Posthuman “Meta(l)morphoses” in Jeanette Winterson’s "The Stone Gods"

Jeanette Winterson’s “The Stone Gods” (2007) pictures a futuristic world in which every body is technologically, discursively, and materially constructed. First of all, "The Stone Gods" foregrounds the futuristic conceptualization of embodiment and posthuman gendered bodies in relation to...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autor: Yazgünoğlu, Kerim Can
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Fecha de publicación:2016
País:España
Institución:Universidad de Alcalá (UAH)
Repositorio:e_Buah Biblioteca Digital Universidad de Alcalá
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:oai:ebuah.uah.es:10017/25558
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/10017/25558
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:Jeanette Winterson
The Stone Gods
Posthumanism
Trans-corporeality
Material agency
Naturecultures
Posthumanismo
Trans-corporalidad
Agencia material
Naturaculturas
Literatura
Medio ambiente
Literature
Environmental science
Descripción
Sumario:Jeanette Winterson’s “The Stone Gods” (2007) pictures a futuristic world in which every body is technologically, discursively, and materially constructed. First of all, "The Stone Gods" foregrounds the futuristic conceptualization of embodiment and posthuman gendered bodies in relation to biotechnology, biogenetics, and robotics, interrogating contemporary dimensions of the interface between the human and the machine, nature and culture.Secondly, the novel focuses on environmental concerns relevant to our present age. More specifically, however, drawing our attention to posthuman toxic bodies in terms of “trans-corporeality,” as suggested by Stacy Alaimo, “The Stone Gods” is an invaluable literary means to speculate on our “posthuman predicament,” in Rosi Braidotti’s words, and global ecological imperilment. In “The Stone Gods”, Winterson provides not only a warning against the dehumanization of the human in the process of posthumanization, but also a salient picture of posthuman trans-corporeal subjects through a discussion of the beneficial and deleterious effects of biotechnology and machines on human-nonhuman “naturecultures.” On this view, looking at both human and nonhuman bodies througha trans-corporeal lens would contribute to an understanding of how material-discursive structures can profoundly transform human-nonhuman life on Earth.