This paper delves into African America writer Octavia Butler’s Hugo-Award winning“Speech Sounds”to explore how the author uses a fictional pandemic as a metaphor to critique toxic masculinity in 1980s American cult...This paper delves into African America writer Octavia Butler’s Hugo-Award winning“Speech Sounds”to explore how the author uses a fictional pandemic as a metaphor to critique toxic masculinity in 1980s American culture.By analyzing the story,it reveals how the unnamed illness functions as a social pathogen,intensifying the negative aspects of hegemonic masculinity,leading to the breakdown of communication and the prevalence of violence.Through the character of Rye,the paper also examines how black feminist resilience offers a counter-narrative to the destructive forces of toxic masculinity.The study concludes that Butler’s work not only exposes the cultural disease of toxic masculinity but also provides a vision of healing and regeneration through communal care and the cultivation of hope,highlighting the power of speculative fiction as a tool for social critique and imagining alternative futures.展开更多
基金supported by the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Science Project,Project Title:“A Study of the Writing of Futures in Contemporary Science Fiction by African American Women”(Grant No.22YJC752010)。
文摘This paper delves into African America writer Octavia Butler’s Hugo-Award winning“Speech Sounds”to explore how the author uses a fictional pandemic as a metaphor to critique toxic masculinity in 1980s American culture.By analyzing the story,it reveals how the unnamed illness functions as a social pathogen,intensifying the negative aspects of hegemonic masculinity,leading to the breakdown of communication and the prevalence of violence.Through the character of Rye,the paper also examines how black feminist resilience offers a counter-narrative to the destructive forces of toxic masculinity.The study concludes that Butler’s work not only exposes the cultural disease of toxic masculinity but also provides a vision of healing and regeneration through communal care and the cultivation of hope,highlighting the power of speculative fiction as a tool for social critique and imagining alternative futures.
