Special Appearance by Zach Powers
The Literary Table is proud to present Zach Powers from SeerSucker Live discussing Orson Scott Card and his work Ender’s Game as a reflection of and distinctive from his identity. Like their Facebook page and twitter feed to stay up to date on performances here in Savannah and abroad. (Because everything outside of Savannah is just abroad!).
Zach is a writer that lives in Savannah, and his work has appeared in South Magazine, the Savannah Morning News, and other publications. Welcome Zach!
In the original version of Orson Scott Card’s award-winning novel Ender’s Game, the insect-like alien enemy was called the Buggers. I remember being a little offended with the release of the “author’s definitive edition,” in which this term was replaced by the supposedly-scientific Formics. What I perceived to be Card’s oversensitivity—his PG-ifying and PC-ifying of the text—annoyed me. So what if the word was connected to the British term buggery? Isn’t Bugger exactly what the collective we would call an enemy who looked like an anthropomorphic ant? I never once thought the term was representative of Card’s actual stance on sexuality. Sometimes art contains ugliness. The contents of his book remained unconnected with the values of the man.
It turns out that the contents of the book are disconnected from the man, but in the other direction. Card’s opposition to LGBT rights in recent years has been well-documented. Even more, I sense a simmering hate underneath any of Card’s writing on the subject, but this tone is so completely absent in his early fictions that I have a hard time believing they were produced by the same hand.
I need to disclaim my personal biases. Ender’s Game is one of my favorite books, and probably the most important book I ever read in terms of shaping who I am. I purchased my first copy—sitting beside me right now—at a 7th grade book fair. It was the first book I ever bought with money out of my own pocket. It was the first book I ever stayed up all night to finish. I read it about thirty times between 7th grade and the end of college. I used to play an online computer game set in the book’s Battle School space station. I still daydream of one day writing the Ender’s Game prequel that has been simmering in the back of my brain for years. Because of my love for the book, Orson Scott Card was, for a long time, someone I admired.
ZACH’S POST CONTINUES ON TUESDAY APRIL 22!
Zach can be contacted via his website http://www.zachpowers.com. For the latest news and writings, follow his twitter feed @z_powers.
The Literary Table 