Authoring the Sacred: Humanism and Invented Scripture in Octavia Butler, Kurt Vonnegut and Dan Simmons
In Octavia E. Butler's novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, teenager Lauren Olamina writes her own scripture, The Books of the Living, as a guide to a way of life she calls Earthseed. The Books of Bokonon, written by a self-styled holy man, provide Kurt Vonnegut's satiri...
| Published in: | Implicit religion |
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| Main Author: | |
| Format: | Electronic Article |
| Language: | English |
| Check availability: | HBZ Gateway |
| Journals Online & Print: | Drawer...
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| Fernleihe: | Fernleihe für die Fachinformationsdienste |
| Published: |
Equinox
[2014]
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| In: |
Implicit religion
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| Further subjects: | B
VONNEGUT, Kurt, 1922-2007
B SIMMONS, Dan B Octavia Butler B PARABLE of the Sower (Book) B Kurt Vonnegut B Dan Simmons B PARABLE of the Talents (Book) B BUTLER, Octavia E., 1947-2006 B SCIENCE fiction writing B Humanism B Humanism in literature B Science Fiction |
| Online Access: |
Volltext (doi) |
| Summary: | In Octavia E. Butler's novels Parable of the Sower and Parable of the Talents, teenager Lauren Olamina writes her own scripture, The Books of the Living, as a guide to a way of life she calls Earthseed. The Books of Bokonon, written by a self-styled holy man, provide Kurt Vonnegut's satirical Cat's Cradle with the often absurd tenets governing the invented religion of Bokononism. And in Dan Simmons' four-book Hyperion Cantos series, an eponymous epic poem penned by a misanthropic poet relates the "sacred history" of events leading humanity to a critical juncture. These creative works and their invented scriptures invite readers to immerse themselves in worldviews and value systems laid out along similar themes. Each considers possible outcomes of catastrophic crises, and comments realistically if despairingly on the nature of human failing. Each, in contrast, endorses the power of language to advance human thriving, and makes an ultimate virtue of simple human compassion and empathy. |
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| ISSN: | 1743-1697 |
| Contains: | Enthalten in: Implicit religion
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| Persistent identifiers: | DOI: 10.1558/imre.v17i4.509 |