Against humanity: misanthropy in contemporary dystopian literature
Date
2023
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Abstract
This dissertation examines the significance of misanthropy in contemporary speculative fiction, using Walkaway by Cory Doctorow and Autonomous by Annalee Newitz as examples. By analysing the novels’ response to the context of the Anthropocene and liquid modernity, it is shown that misanthropy arises from a sense of powerlessness and existential fear in the unseating of anthropocentrism. Walkaway and Autonomous construct transhuman and posthuman subjectivity, respectively, to investigate the potentials and limitations of the human being. In doing so, they reflect fears and desires for the future, and demonstrate the role of hope in its construction. Walkaway shows a transhuman techno-utopia as an escape from the existential fear that drives its misanthropic vision of bodies as disposable and minds as unreliable. Autonomous presents a bio-entrapment view of existence, and suggests that artificial intelligence is an ideal unattainable by humans. Both types of misanthropy provide valuable insight into our current context, collective psyche, and the issue of responsibility, and demonstrate the necessity of a more balanced approach to human existence that includes embodiment, affective intelligence, and the entirety of Earth’s systems.
Description
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts in English to the Faculty of Humanities, School of Literature, Language, and Media, University of the Witwatersrand, 2023
Keywords
Misanthropy, Anthropocene, Posthumanism