Bodies of Tomorrow : : Technology, Subjectivity, Science Fiction / / Sherryl Vint.

• Superior document: Title is part of eBook package: De Gruyter University of Toronto Press eBook-Package Backlist 2000-2013
• VerfasserIn: Vint, Sherryl,
• Place / Publishing House: Toronto : : University of Toronto Press, , [2016]; ©2006
• Year of Publication: 2016
• Language: English
• Physical Description: 1 online resource (304 p.)

Anxieties about embodiment and posthumanism have always found an outlet in the science fiction of the day. In Bodies of Tomorrow, Sherryl Vint argues for a new model of an ethical and embodied posthuman subject through close readings of the works of Gwyneth Jones, Octavia Butler, Iain M. Banks, William Gibson, and other science fiction authors. Vint?s discussion is firmly contextualized by discussions of contemporary technoscience, specifically genetics and information technology, and the implications of this technology for the way we consider human subjectivity. Engaging with theorists such as Michel Foucault, Judith Butler, Anne Balsamo, N. Katherine Hayles, and Douglas Kellner,Bodies of Tomorrow argues for the importance of challenging visions of humanity in the future that overlook our responsibility as embodied beings connected to a material world. If we are to understand the post-human subject, then we must acknowledge our embodied connection to the world around us and the value of our multiple subjective responses to it. Vint?s study thus encourages a move from the common liberal humanist approach to posthuman theory toward what she calls ?embodied posthumanism.? This timely work of science fiction criticism will prove fascinating to cultural theorists, philosophers, and literary scholars alike, as well as anyone concerned with the ethics of posthumanism.

Table of Contents

Frontmatter -- Contents -- Acknowledgments -- Introduction: Problematic Selves and Unexpected Others -- 1. Gwyneth Jones: The World of the Body and the Body of the World -- 2. Octavia Butler: Be(com)ing Human -- 3. Iain M. Banks: The Culture-al Body -- 4. Cyberpunk: Return of the Repressed Body -- 5. Raphael Carter: The Fall into Meat -- 6. Jack Womack and Neal Stephenson: The World and the Text and the World in the Text -- Conclusion: Towards an Ethical Posthumanism -- Notes -- Bibliography -- Index