This book sheds a new light on the metafictional aspects of futuristic and science fiction novels, at the crossroads of information and media studies, possible worlds theories applied to cognitive narratology, questions related to the criticism of post-humanity, and, more broadly, contemporary French and Francophone literature. It examines the fictional minds of characters and their conceptions of resistance to the anticipated worlds they inhabit, particularly in novels by Pierre Bordage, Marie Darrieussecq, Michel Houellebecq, Amin Maalouf, Jean-Christophe Rufin, Antoine Volodine, and Élisabeth Vonarburg. It also explores how corporal postures serve as a matrix for philosophical quests in novels by Amélie Nothomb, Alain Damasio, and Romain Lucazeau. More specifically, from the fictional readers’ points of view, it provides a critical approach to the mythologies of writing, in the wake of the French philosophical tales by authors including Cyrano de Bergerac and Voltaire, to question the traditionally expressed formulations of the mythologies of writing, that is, of the metaphors of the book (the book of life, nature, and the world), to rethink the idea of a humanity within its limits.
Author(s): Emmanuel Buzay
Series: Studies in Global Science Fiction
Publisher: Palgrave Macmillan
Year: 2023
Language: English
Pages: 248
City: Cham
Acknowledgements
Contents
Chapter 1: Introduction
Bibliography
Chapter 2: Reading the Enigmatic Worlds of Futuristic Novels
Looking for Clues: The Investigations Entrusted to the Reader
The Broader Scope of the Books of Nature and the World
The Figure of the Last Man
Bibliography
Chapter 3: Modalities and Fictional Storyworlds in Futuristic Novels
Dissonant Minds of Fictional Storyworlds
Dualities and Modal Structures of Fictional Storyworlds: Knowledge, Duty, and Ability
Differences in Actions of Fictional Minds as Readers
Bibliography
Chapter 4: The Idea of the Book and Its Symbolism in Times of Change
Metaphors of the Closed Symbolism of the Book
Metaphors and Metalepses of the Open Symbolism of the Book
Metamorphoses and Human Mutations: The Relationship to Insect Animalism
Bibliography
Chapter 5: Regaining Humanity by Learning from Escapes and Detours
The Metaphysical Manhunt
Traces and Memories in Information and Knowledge Societies of the Future
The Trial of Walking
Bibliography
Chapter 6: Encounters with Bodies and Narratives: A Matrix of Contemporary Philosophical Quests
The Value of Speech and Literature Under the Threat of Violence in Amélie Nothomb
Writing and Walking the Wilderness as a Scribe in Alain Damasio
Shifting Determinism with the Reminiscent Body of an Artificial Intelligence in Romain Lucazeau
Bibliography
Chapter 7: Conclusion
Bibliography
Author Index
Subject Index
