Representations of the post/human: monsters, aliens and others in popular culture

TLDR

Advances in genetic modification, cloning, and information technologies challenge the boundaries between humans, animals, and machines, prompting a posthuman category that reconfigures the human body and challenges fundamental understandings of human nature, a theme echoed from Prometheus to contemporary science fiction. The study examines how posthuman themes are expressed in popular culture and the creative arts. The author analyzes representations of posthuman themes in popular culture and creative arts. These representations link contemporary debates with enduring concerns about the potential and limits of human creativity. Publisher: Microchips.

Abstract

From the Publisher: Microchips. Genetic modification of plants. Cloning. Exciting new discoveries in reproductive, genetic, and information technologies all serve to call into question the immutability of the boundaries between humans, animals, and machines. The category of the posthuman reflects the implications of such new technologies on contemporary culture, especially in their capacity to reconfigure the human body and to challenge our most fundamental understandings of human nature. Elaine L. Graham explores these issues as they are expressed within popular culture and the creative arts. From the myth of Prometheus and the Gothic horror of Frankenstein's monster to contemporary postmodern science fiction, a gallery of fantastic creatures haunts Western myth, religion, and literature. They serve to connect contemporary debates with enduring concerns about the potential -- and the limits -- of human creativity.