How Literature Comes to Matter: Post-Anthropocentric Approaches to Fiction

Literature and post-anthropocentric theory can illuminate each other in mutually productive ways, focusing on the study of literature as an underdeveloped field within the material turn. The introduction and eleven chapters examine new materialist and object-oriented theory, demonstrating the deep entanglements of human and nonhuman realities in literature. The collection includes an Afterword by Timothy Morton and hands-on analyses and close readings of individual works by diverse writers.

Format: Hardback
Length: 288 pages
Publication date: 31 December 2020
Publisher: Edinburgh University Press

Literature and post-anthropocentric theory offer a unique perspective on the relationship between the subject and object, the human and the nonhuman. This volume explores how the study of literature can be enhanced by new materialist and object-oriented theory, which reveals the deep entanglements of human and nonhuman realities in literature. The introduction and eleven chapters examine various ways in which these theories open up new avenues for literary analysis, while also demonstrating the richness of literature's engagement with the material world.

The collection includes an Afterword by Timothy Morton and hands-on analyses and close readings of individual works by diverse writers such as Hans Christian Andersen, Djuna Barnes, Sylvia Plath, Georges Perec, Ayi Kwei Armah, Jeanette Winterson, and Paolo Bacigalupi. By rethinking the boundaries between the subject and object, literature and post-anthropocentric theory can provide a more comprehensive understanding of the world and our place in it.

Weight: 604g
Dimension: 170 x 236 x 24 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781474461313