Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction
Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007) manifest an environmentalist awareness of the increasingly destructive power of human technologies while challenging the prevalent models we employ to think about the planet as well as its hum...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Sciendo
2018-06-01
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| Series: | American, British and Canadian Studies Journal |
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| Online Access: | https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2018-0010 |
| _version_ | 1819109069633355776 |
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| author | Tüzün Hatice Övgü |
| author_facet | Tüzün Hatice Övgü |
| author_sort | Tüzün Hatice Övgü |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007) manifest an environmentalist awareness of the increasingly destructive power of human technologies while challenging the prevalent models we employ to think about the planet as well as its human and non-human inhabitants. Both novels probe what it means to be human in a universe plagued by entropy in the era of the Anthropocene. For the purposes of this essay, I will concentrate particularly on Dick’s and Winterson’s portrayals of the dystopian city as a site of interconnections and transformations against a backdrop of encroaching entropy and impending doom. Drawing on the work of several (critical) posthumanists who are primarily interested in dissolving oppositions such as between nature/culture, biology/technology, I show how the displacement of the centrality of human agency due to the intrusive nature of advanced technology is happening in the broader context of the Anthropocene. I also argue that the dystopian cityscapes envisioned in both novels become places that allow for the possibility of new forms of subjectivity to emerge. |
| first_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:19:58Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-b3f88af0a9804a298538a711c50888b2 |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 1841-964X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-12-22T03:19:58Z |
| publishDate | 2018-06-01 |
| publisher | Sciendo |
| record_format | Article |
| series | American, British and Canadian Studies Journal |
| spelling | doaj.art-b3f88af0a9804a298538a711c50888b22022-12-21T18:40:45ZengSciendoAmerican, British and Canadian Studies Journal1841-964X2018-06-0130117119310.2478/abcsj-2018-0010abcsj-2018-0010Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science FictionTüzün Hatice Övgü0Bahçeşehir University, Istanbul, TurkeyPhilip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Jeanette Winterson’s The Stone Gods (2007) manifest an environmentalist awareness of the increasingly destructive power of human technologies while challenging the prevalent models we employ to think about the planet as well as its human and non-human inhabitants. Both novels probe what it means to be human in a universe plagued by entropy in the era of the Anthropocene. For the purposes of this essay, I will concentrate particularly on Dick’s and Winterson’s portrayals of the dystopian city as a site of interconnections and transformations against a backdrop of encroaching entropy and impending doom. Drawing on the work of several (critical) posthumanists who are primarily interested in dissolving oppositions such as between nature/culture, biology/technology, I show how the displacement of the centrality of human agency due to the intrusive nature of advanced technology is happening in the broader context of the Anthropocene. I also argue that the dystopian cityscapes envisioned in both novels become places that allow for the possibility of new forms of subjectivity to emerge.https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2018-0010anthropocenepost-apocalypsecityandroidscience fictiondystopiaposthumanismenvironmentalismphilip k. dickjeanette winterson |
| spellingShingle | Tüzün Hatice Övgü Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction American, British and Canadian Studies Journal anthropocene post-apocalypse city android science fiction dystopia posthumanism environmentalism philip k. dick jeanette winterson |
| title | Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction |
| title_full | Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction |
| title_fullStr | Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction |
| title_full_unstemmed | Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction |
| title_short | Welcome to the Desert of the Anthropocene: Dystopian Cityscapes in (Post)Apocalyptic Science Fiction |
| title_sort | welcome to the desert of the anthropocene dystopian cityscapes in post apocalyptic science fiction |
| topic | anthropocene post-apocalypse city android science fiction dystopia posthumanism environmentalism philip k. dick jeanette winterson |
| url | https://doi.org/10.2478/abcsj-2018-0010 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT tuzunhaticeovgu welcometothedesertoftheanthropocenedystopiancityscapesinpostapocalypticsciencefiction |