Devenirs de l’humain et fiction contemporaine : imaginaires de la fin, corps bio-technologiques et subjectivités numériques

• Main Author: Hélène Machinal
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Presses Universitaires de la Méditerranée 2016-04-01
• Series: Études Britanniques Contemporaines
• Subjects: posthuman; contemporary fiction; fictions of the end; biotech bodies; digital subjectivities; TV series
• Online Access: http://journals.openedition.org/ebc/3175

Contemporary fiction tends to represent the evolution of the human race, both in literature and the visual arts. In the 20th century, multiple fictions of the end emerge, cristallizing the fear emanating from the possible universal death of humanity. The period between 1970 and 2000 helps deepen and complexify these fictive representations, anchoring them in two scientific revolutions: biotechnology and the digital world. Science thus creates new possibilities in terms of species evolution and mutation towards the post-human. Fictions focusing on the future of humanity usually develop three specific features. The first is temporal and portrays post-cataclysmic worlds. The second usually represents posthumanity through motifs such as evolution, mutation or hybridity. Finally, the evolution of the human body (technologically enhanced bodies) can be distinct from (or coupled with) extensions or mutations of the mind, the latter often being represented through digital subjectivities usually associated with digital/screen culture. To these three specific features (concerning time, body and mind), we can correlate three trends in contemporary fiction: a resurgence of mythical figures of the end of the 19th century, a generic hybridity (grounded in adaptation and creation) and a suspicion of images as potential simulacra and as resulting from our on-line environments and screen culture.