Semper Shame

This article reads the two standalone novels by Octavia Butler, Kindred and Fledgling, through the theoretical lens of shame. Through my close readings of the texts, I argue that the affect of shame, as it brings emotional and physical pain to the victims, is also indispensable to the survival of human community. Specifically, I propose three main claims about the representations of shame in Butler: that shame is largely a learned response closely associated with substances such as human blood, that to be shamed is to have always already been shamed, and that a permanent separation from shame poses life-threatening consequences. Of particular importance to my readings are earlier discussions about shame's productive roles, including those formulated in Silvan Tomkins's Affect Imagery Consciousness. Rather than recast shame in a completely positive light, I point to a capaciousness in Butler's understanding of shame

Affect (linguistics) · Consciousness · Linguistics · Psychoanalysis · Reading (process) · Shame · Communication · Contemporary Literature and Criticism · Gothic Literature and Media Analysis · Neuroscience · Philosophy · Psychoanalysis, Philosophy, and Politics · Psychology · Social Psychology