HUMAN-EYED DOLPHINS: HUMANIST NIGHTMARES AND POSTHUMANIST ECOSYSTEMS IN JEFF VANDERMEER’S THE SOUTHERN REACH TETRALOGY.
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KEY WORDS: The Southern Reach; Jeff VanderMeer; posthuman; posthumanism; weird fiction.Resumen
RESUMEN
Diez años después del lanzamiento de la trilogía The Southern Reach, Jeff VanderMeer regresa al enigmático territorio del Área X con una cuarta novela, Absolution (2024). Este artículo analiza la manera en la que la representación del continuum posthumano cuestiona las definiciones tradicionales de la dicotomía humano/no-humano. A través del enfoque filosófico posthumanista teorizado por Rosi Braidotti, el análisis de las novelas en cuestión revela que éstas no sólo rechazan una definición convencionales de desastre ecológico, sino que también redefinen los conceptos de continuidad existencial y agencial en un contexto posthumano. En las novelas de The Southern Reach, la representación de entidades posthumanas refleja una desconstrucción deliberada de configuraciones identitarias oposicionales. VanderMeer logra esto principalmente de dos maneras: por un lado, trasfiriendo atributos tradicionalmente abhumanos de animales no humanos y entidades alienígenas a los focalizadores humanos; y por otro, presentando a los seres posthumanos como posibilidades ontológicas deseables.
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