Technology and Identity in Young Adult Fiction: The Posthuman Subject

214 Pages·2014·1.3 MB·English

by  Victoria Flanagan (auth.)

CriticalApproachestoChildren’sLiterature
SeriesEditors:KerryMallanandClareBradford
Critical Approaches to Children’s Literature is an innovative series concerned
withthebestcontemporaryscholarshipandcriticismonchildren’sandyoung
adultliterature,film,andmediatexts.Theseriesaddressesnewanddevelop-
ing areas of children’s literature research as well as bringing contemporary
perspectives to historical texts. The series has a distinctive take on scholar-
ship,deliveringqualityworksofcriticismwritteninanaccessiblestylefora
rangeofreaders,bothacademicandprofessional.Theseriesisinvaluablefor
undergraduate students in children’s literature as well as advanced students
andestablishedscholars.
Titlesinclude:
CherieAllan
PLAYINGWITHPICTUREBOOKS
PostmodernandthePostmodernesque
ClairBradford
THEMIDDLEAGESINCHILDREN’SLITERATURE
ClareBradford,KerryMallan,JohnStephensandRobynMcCallum
NEWWORLDORDERSINCONTEMPORARYCHILDREN’SLITERATURE
AliceCurry
ENVIRONMENTALCRISISINYOUNGADULTFICTION
APoeticsofEarth
HelenA.Fairlie
REVALUINGBRITISHBOYS’STORYPAPERS,1918–1939
VictoriaFlanagan
TECHNOLOGYANDIDENTITYINYOUNGADULTFICTION
ThePosthumanSubject
MargaretMackey
NARRATIVE PLEASURES IN YOUNG ADULT NOVELS, FILMS AND VIDEO
GAMES
KerryMallan
SECRETS,LIESANDCHILDREN’SFICTION
AndrewO’Malley
CHILDREN’SLITERATURE,POPULARCULTUREANDROBINSONCRUSOE
ChristopherParkes
CHILDREN’SLITERATUREANDCAPITALISM
FictionsofSocialMobilityinBritain,1850–1914
AmyRatelle
ANIMALITYANDCHILDREN’SLITERATUREANDFILM
MavisReimer
SERIALITYANDTEXTSFORYOUNGPEOPLE
TheCompulsiontoRepeat
KarenSands-O’ConnorandMariettaFrank
INTERNATIONALISMINCHILDREN’SSERIES
HazelSheekyBird
CLASS,LEISUREANDNATIONALIDENTITYINBRITISHCHILDREN’SLITER-
ATURE,1918–1950
MichelleSmith
EMPIREINBRITISHGIRLS’LITERATUREANDCULTURE
Forthcomingtitles:
CaterinaSinibaldi
TRANSLATINGCHILDREN’SLITERATUREUNDERITALIANFASCISM
CriticalApproachestoChildren’sLiterature
SeriesStandingOrderISBN978–0–230–22786–6(hardback)
978–0–230–22787–3(paperback)
(outsideNorthAmericaonly)
Youcanreceivefuturetitlesinthisseriesastheyarepublishedbyplacinga
standingorder.Pleasecontactyourbookselleror,incaseofdifficulty,writeto
usattheaddressbelowwithyournameandaddress,thetitleoftheseriesand
theISBNquotedabove.
Customer Services Department, Macmillan Distribution Ltd, Houndmills,
Basingstoke,HampshireRG216XS,England
Technology and Identity
in Young Adult Fiction
The Posthuman Subject
Victoria Flanagan
©VictoriaFlanagan2014
Softcover reprint of the hardcover 1st edition 2014 978-1-137-36205-6
Allrightsreserved.Noreproduction,copyortransmissionofthis
publicationmaybemadewithoutwrittenpermission.
Noportionofthispublicationmaybereproduced,copiedortransmitted
savewithwrittenpermissionorinaccordancewiththeprovisionsofthe
Copyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988,orunderthetermsofanylicence
permittinglimitedcopyingissuedbytheCopyrightLicensingAgency,
SaffronHouse,6–10KirbyStreet,LondonEC1N8TS.
Anypersonwhodoesanyunauthorizedactinrelationtothispublication
maybeliabletocriminalprosecutionandcivilclaimsfordamages.
Theauthorhasassertedherrighttobeidentifiedastheauthorofthis
workinaccordancewiththeCopyright,DesignsandPatentsAct1988.
Firstpublished2014by
PALGRAVEMACMILLAN
PalgraveMacmillanintheUKisanimprintofMacmillanPublishersLimited,
registeredinEngland,companynumber785998,ofHoundmills,Basingstoke,
HampshireRG216XS.
PalgraveMacmillanintheUSisadivisionofStMartin’sPressLLC,
175FifthAvenue,NewYork,NY10010.
PalgraveMacmillanistheglobalacademicimprintoftheabovecompanies
andhascompaniesandrepresentativesthroughouttheworld.
Palgrave®andMacmillan®areregisteredtrademarksintheUnitedStates,
theUnitedKingdom,Europeandothercountries.
ISBN 978-1-349-47252-9 ISBN 978-1-137-36206-3 (eBook)
DOI 10.1057/9781137362063
Thisbookisprintedonpapersuitableforrecyclingandmadefromfully
