When an elevator previously inspected by the novel’s heroine, Lila Mae Watson, suffers catastrophic failure, events unfold which might forever alter the city itself. Two rival factions of lift-inspectors exist, the Intuitionists and the Empiricists, whose practices are diametrically opposed.

The setting for this terrifically original tale from two-time Pulitzer Prize-winning author Colson Whitehead is a skewed version of a modern metropolis, the soaring skyscrapers of which are wholly dependent on elevators for vertical transportation. 'The Intuitionist' by Colson Whitehead / Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group / Amazon Parable of the Sower // Octavia Butler $14 Jemisin, and Nalo Hopkinson, who helped to define this wonderful genre. While naming every great work would be impossible, honorable mentions go to writers like Samuel R. The list presented below aims to serve as a concise literary introduction to Afrofuturism. Delany’s Blake or The Huts of America (1859) standing as an important early example. Although the term was first coined in the early ’90s, the roots of Afrofuturism stretch back as far as the 19th century, with Martin R. These works imagine alternate histories and possible futures as they relate to the African diaspora.Īs a genre, it’s enjoyed a welcome boom in popularity over recent years, thanks in part to Marvel’s 2018 feature film Black Panther and its forthcoming sequel. Popularized by Mark Dery in his 1993 essay “Black to the Future”, Afrofuturism is a movement that encompasses art, technology, films, philosophy, and literature-all of which explores Black history and culture, but often through a science-fiction lens.

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