Beyond Limits Of Species:A Study Of Octavia Butler’s Xenogenesis Trilogy From The Perspective Of Posthumanism

Octavia Butler,winner of both the Hugo award and the Nebula award,is a famous African American female writer in the field of science fiction.In 1995,she was awarded the Mac Arthur Genius Grant.Xenogenesis trilogy was written from 1987 to 1989.Divided into three novels: Dawn,Adulthood Rites and Imago,the trilogy mainly tells the story of the humans saved by the alien species called the Oankali after the devastation of the Earth due to the nuclear war.Created during the reign of President Ronald Reagan,the work intends to oppose Reagan’s call of applying nuclear weapons in war.Reflecting on how the wisdom and hierarchy of human beings drive themselves to destruction,Butler demonstrates the need and necessity of constructing a new type of posthumanism society.This thesis aims at the trans-racial characteristics of posthumanism in Butler’s trilogy from the perspectives of body,subjectivity and social relation.Based on the latest achievements of Haraway’s posthumanist theory and the theories proposed by many other scholars,this thesis will explore how the body and subjectivity in the series blur the boundary between self and the other,transcend the species segregation and maintain life vitality for long periods of time,and also analyze how posthuman companion species construct a new type of symbiotic relationship between species,providing the possibility for a new future.The thesis is divided into three chapters.The first chapter focuses on the body of posthuman.Different from the traditional humanism which attaches great importance to mind while ignores the body,posthumanism reiterates the body and its function through embodiment.With the help of modern technology,the body can be transformed into diverse,heteromorphic,and even powerful creatures,without being limited to a unitary,fixed mode.The second chapter mainly discusses the subjectivity of posthuman.Owing to the change in bodies,the posthuman subjectivity is now multiple and fluid.Thereby posthuman subjects are nomadic,forever in the process of formation.The third chapter turns to the posthuman social relation in the trilogy.Both the human beings with the Oankali,and the Oankali with other species have formed symbiotic pairs.Different species interact and establish connections.Not only is communication between species sufficient,different species also depend on each other and support each other.It can be said that reciprocity between species is the prospect of posthuman social relation.In addition,such development is always dynamic,and constant in the long river of time.In her novels,Butler has bravely crossed the barriers between species,and has actively embraced the transcendence of posthumanism.As an African American writer,Octavia Butler describes the diversity of individuals and possibilities of life in her works.Posthumanism advocates that people should not be self-centered,ignoring the development of other individuals and species.In today’s society,with the development of science and technology,with the prosperity of human civilization,the lesson still rings a warning bell.Under the irreversible trend of posthumanism,the harmonious co-existence of species brings hope for better lives and propels development in the future.