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Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

The topic and specific trajectory of this collection results from the observation that posthumanism has become one of the most productive concepts in current literary and cultural research. At the same time, it leaves unanswered key questions concerning the implications for the study of narrative, undermining categories such as authorial or readerly agency, meaning, ‘literature’, or even the humanities as a theoretical and epistemic reference point. The articles in the collection therefore set out to explore modes of posthumanist reading, writing and analysis, in conflict or productive tension with theoretical paradigms such as postcolonial and gender studies. A special focus is placed on key concepts in the study of narrative, discussing computer-generated literature, serial and digital interactive narratives and the translation of posthumanist thinking into the pedagogic practice of teaching literature. Building on the by now substantially expanded corpus of posthumanist work by the likes of Braidotti, Colebrooke, Herbrechter and Wolfe, it elaborates on the notion that ‘reading in ruins’ provides a fruitful avenue for rethinking the meaning and practice of literary reading and the study of narrative in the twenty-first century.

This Special Collection has been guest edited by:
Julia Hoydis – University of Duisburg-Essen
Roman Bartosch – University of Cologne


Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

Meaning after Humanism? On Reading in Ruins
Meaning after Humanism? On Reading in Ruins

Julia Hoydis and Roman Bartosch

2021-12-16 Volume 7 • Issue 2 • 2021

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

Posthuman/ist Literature? Don DeLillo’s Point Omega and Zero K
Posthuman/ist Literature? Don DeLillo’s Point Omega and Zero K

Stefan Herbrechter

2020-10-07 Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 2020 • 18

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

The Ship Who Sang: Feminism, the Posthuman, and Similarity
The Ship Who Sang: Feminism, the Posthuman, and Similarity

Nicole Falkenhayner

2020-10-12 Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 2020 • 21

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

Posthumanism and Colonial Discourse: Nineteenth Century Literature and Twenty-First Century Critique
Posthumanism and Colonial Discourse: Nineteenth Century Literature and Twenty-First Century Critique

Caroline Koegler

2020-12-10 Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 2020 • 29

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

Computer-Generated Text as a Posthuman Mode of Literature Production
Computer-Generated Text as a Posthuman Mode of Literature Production

Annika Elstermann

2020-12-23 Volume 6 • Issue 2 • 2020 • 31

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

Displacements: Framing (and) Ruins in John Berger’s King and Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People
Displacements: Framing (and) Ruins in John Berger’s King and Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People

Kylie Crane

2021-04-13 Volume 7 • Issue 1 • 2021

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

Dialogues with the Machine, or Ruins of Closure and Control in Interactive Digital Narratives
Dialogues with the Machine, or Ruins of Closure and Control in Interactive Digital Narratives

Julia Hoydis

2021-08-25 Volume 7 • Issue 2 • 2021

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

The Transhumanist Creep: Posthumanism, Pedagogy, and the Praxeological Mangle
The Transhumanist Creep: Posthumanism, Pedagogy, and the Praxeological Mangle

Roman Bartosch

2021-09-03 Volume 7 • Issue 2 • 2021

Also a part of:

Special Collection: Reading in Ruins: Exploring Posthumanist Narrative Studies

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Special Collections