European Posthumanism by Herbrechter, Stefan; Callus, Ivan; Rossini, Manuela;

Short description:

European Posthumanism documents the rich influences from Continental philosophy and theory shaping one of the most widely discussed paradigms of the 21^st century: posthumanism. With a landmark essay by the editors and notably incisive essays by the team of contributors, this volume looks set to be a standard work of reference on the complex intersections across posthumanism, theory, English and comparative literature. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of English Studies.

Long description:

In literary studies and beyond, ‘theory’ and its aftermaths have arguably been over-influenced by US- and UK-based institutions, publishers, journals, and academics. Yet the influence of theory in its Anglo-American forms has remained reliant on Continental European ideas. Similar patterns can be discerned within the latest theoretical paradigm – posthumanism. European ideas influence posthumanism’s challenge to established understandings of humanism, anthropomorphism, and anthropocentrism, which is characterised by the increased urgency and proliferation of questions such as ‘What does it mean to be human?’ and ‘What is the relationship between humans and their nonhuman others (machines, animals, plants, the inorganic, gods, systems, and various figures of liminality, from ghosts to angels, from cyborgs to zombies)?’

European Posthumanism examines the histories and geographies of posthumanism and looks at the genealogies which have been at work in the rise of posthumanist thought and culture. This book was originally published as a special issue of the European Journal of English Studies.

Table of Contents:

Introduction: Dis/locating Posthumanism in European Literary and Critical Traditions  1. Posthuman Affect  2. Human Without Qualities: Or, can Alan Turing help us to acknowledge androids?  3. Telefoam: Species on the shores of Cixous and Derrida  4. Towards a Posthumanist Ecology: Nature without humanity in Wordsworth and Shelley  5. Meaning without subject: ‘Melanctha’ and the relation of communication to the human mind  6. In Search of a Lost Future: The Posthuman Child