Posthuman Bodies in Literature

The chapter’s or article’s main argument revolves around the manifestitation of the posthuman body. To elaborate briefly upon this, the article argues that the techonological posthuman body is anologous to ‘the monstrous or grotesque body’ and through this analogy and the aesthetic associations of the latter bodies raises some interesting points for further analisys regarding whether the effects of the ‘technobody’ are negative perhaps, rather than positive, and certainly relates it to the Other. To follow the qeustion raised here, the article delves into an exploration of the mythic bodies and then techno bodies as explored through literature the past 200 or so years. Finally the article investigates four contemporary archetypes found in literature, that allow for an interesting reflexion upon the role and symbolism of the body.

I would firstly recommend reading this article due to its exploration of bodies through literature which allows for a good overview of the different literary traditions and their focus regarding the body. Furthermore the points raised about the origins of the concept of bodyalteration and the meanings that this can have are very interesting, and can help the reader to think about this in new ways. Especially the latter part of tje article that deals with comtemporary examples of the use of the body in literature can provide a very good basis for further investigation and discussion of the role and symbolism of the boy.

Sheehan, Paul. ‘Posthuman Bodies’. The Cambridge Companion to the Body in Literature, edited by David Hillman, Ulrika Maude Cambridge University Press, 2015, pp 245 – 260.