Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology
This paper analyzes Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009), a self-reflexive novel in which Powers explores some of the possibilities and challenges of increasing human happiness levels through biotechnology. As this work sets out to show, Powers’s greatest success in the novel may be hi...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)
2022-12-01
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| Series: | Atlantis |
| Online Access: | https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/856 |
| _version_ | 1797978295436836864 |
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| author | Carmen Laguarta Bueno |
| author_facet | Carmen Laguarta Bueno |
| author_sort | Carmen Laguarta Bueno |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | This paper analyzes Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009), a self-reflexive novel in which Powers explores some of the possibilities and challenges of increasing human happiness levels through biotechnology. As this work sets out to show, Powers’s greatest success in the novel may be his choice to adopt certain conventions typical of metafiction to provide a fervent critique of this pressing issue. Drawing mainly from Waugh’s seminal work on metafiction, the present work analyzes how the different metafictional techniques Powers uses in Generosity combine with the transhumanist discourse on the possibilities that biotechnology opens up in order to create a happier population. Ultimately, this article argues that through building a self-reflexive narrative the writer calls the reader’s attention to the constructed character of the transhumanist view of happiness as an engineering problem. Accordingly, he presents an alternative view of happiness as a state of mind that can be achieved by being resilient in the face of our problems and by enjoying the here and now. |
| first_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:21:49Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-8393a410397443fbaa61175742a4e9f5 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1989-6840 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-04-11T05:21:49Z |
| publishDate | 2022-12-01 |
| publisher | Asociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN) |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Atlantis |
| spelling | doaj.art-8393a410397443fbaa61175742a4e9f52022-12-23T23:19:14ZengAsociación Española de Estudios Anglo-Norteamericanos (AEDEAN)Atlantis1989-68402022-12-0144222223810.28914/Atlantis-2022-44.2.12Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through BiotechnologyCarmen Laguarta Bueno0Universidad de ZaragozaThis paper analyzes Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009), a self-reflexive novel in which Powers explores some of the possibilities and challenges of increasing human happiness levels through biotechnology. As this work sets out to show, Powers’s greatest success in the novel may be his choice to adopt certain conventions typical of metafiction to provide a fervent critique of this pressing issue. Drawing mainly from Waugh’s seminal work on metafiction, the present work analyzes how the different metafictional techniques Powers uses in Generosity combine with the transhumanist discourse on the possibilities that biotechnology opens up in order to create a happier population. Ultimately, this article argues that through building a self-reflexive narrative the writer calls the reader’s attention to the constructed character of the transhumanist view of happiness as an engineering problem. Accordingly, he presents an alternative view of happiness as a state of mind that can be achieved by being resilient in the face of our problems and by enjoying the here and now.https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/856 |
| spellingShingle | Carmen Laguarta Bueno Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology Atlantis |
| title | Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology |
| title_full | Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology |
| title_fullStr | Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology |
| title_full_unstemmed | Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology |
| title_short | Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement (2009): Transhumanism, Metafiction and the Ethics of Increasing Human Happiness Levels through Biotechnology |
| title_sort | richard powers s generosity an enhancement 2009 transhumanism metafiction and the ethics of increasing human happiness levels through biotechnology |
| url | https://www.atlantisjournal.org/index.php/atlantis/article/view/856 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT carmenlaguartabueno richardpowerssgenerosityanenhancement2009transhumanismmetafictionandtheethicsofincreasinghumanhappinesslevelsthroughbiotechnology |