Postumanul ca world literature. Cazul SF-ului românesc interbelic

Abstract

This study deals with three science fiction novels published in the Romanian interwar period, using concepts and theories from the field of posthumanism. My approach will consist of three interconnected but equally important steps. In the first place, these novels are part of a larger cluster of 20th-century art that thematizes technological development and the ‘crisis’ of modern man. Their importance also arises from the need to expand our understanding of world literature beyond the phenomenon of translation and the national canon. In addition, I will examine how posthuman configurations activate different reactions to the dominant ideologies of the age (modern machinism, feminism, species expansion, etc.). A second step will entail reconstructing the scientific, ideological, social and artistic contexts that made the articulation of the three novels. Last but not least, in the background of my study, I will lead a demonstration of the incompatibility between posthumanist ideology and the interwar science fiction novel, which rather features a posthuman imaginary without posthumanism. This result invalidates Simona Micali’s thesis that considers any SF product as a critique of anthropocentrism.