Source : NEW INDIAN EXPRESS NEWS
ALTADENA, Calif.: Decades ago, the writer Octavia Butler had imagined a Los Angeles ravaged by fires. The Altadena cemetery where the science fiction and Afrofuturism author is buried did catch fire last week but suffered “minimal damage,” according to a statement on the cemetery’s web site.
A spokesperson at the Mountain View cemetery confirmed the accuracy of the website’s announcement to The Associated Press, but would not comment on the status of individual markers. The grave of Butler, who died in 2006 at 58, is marked by a footstone etched with a quote from “Parable of the Sower,” among her most famous novels: “All that you touch, you change. All that you change, changes you.”
Since the fires began last week, “Parable of the Sower” and other Butler works have been cited for anticipating a world — and, particularly, a Los Angeles — wracked by climate change, racism and economic disparity. “Parable of the Sower” was written in 1993 and set in a post-apocalyptic Los Angeles. “We had a fire today,” reads a Feb. 1, 2025, diary entry in the book, referring to a small fire that presages the destructive fires to come in the novel.
The Eaton fire razed large swaths of Altadena, a longtime haven for Black families that for generations eschewed the discriminatory housing practices found elsewhere. In the fire’s aftermath, fears have abounded about whether recovery and rebuilding is achievable for Altadena’s diverse community, amid the pressures of gentrification.
On Tuesday, crews were inside the closed cemetery, clearing away debris. Singed brush around the perimeter was the main sign of the fire’s toll, though the surrounding area was quiet, replete with damaged structures.
Butler’s prescience predates this year. In the book’s sequel, “Parable of the Talents,” an authoritarian politician promises to “Make America Great Again.” (Butler, who died before Donald Trump’s political rise, heard the phrase used by President Ronald Reagan).
“She seems to have seen the real future coming in a way few other writers did,” Gerry Caravan, an associate professor at Marquette University and co-editor of Butler’s work for the Library of America, told the AP in 2020. “It’s hard not to read the books and think ‘How did she know?’”
Butler herself once remembered a student asking her about her “Parable” books and whether she believed all of the troubles she described would take place.
SOURCE :- NEW INDIAN EXPRESS
