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The Resource Universes without us : posthuman cosmologies in American literature, Matthew A. Taylor

Universes without us : posthuman cosmologies in American literature, Matthew A. Taylor

Creator
Summary
"During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a wide variety of American writers proposed the existence of energies connecting human beings to cosmic processes. From varying points of view--scientific, philosophical, religious, and literary--they suggested that such energies would eventually result in the perfection of individual and collective bodies, assuming that assimilation into larger networks of being meant the expansion of humanity's powers and potentialities--a belief that continues to inform much posthumanist theory today. Universes without Us explores a lesser-known countertradition in American literature. As Matthew A. Taylor's incisive readings reveal, the heterodox cosmologies of Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Adams, Charles Chesnutt, and Zora Neale Hurston reject the anthropocentric fantasy that sees the universe as a kind of reservoir of self-realization. For these authors, the world can be made neither "other" nor "mirror." Instead, humans are enmeshed with "alien" processes that are both constitutive and destructive of "us." By envisioning universes no longer our own, these cosmologies picture a form of interconnectedness that denies any human ability to master it. Universes without Us demonstrates how the questions, possibilities, and dangers raised by the posthuman appeared nearly two centuries ago. Taylor finds in these works an untimely engagement with posthumanism, particularly in their imagining of universes in which humans are only one category of heterogeneous thing in a vast array of species, objects, and forces. He shows how posthumanist theory can illuminate American literary texts and how those texts might, in turn, prompt a reassessment of posthumanist theory. By understanding the posthuman as a materialist cosmology rather than a technological innovation, Taylor extends the range of thinkers who can be included in contemporary conversations about the posthuman."--
Language
eng
Work
Publication
Extent
1 online resource (280 pages)
Contents
  • Introduction: Immortal postmortems
  • Edgar Allan Poe's meta/physics
  • Henry Adams's half-life: The science of autobiography
  • "By an act of self-creation": on becoming human in America
  • Hoodoo you think you are?: self-conjuration in Chesnutt's The conjure woman
  • "It might be the death of you": Hurston's Voodoo ethnography
Isbn
9780816680610
Instance
Label
Universes without us : posthuman cosmologies in American literature
Title
Universes without us
Title remainder
posthuman cosmologies in American literature
Statement of responsibility
Matthew A. Taylor
Creator
Subject
Genre
Language
eng
Summary
"During the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, a wide variety of American writers proposed the existence of energies connecting human beings to cosmic processes. From varying points of view--scientific, philosophical, religious, and literary--they suggested that such energies would eventually result in the perfection of individual and collective bodies, assuming that assimilation into larger networks of being meant the expansion of humanity's powers and potentialities--a belief that continues to inform much posthumanist theory today. Universes without Us explores a lesser-known countertradition in American literature. As Matthew A. Taylor's incisive readings reveal, the heterodox cosmologies of Edgar Allan Poe, Henry Adams, Charles Chesnutt, and Zora Neale Hurston reject the anthropocentric fantasy that sees the universe as a kind of reservoir of self-realization. For these authors, the world can be made neither "other" nor "mirror." Instead, humans are enmeshed with "alien" processes that are both constitutive and destructive of "us." By envisioning universes no longer our own, these cosmologies picture a form of interconnectedness that denies any human ability to master it. Universes without Us demonstrates how the questions, possibilities, and dangers raised by the posthuman appeared nearly two centuries ago. Taylor finds in these works an untimely engagement with posthumanism, particularly in their imagining of universes in which humans are only one category of heterogeneous thing in a vast array of species, objects, and forces. He shows how posthumanist theory can illuminate American literary texts and how those texts might, in turn, prompt a reassessment of posthumanist theory. By understanding the posthuman as a materialist cosmology rather than a technological innovation, Taylor extends the range of thinkers who can be included in contemporary conversations about the posthuman."--
Assigning source
Provided by publisher
Cataloging source
MHW
http://library.link/vocab/creatorDate
1978-
http://library.link/vocab/creatorName
Taylor, Matthew A.
Index
index present
Literary form
non fiction
Nature of contents
  • dictionaries
  • bibliography
http://library.link/vocab/subjectName
  • Poe, Edgar Allan
  • Adams, Henry
  • Chesnutt, Charles W.
  • Hurston, Zora Neale
  • Adams, Henry
  • Chesnutt, Charles W.
  • Hurston, Zora Neale
  • Poe, Edgar Allan
  • Cosmology in literature
  • American literature
  • American literature
  • Humanity in literature
  • Human beings in literature
  • Self in literature
  • Order (Philosophy) in literature
  • LITERARY CRITICISM
  • PHILOSOPHY
  • American literature
  • Cosmology in literature
  • Human beings in literature
  • Humanity in literature
  • Order (Philosophy) in literature
  • Self in literature
Label
Universes without us : posthuman cosmologies in American literature, Matthew A. Taylor
Instantiates
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction: Immortal postmortems -- Edgar Allan Poe's meta/physics -- Henry Adams's half-life: The science of autobiography -- "By an act of self-creation": on becoming human in America -- Hoodoo you think you are?: self-conjuration in Chesnutt's The conjure woman -- "It might be the death of you": Hurston's Voodoo ethnography
Control code
ocn871781386
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (280 pages)
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780816680610
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Note
JSTOR
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
22573/ctt5rkb10
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)871781386
Label
Universes without us : posthuman cosmologies in American literature, Matthew A. Taylor
Publication
Antecedent source
unknown
Bibliography note
Includes bibliographical references and index
Carrier category
online resource
Carrier category code
  • cr
Carrier MARC source
rdacarrier
Color
multicolored
Content category
text
Content type code
  • txt
Content type MARC source
rdacontent
Contents
Introduction: Immortal postmortems -- Edgar Allan Poe's meta/physics -- Henry Adams's half-life: The science of autobiography -- "By an act of self-creation": on becoming human in America -- Hoodoo you think you are?: self-conjuration in Chesnutt's The conjure woman -- "It might be the death of you": Hurston's Voodoo ethnography
Control code
ocn871781386
Dimensions
unknown
Extent
1 online resource (280 pages)
File format
unknown
Form of item
online
Isbn
9780816680610
Level of compression
unknown
Media category
computer
Media MARC source
rdamedia
Media type code
  • c
Note
JSTOR
http://library.link/vocab/ext/overdrive/overdriveId
22573/ctt5rkb10
Quality assurance targets
not applicable
Reformatting quality
unknown
Sound
unknown sound
Specific material designation
remote
System control number
(OCoLC)871781386

Subject

Genre

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