Bio
In 2014, Carole Guesse received a master’s degree in Modern Languages and Literatures (fields:
English and Spanish) from the University of Liège. Her master’s thesis “Post-Science Fiction and
the Post-Posthuman” was a study of the figure of the clone in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo
Ishiguro and La Possibilité d’une Île by Michel Houellebecq. Now a doctoral student, under the
supervision of Michel Delville and Björn-Olav Dozo, she focuses on transhuman and posthuman
figures in Literature.
English and Spanish) from the University of Liège. Her master’s thesis “Post-Science Fiction and
the Post-Posthuman” was a study of the figure of the clone in Never Let Me Go by Kazuo
Ishiguro and La Possibilité d’une Île by Michel Houellebecq. Now a doctoral student, under the
supervision of Michel Delville and Björn-Olav Dozo, she focuses on transhuman and posthuman
figures in Literature.
Title
“Posthuman (non-)societies in Houellebecq’s La Possibilité d’une île and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake”
Abstract
This paper studies the representation of society in two novels featuring posthuman characters:
Houellebecq’s La Possibilité d’une île (2005) and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003). In
these novels the human race has almost been wiped out and the few survivors share the world
with posthumans. Both novels also alternate stories of the everyday posthuman life with
memories of a human past, which allows contrast between human and posthuman societies.
Houellebecq and Atwood offer two visions: while Houllebecq’s depicts the decline of a human
society and rather focuses on the absence of humanity and the lack of human interactions,
Atwood’s shows posthumans gathered in groups whose habits could be seen as primitive. This
paper analyses the image these two narratives convey of a possible posthuman society, but also
which of human society’s characteristics they particularly focus on.
Houellebecq’s La Possibilité d’une île (2005) and Margaret Atwood’s Oryx and Crake (2003). In
these novels the human race has almost been wiped out and the few survivors share the world
with posthumans. Both novels also alternate stories of the everyday posthuman life with
memories of a human past, which allows contrast between human and posthuman societies.
Houellebecq and Atwood offer two visions: while Houllebecq’s depicts the decline of a human
society and rather focuses on the absence of humanity and the lack of human interactions,
Atwood’s shows posthumans gathered in groups whose habits could be seen as primitive. This
paper analyses the image these two narratives convey of a possible posthuman society, but also
which of human society’s characteristics they particularly focus on.