managedandsustainedforestsources.Logging,pulpingandmanufacturing
processesareexpectedtoconformtotheenvironmentalregulationsofthe
countryoforigin.
AcataloguerecordforthisbookisavailablefromtheBritishLibrary.
LibraryofCongressCataloging-in–PublicationData
Flanagan,Victoria,1976–
Technologyandidentityinyoungadultfiction:theposthumansubject/
VictoriaFlanagan.
pages cm.—(Criticalapproachestochildren’sliterature)
Includesbibliographicalreferencesandindex.
ISBN978-1-349-47252-9
1. Youngadultfiction—Historyandcriticism. 2. Technologyinliterature.
3. Identity(Psychology)inliterature. 4. Selfinliterature. I. Title.
PN3443.F572014
809.3(cid:2)00835—dc23 2014023270
To Sky,
whose unbridled enthusiasm for technology
inspired much of this book
This page intentionally left blank
Contents
Acknowledgements viii
Introduction 1
1 PosthumanisminYoungAdultFiction 11
2 NarratingPosthumanSubjectivity 39
3 DigitalCitizenshipinthePosthumanEra 70
4 ReworkingtheFemaleSubject:TechnologyandtheBody 100
5 SurveillanceSocieties:PrivacyandPowerinYAFiction 128
6 SubjectivityinCyberspace:Technorealismandthe
MergingofVirtualandMaterialSelves 155
Conclusion 186
Bibliography 192
Index 201
vii
Acknowledgements
The preliminary research for this project was undertaken in 2009
whenIwasawardedaresearchfellowshipattheInternationalYouth
Library in Munich, Germany. Apart from being an incredibly beau-
tiful place, the library is filled with wonderful and passionate staff
who each made my time in Munich – and the research process –
immensely enjoyable. Claudia Soeffner and the indefatigable Petra
Woerschingdeserveaspecialmentionhere,astheyhavebothhelped
toturnmymanyexperiencesatthelibraryintospecialmemories.
IamalsoextremelygratefultoProfessorJohnStephens,whopro-
videdsharp,insightfulfeedbackoneachchapterandpromptedmeto
reassesssomeofmyoriginalideas.Althoughhehasofficiallyretired
from academia, his mind is as nimble as ever – and this book has
benefitedgreatlyfromhiseditorialandconceptualguidance.
TheAustralianResearchCouncilgenerouslyprovidedthefundsfor
thisresearch,forwhichIamverythankful.Abigthankyoumustbe
extendedtoDrChristineBomanandPeterMcCarthyinthiscontext,
astheyplayedanimportantroleinhelpingmetoidentifythescope
and aims of this project when I was at that initial planning stage of
applyingforresearchfunding.
Last, but not least, I extend my heartfelt thanks to my boys, Riku
andSky.Botharetechnophiles(eventhree-year-oldSky)andremind
me on a daily basis that children need to read books that celebrate,
ratherthandemonise,technology.
viii
Introduction
Posthumanism uses technoscience as the impetus for a radical
revaluationofhumansubjectivity,exploringthemanywaysinwhich
technological innovations such as virtual reality have changed our
understanding of what it means to be human in the modern era.
Yet the concept of the “posthuman” is often perceived as a threat
tothehumanities,thoseacademicdisciplinesdedicatedtothestudy
of human nature and culture. If we consider how we arrived in the
era of the posthuman, we might reflect on some of the questions
thatareposedbyGeoffreyHarpham–“Didwedothistoourselves,
or was it done to us?” (2012: 101) – and whether the posthuman
referstoanewformofthehumanconditionor,alternatively,resitu-
atestheboundariesofanexistingcategory.Therearetwobasicfears,
accordingtoHarpham,thatunderliesuchlinesofinquiry:
first, that the human has been compromised even as it has been
enhanced by technology, which has altered our social, intel-
lectual, and even our physical lives; and second, that human
beings are losing or have lost the attributes of individuality and
autonomy as they become more tightly woven into distributed
cognitivenetworksthatincludeanindifferentmixofpersonsand
computers.
(2012:101–2)
Prior to the mid-2000s, literature produced for children and ado-
lescents that has thematically considered the effects of technology
on human beings and society has been animated by these two fears
1