| Parable of the Sower | |
|---|---|
Cover of first edition (hardcover) |
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| Author(s) | Octavia E. Butler |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Series | Parable trilogy |
| Genre(s) | Dystopian, Science fiction novel |
| Publisher | Four Walls Eight Windows |
| Publication date | 1993 |
| Media type | Print (Hardcover & Paperback) |
| Pages | 299 pp (first edition, hardback) |
| ISBN | ISBN 0-941423-99-9 (first edition, hardback) |
| OCLC Number | 28255529 |
| Dewey Decimal | 813/.54 20 |
| LC Classification | PS3552.U827 P37 1993 |
| Followed by | Parable of the Talents |
Parable of the Sower is the first in a two-book series of science fiction novels written by Octavia E. Butler and published in 1993.
Contents |
Set in a future where government has all but collapsed, Parable of the Sower centers on a young woman named Lauren Olamina who possesses what Butler dubbed hyperempathy – the ability to feel the perceived pain and other sensations of others – who develops a benign philosophical and religious system during her childhood in the remnants of a gated community in Los Angeles. Civil society has reverted to relative anarchy due to resource scarcity and poverty. When the community's security is compromised, her home is destroyed and her family murdered. She travels north with some survivors to try to start a community where her religion, called Earthseed, can grow.
Butler had planned to write a third Parable novel, tentatively titled Parable of the Trickster, which would have focused on the community's struggle to survive on a new planet. She began this novel after finishing Parable of the Talents, and mentioned her work on it in a number of interviews, but at some point encountered a writer's block. She eventually shifted her creative attention, resulting in Fledgling, her final novel.
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