The House of Pain: The Island of Dr. Moreau and Post/Trans/ Humanism Today
The House of Pain: The Island of Dr. Moreau and Post/Trans/ Humanism Today
Author(s): Elana GomelSubject(s): Cultural history, Ethics / Practical Philosophy, 19th Century, Theory of Literature, British Literature, Sociology of Literature
Published by: Transnational Press London
Keywords: Antihumanism; evolutionary ethics; Victorian culture; H. G. Wells; science fiction; pain;
Summary/Abstract: H. G. Wells’ novel The Island of Dr. Moreau (1896) is a bleak critique of the Victorian notion that evolution can provide ethical or social guidance to humanity. This essay reads the novel in the context of the contemporary debate between posthumanism and transhumanism. By applying theoretical models derived from Braidotti, Agamben, Wolfe and others, the essay argues that Wells’ evolutionary antihumanism provides a corrective to both critical posthumanism’s attempts to articulate a nonanthropocentric ethics, and to transhumanism’s dreams of transcending humanity. The essay considers the chronotope of an island polity in the context of evolutionary antihumanism by comparing Wells’ novel with the contemporary biotech thriller Island 731 (2013) by Jeremy Robinson.
Journal: Journal of Posthumanism
- Issue Year: 3/2023
- Issue No: 3
- Page Range: 219-232
- Page Count: 14
- Language: English
