LITR 4632: Literature of the Future

Web-Highlight 2005

Tuesday, 7 June: narrative: apocalypse conclude Parable of the Sower;

Web-highlighter: Mark Anthony Chapa

Similar to the Apocalyptic narrative, it is possible to find the same sort of romantic notions in the Evolutionary narrative.  Octavia E. Butler’s Parable of the Sower introduces the same idea of the transcendence of human-kind in the face of great adversity.  Religious tones remain, however this time in the form of an evolving New Age philosophy presented by the type of a strong-woman and empathic character.  What distances this work from the Apocalyptic texts is the vision of a world that does not end: “…the/Destiny of Earthseed is to take root among/The stars,” (Butler 68). This is the prophesy uttered by the main character of her vision for her followers; her people, “Earthseed,” will transcend earth’s chaos and devastation by taking a new place above the earth.  The thrust of this story remains romantic though it abandons the Apocalyptic idea of justice for all evil and Biblical retribution brought about by the omnipotent God. Eternal reward is substituted or replaced by survival.

Here, however, Parable of the Sower diverges somewhat from purely apocalyptic literature and begins to take on some aspects of the second type of narrative—the evolutionary narrative.

While Parable is a primarily apocalyptic text, it can also been seen as evolutionary.  At the very least, there are some evolutionary concepts.  While the world has obviously gone through a horrible time, humans are still alive and functioning in resourceful ways.  Human adaptation is a key theme in evolutionary literature.  The short story “ Stone Lives”, is another example of humans adapting to situations that are a result of some apocalyptic event.  The story blends apocalyptic thinking with the survivalist views of evolution.

Not all evolutionary narratives are light-hearted and entertaining, however.  H.G. Wells, The Time Machine, paints a terrifying picture of evolution gone awry.  In the future visited by the Time Traveler, man’s inhumanity to man has resulted in a divergence of the species.  The high-born Eloi have become nothing more than fatted calves for the working class Morlocks.

Similarly, the harsh reality of Stone Lives by Paul Di Filippo portrays a future few would want to embrace.  Business has become brutal.  It is a “dog eat dog’ world where only the strongest can survive.  Even maternal devotion has become antiquated.  It is ‘survival of the fittest”—a true Darwinian nightmare.