Posthuman Identities in Contemporary Literature and Media: Rethinking the Boundaries of the Human

Abstract

This research paper examines the idea of posthuman identities portrayed in contemporary literature, with a close analysis of Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003) and Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro (2005). The study aims to investigate the ethical contexts of biotechnology, genetic engineering and the blurring of lines between human and non-human. The theoretical perspectives include the studies of Donna Haraway, N. Katherine Hayles, and Cary Wolfe, who influence this paper in defining the posthuman condition and the potential relationship in contemporary literature to this condition. The paper argues that contemporary literature is an important site of critique in defining the posthuman condition and related anxieties and possibilities. The results in this study indicate that this literature is related to the technological concerns in contemporary society and challenges the definition and meaning associated with the concept ‘human.’