“WE DID BECOME”: SHERI S. TEPPER’S GRASS AND POSTHUMAN COMPANIONSHIP BEYOND THE ANIMAL/HUMAN BINARY
“WE DID BECOME”: SHERI S. TEPPER’S GRASS AND POSTHUMAN COMPANIONSHIP BEYOND THE ANIMAL/HUMAN BINARY

Summary/Abstract: “We Did Become”: Sheri S. Tepper’s Grass and Posthuman Companionship Beyond the Animal/Human Binary. Sheri S. Tepper’s Arbai trilogy (1989-1992) is the home for beings that pose a challenge to the binaries behind the establishment of hierarchical relations between humans and animals. In the first volume of the series, Grass, originally published in 1989, Marjorie Westriding, a noblewoman, revolts against anthropocentric and patriarchal social structures when she abandons her husband and becomes a companion to one of the aliens who inhabit the planet Grass and are perceived by humans as foxes. Marjorie’s eventual symbiosis with the creature grants her eternity, and turns her into a prophetess, a unique being that can travel through time and space along with the “foxen,” the Grassian term for “one or a dozen” foxes. Her status as neither human nor alien (or animal) allows her to form a posthuman identity that no longer places anthropocentrism at the core of the conceptualization of human/non-human relations. This article therefore discusses the possibility of a posthuman and ecofeminist critique of anthropocentric and patriarchal hierarchies through the lens of Tepper’s novel, by focusing on the symbiosis and companionship relation Marjorie establishes with the foxen. This relation is mainly analyzed under the light of Ralph R. Acampora’s concept of ‘symphysis,’ particularly emphasizing Marjorie’s ability to share symphysical experiences of embodiment with other non-human beings instead of simply feeling sympathy for them.

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