Teeming Stomachs and Infinite Spirals: Posthuman Anxiety in Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here and John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down

Amy Waite

doi:10.24877/ijyal.26

Abstract

The posthuman – as ontology, theory, philosophy, ethical framework – has been somewhat valorised in the cultural and critical imagination of late: heralded as the aspirational antithesis of a longstanding, yet long-critiqued humanist infrastructure based on division and exclusion. In particular, critics of young adult fiction have – through extensive posthumanist readings of fantasy, dystopia, and speculative/science fiction genres – lauded the posthuman as a powerful (if often latent) force capable of disrupting tyrannous regimes, saving the planet and generally kicking serious existential ass. But what does the posthuman mean beyond these genres? Who is excluded from these spectacular narratives of empowerment? And to what effect? Through an examination of adolescent anxiety in John Green’s Turtles All The Way Down (2017) and Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015), this article draws connections between the posthuman and mental health that expose the dangers of this new exceptionalism – even (or especially) when it operates under the guise of ‘butt-kicking’ empowerment and radical inclusivity.

Highlights

There are few things more prosaic, more mundane about the human condition, than the inner workings of our gastric tracts
There are something like a thousand times more microbes living in my particular biome than there are human beings on earth, and it often seems like I can feel them living and breeding and dying in and on me...Admittedly, I have some anxiety problems, but I would argue that it isn’t irrational to be concerned about the fact that that you are a skin-encased bacterial colony. (Green 3)
Whilst thinking about the theme of IJYAL’s launch issue and planning this article in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic, my mind immediately turned to these two characters: being human is hard for Aza and Mike, but being posthuman is even harder

Summary

INTRODUCTION

There are few things more prosaic, more mundane about the human condition, than the inner workings of our gastric tracts. Whilst thinking about the theme of IJYAL’s launch issue and planning this article in the midst of the global Covid-19 pandemic (when the dissolution of ‘ontological hygiene’ has never felt more relevant or anxiety-inducing), my mind immediately turned to these two characters: being human is hard for Aza and Mike, but being posthuman is even harder. Charting Donna Haraway’s theoretical shift from slick ‘cyborgs’ to messy ‘compost’ and tangled ‘string figures’, this article advocates an alternative understanding of the posthuman, opening up the critical conversation beyond conventional fantasy genres whilst simultaneously demonstrating how Green and Ness interrogate strict teleological storylines and ontological categories to offer a spectrum of different posthuman options

YOUNG ADULT FICTION AND THE POSTHUMAN

MR MESSY AND GRAFFITI

CODA COIL