Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature
This paper conducts an exploration of the post-Darwinian literary and philosophical imaginary through the topos of the island. Drawing upon philosophical reflections by Gilles Deleuze on the nature of material islands and their psychic function as fantasies of transcendence, I argue that the island...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Island Studies Journal
2017-11-01
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| Series: | Island Studies Journal |
| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.34 |
| _version_ | 1797796164660101120 |
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| author | Niall Sreenan |
| author_facet | Niall Sreenan |
| author_sort | Niall Sreenan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper conducts an exploration of the post-Darwinian literary and philosophical imaginary through the topos of the island. Drawing upon philosophical reflections by Gilles Deleuze on the nature of material islands and their psychic function as fantasies of transcendence, I argue that the island takes on new significance in a post-Darwinian world by offering an image of human independence that is unavailable under the regime of biological evolution. By conducting comparative readings of Michel Houellebecq’s The Possibility of an Island, Aldous Huxley’s Island, Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, and H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr Moreau, instigated by the critical apparatus developed with my reading of Deleuze, I establish the existence of a genealogy of post-Darwinian narratives in which the island facilitates a specifically utopian dream of individual autonomy, which is bound up with the ideology of capitalism. Taken together, I argue, these works emphasise the importance and complex position of the island in the post-Darwinian imaginary. In these works, islands neither allow for simplistic affirmations of such utopian, capitalist fantasies of human sovereignty nor deterministic pessimism, but explore critically these ideas as they co-exist in tension. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-13T03:28:57Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-06015bca98da46248e7295076175c740 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1715-2593 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-13T03:28:57Z |
| publishDate | 2017-11-01 |
| publisher | Island Studies Journal |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Island Studies Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-06015bca98da46248e7295076175c7402023-06-25T03:42:21ZengIsland Studies JournalIsland Studies Journal1715-25932017-11-01122Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian LiteratureNiall SreenanThis paper conducts an exploration of the post-Darwinian literary and philosophical imaginary through the topos of the island. Drawing upon philosophical reflections by Gilles Deleuze on the nature of material islands and their psychic function as fantasies of transcendence, I argue that the island takes on new significance in a post-Darwinian world by offering an image of human independence that is unavailable under the regime of biological evolution. By conducting comparative readings of Michel Houellebecq’s The Possibility of an Island, Aldous Huxley’s Island, Samuel Butler’s Erewhon, and H.G. Wells’ The Island of Dr Moreau, instigated by the critical apparatus developed with my reading of Deleuze, I establish the existence of a genealogy of post-Darwinian narratives in which the island facilitates a specifically utopian dream of individual autonomy, which is bound up with the ideology of capitalism. Taken together, I argue, these works emphasise the importance and complex position of the island in the post-Darwinian imaginary. In these works, islands neither allow for simplistic affirmations of such utopian, capitalist fantasies of human sovereignty nor deterministic pessimism, but explore critically these ideas as they co-exist in tension.https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.34 |
| spellingShingle | Niall Sreenan Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature Island Studies Journal |
| title | Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature |
| title_full | Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature |
| title_fullStr | Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature |
| title_full_unstemmed | Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature |
| title_short | Dreaming of Islands: Individuality and Utopian Desire in post-Darwinian Literature |
| title_sort | dreaming of islands individuality and utopian desire in post darwinian literature |
| url | https://doi.org/10.24043/isj.34 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT niallsreenan dreamingofislandsindividualityandutopiandesireinpostdarwinianliterature |