Difference, identification, evolution: posthumanism as paradigmatic shift in contemporary speculative fiction

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dc.contributor.advisorBallengee, Jennifer R., 1968-
dc.contributor.authorDoane, Bethany
dc.contributor.departmentTowson University. Department of Humanities
dc.date.accessioned2015-12-17T19:31:49Z
dc.date.available2015-12-17T19:31:49Z
dc.date.issued2013-06-21
dc.date.submitted2013-05
dc.description(M.A.) -- Towson University, 2013.
dc.description.abstractThis study is an initial attempt to investigate the ways that posthumanism manifests within three works of contemporary speculative fiction: Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake (2010), Kazuo Ishiguro's Never Let Me Go (2005) and Richard Powers's Galatea 2.2 (1995). Posthumanism seeks to overturn the assumptions of liberal humanism, which places "the human" as the central, most important, and possibly only ethical subject in order to recognize inhuman beings-whether they be animal, clone, or artificial intelligence-as legitimate ethical subjects. At the same time, it recognizes that human beings and technology are intimately bound together. Therefore, it is impossible to "escape" the human through technological culture (as transhumanism might suggest) or to "return to nature" by eschewing technology and culture altogether. Each of these three works addresses these posthumanist assertions, employing various narrative techniques to reinforce both the ethical status of non-humans and the embedded nature of human technological culture.
dc.description.tableofcontentsPosthumanism and the Other: an evolution of understanding -- Burned by Prometheus' gift: posthumanism and cultural disease in Margaret Atwood's Oryx and Crake -- Engendering sympathy for the Other: Kazuo Ishiguro's Never let me go and posthumanist subjectivity -- Awakening the trans/posthuman: Galatea 2.2 and the postmodern Pygmalion -- On reconciling science and the humanities
dc.formatapplication/pdf
dc.format.extentiv, 96 pages
dc.genretheses
dc.identifierdoi:10.13016/M2ZT5H
dc.identifier.otherTSP2013Doane
dc.identifier.urihttp://hdl.handle.net/11603/1963
dc.language.isoeng
dc.relation.ispartofTowson University Archives
dc.relation.ispartofTowson University Electronic Theses and Dissertations
dc.relation.ispartofTowson University Institutional Repository
dc.rightsCopyright protected, all rights reserved.
dc.titleDifference, identification, evolution: posthumanism as paradigmatic shift in contemporary speculative fiction
dc.typeText
dcterms.accessRightsThere are no restrictions on access to this document. An internet release form signed by the author to display this document online is on file with Towson University Special Collections and Archives.

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