Reimagining the Human in Contemporary French Science Fiction

French science fiction remains an underexplored field, but this book offers a comprehensive study of French and Anglo-American intellectual trends, theories, and SF scholarship, exploring posthumanism and transhumanism in contemporary French SF. It investigates the immaterial and material stakes of posthumanist or transhumanist thinking in selected works, shedding light on the existential crisis of Anthropos.

Format: Hardback
Length: 208 pages
Publication date: 02 May 2023
Publisher: Liverpool University Press

The study of French science fiction, even within France, remains an underutilized field. While French literary scholars have recently gained recognition for the legitimacy of studying science fiction, their works often revolve around literary histories. However, this book marks the first comprehensive exploration of French and Anglo-American intellectual trends, theories, and science fiction scholarship, applied to a corpus of French works. It sheds light on how contemporary French science fiction engages with two broad philosophical inquiries into the powerful yet terrifying geological age of the Anthropocene: posthumanism and transhumanism.

While the posthumanist perspective emphasizes the interconnectedness and co-evolution of humans and nonhumans within a complex ecosystem of life, the transhumanist view offers more pragmatic and tool-based solutions to address the challenges posed by the Anthropocene. Given the rich history of philosophical thought intertwining with literature in France, French science fiction offers valuable insights into this existential crisis, encompassing both the destructive and salvific aspects of Anthropos, affecting worlds and bodies alike.

Through a focused examination of encounters between humans, nonhumans, and posthumans in selected works, this book delves into the immaterial (psychological state of the mind) and material (body) stakes of posthumanist or transhumanist thinking in French science fiction. By exploring these themes, the book contributes to a deeper understanding of the complex and evolving nature of French science fiction and its role in shaping our understanding of the human condition in the Anthropocene era.

Dimension: 239 x 163 (mm)
ISBN-13: 9781802078497