Posthumanism in Fantastic Fiction

Abstract

Posthumanism in Fantastic Fiction is a collection of interdisciplinary studies by established and emerging international scholars devoted to the discussion of literary redefinitions of the human subject’s place in the world. They focus on fantasies that challenge anthropocentric epistemology and Cartesian dualism to redraw the boundaries between the human, the animal, the technological, the natural environment, and the ‘inanimate’ object world. The articles combine the methodological apparatuses and theoretical insights of critical animal-, plant-, thing- studies and posthumanist philosophy with literary theories of the fantastic narrative mode. They scrutinize an impressive range of literary fantasy subgenres, including the postmodern science-fiction dystopia, ecohorror, mythopoeia, (new) weird fiction, environmentalist picturebook, and proto-modern ghost story. Contributors venture to explore how a posthumanist identity politics allows to address metaphysical, philosophical, ethical, legal, technological concerns beyond speciesist shortsightedness. The volume embraces a common goal of humanists and posthumanists by aiming to listen more attentively to the promise of companion species as the best chance for preserving and responsibly inhabiting our worlds.