The Absence And Construction Of Posthuman Subjectivity In The Windup Girl

A prominent rising writer in the field of American science fiction,Paolo Bacigalupi(1972-)is praised as “a worthy successor to William Gibson”.In 2009,his debut novel The Windup Girl,which won the Hugo and Nebula “Best Novel” awards,was listed for “Top Ten Book of 2009” by Time magazine when it was released.The book depicts a posthuman society which is deeply trapped in the crisis of subjectivity through an insight into the future post-apocalyptic scenes.With The Windup Girl winning various awards,scholarly studies on it have been increasingly enriched.While researches have centered on the ecological problems,the dystopia thought,the postcolonial theme and so on,no study has yet examined the absence and construction of posthuman subjectivity in the novel.Therefore,this thesis reinterprets The Windup Girl on the basis of close reading of the text,managing to analyze the issue of posthuman subjectivity in terms of the specific reasons and representations of subjectivity absence,the attempts on subjectivity construction and reflections on the crisis of subjectivity.The thesis consists of five chapters.The first chapter briefly introduces Paolo Bacigalupi and outlines the main contents of The Windup Girl.After reviewing and examining the previous studies on The Windup Girl,it introduces the topic of the thesis and explains the research approach and structure of the thesis.Whereafter,the definition of the key concept “posthuman subjectivity” is pinned down.Chapter two to four are the body of the thesis.Chapter two analyzes the specific reasons and representations of the absence of posthuman subjectivity.The body as the physical dimension of the subject and the mind as the spiritual dimension are both under the discipline and control of human beings,which directly leads to the objectification of posthuman as sexual labor,and they become appendages to human in spirit.At the same time,posthuman alienate themselves to emotionless machines that cater to human’s desires.Under the external and internal influences,the subjectivity of posthuman is in a state of absence.Chapter three discusses the attempts of posthuman on subjectivity construction at the mental and physical level and corresponding results.The establishment of independent self-consciousness and construction of emotional subject have enabled posthuman to break away from the mind control of human beings and begin to recognize themselves,which also lays foundation for the construction of subjectivity at the physical level.Through “mimicry” and “patricide”,posthuman has broken the manmachine binary opposition and overturned human’s subject status.However,the way that the posthuman resorts to has caused human’s panic and resulted in social chaos,contrary to the author’s wish to establish a harmonious relationship between human and posthuman.Chapter four explores the author’s reflections on the absence of posthuman subjectivity in The Windup Girl and proposes imaginative solutions to construct posthuman subjectivity.Through the lens of Rossi Braidotti’s theory of posthuman subject,posthuman realizes self-deterritorialization through “body-machine” and completes subject “transposition”.Resorting to “relationship ethics”,they construct fluid and heterogeneous “nomadic subject”.The work is permeated with Bacigalupi’s expectation of establishing harmonious man-machine relationship.Discarding anthropocentrism and establishing man-machine community are the common expectation for posthuman subjectivity construction and future man-machine coexistence era.Chapter five is the conclusion,which mainly summarizes the problem of posthuman subjectivity reflected in the novel.In a nutshell,this thesis probes into the absence and construction of posthuman subjectivity in order to better understand Bacigalupi’s profound insight and forward-looking reflection of posthuman’s survival situation.In this sense,the thesis not only provides a new perspective for the study of The Windup Girl,but also provides us with the enlightenment of subjectivity construction for mankind who are also facing the crisis of subjectivity due to the technological advancement.