issues in addition to her writing. These personal struggles gave her writing much of its savory flavor. One thing I was glad that Canavan did not do was try to delve too deeply into Butler's psychological history and turn this into some kind of second rate psychoanalysis of either the writer or her work. He also hopes that future researchers avoid making too much of Butler's personal life and even devotes part of the introduction to the ethics in using an archive that Butler did not have a chance to "prune" and take out some of the more personal pieces that might speak only to her depression or self-loathing at a particular moment. While being familiar with her work will certainly make this a more pleasurable read it should still be of interest to those less familiar who may be more interested in the process itself rather than specific discussions of a work or works. I have read most of her published works and found this to be a wonderful way for me to both revisit the works as well as imagine variations based on changes she made or influences that helped her make the decisions she made. The writing is academic still quite accessible. Canavan uses minimal jargon and keeps any theory to a bare minimum. Reviewed from a copy made available by the publisher via NetGalley. What a gift this book is for Butler's fans! Not only does Canavan give thoughtful, detailed analyses of Butler's published works, he covers the differences between early drafts and final products; however, the most thrilling part is the extensive consideration he gives to major unpublished works, which will give fans the closest thing to a new Butler novel they will probably ever get. Received via NetGalley. sem críticas | adicionar uma crítica
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"Gerry Canavan offers a critical and holistic consideration of Butler's career. Drawing on Butler's personal papers, Canavan tracks the false starts, abandoned drafts, tireless rewrites, and real-life obstacles that fed Butler's frustrations and launched her triumphs. Canavan departs from other studies to approach Butler first and foremost as a science fiction writer working within, responding to, and reacting against the genre's particular canon. The result is an illuminating study of how an essential SF figure shaped themes, unconventional ideas, and an unflagging creative urge into brilliant works of fiction." -- Publisher's description. Não foram encontradas descrições de bibliotecas. |
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Google Books — A carregar... GénerosSistema Decimal de Melvil (DDC)813.54Literature English (North America) American fiction 20th Century 1945-1999Classificação da Biblioteca do Congresso dos EUA (LCC)AvaliaçãoMédia:
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The scholarship is evident from the beginning. Canavan must have devoted years to reading and very minutely tracking the occurence and development of every theme found in Butler's works! While this is certainly a fine addition to literary scholarship on Butler, it is far too densely detailed for non-scholarly reading.
I received a free copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. ( )