Kindred
by Octavia Butler
Summary
Contemporary Black writer Dana is repeatedly and involuntarily yanked back in time from 1970s California to a antebellum Maryland plantation, where she must repeatedly save the life of the white slaveholder's son who will eventually father one of her own ancestors. Butler uses the time travel premise to force a modern reader directly into the daily brutality of slavery, refusing the comforting distance that historical fiction can sometimes offer. The novel became a landmark work bridging science fiction and the literature of American slavery.
Historical Context & Significance
The novel was not nominated for either the Hugo or Nebula Award in its year of publication, despite Butler's later recognition as one of the most important science fiction writers of her generation. Butler would go on to win both awards for later work, including her novelette Bloodchild, but never for Kindred itself.