The Xenogenesis Trilogy: The Utopian Writing of Octavia E. Butler

• Thesis title in Czech: Trilogie Xenogenesis: Utopické dílo Octavie E. Butler
• Thesis title in English: The Xenogenesis Trilogy: The Utopian Writing of Octavia E. Butler
• Key words: Octavia E. Butler|utopie|dystopie|naděje|změna|trilogie Xenogenesis|Lilith‘s Brood
• English key words: Octavia E. Butler|utopia|dystopia|hope|change|Xenogenesis trilogy|Lilith’s Brood
• Academic year of topic announcement: 2020/2021
• Thesis type: diploma thesis
• Thesis language: angličtina
• Department: Department of Anglophone Literatures and Cultures (21-UALK)
• Supervisor: Mgr. Pavla Veselá, Ph.D.
• Author: hidden - assigned and confirmed by the Study Dept.
• Date of registration: 25.02.2021
• Date of assignment: 25.02.2021
• Administrator's approval: not processed yet
• Confirmed by Study dept. on: 26.02.2021
• Date and time of defence: 07.02.2024 00:00
• Date of electronic submission: 10.01.2024
• Date of proceeded defence: 07.02.2024
• Submitted/finalized: committed by student and finalized
• Opponents: prof. PhDr. Martin Procházka, CSc.

Guidelines

This thesis will look through the lens of the three main characters of Octavia E. Butler’s Xenogenesis trilogy (otherwise known as Lilith’s Brood), Lilith, Akin, and Jodahs, and analyze each book in the trilogy (Dawn, Adulthood Rites and Imago) in order to trace dystopian and utopian elements in Butler’s writing. It will look at different ideas of what utopia and the utopian is, and through this, explore the idea that it is the hope incited by the idea of change that constitutes Butler’s utopian writing. This change does not try to achieve some ideological goal, but instead is one that is playful, limitless and allows for constant transformation. The thesis will explore the idea that even though Butler herself was skeptical towards the concept of utopia, her work is utopian because of its constant striving towards a better future through the creation of worlds that inspire the hope for change.

References

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