>
> In my opinion, Octavia Butler is one of the great "masters" when it comes
> to describing relationships. "Kindred" is one of my favourites, and the
> short story "Bloodchild" reveals her talent for disturbing her readers.
Yes, I just went to the site you recommended (great site, by the way) and
read "Bloodchild." It was indeed disturbing, and certainly
thought-provoking if one tries to consider it a love story. I see the
same ambiguity here as is in the Xenogenesis Trilogy. There too, the
alien beings are in a dominant position vis-a-vis the humans. And yet,
there is a sense, not only of submission, from the humans, but also, I
think, a lovte of the Oankali for certain human characters. And
certainly, I think, for the reader, there is a sense of sympathizing with
the Oankali characters in trying to save/change those pesky humans.
Because the Bloodchild story is less developed (being a short story) the
reader doesn't get as much of a perspective from the Tlin point of view.
Therefore, it is easy to see the humans in the story being used merely as
useful pets (or breeders)...
I'm with you, Stefanie, in having trouble seeing the love immediately, but
given the complexity of the quite-similar situation in the Xenogenesis
trilogy, I see the possibility.
Anyone interested in talking about the Trilogy?
Cheers,
pam
Pamela Bedore
Simon Fraser University
Burnaby, BC
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Thu May 25 2000 - 19:06:45 PDT