Creaturely Forms in Contemporary Literature
Narrating the War Against Animals
1st Edition
Published on 13. January 2022
216 pages
978-1-350-18964-5 (ISBN)
Description
We are living through a period of planetary crisis, a time in which the mass production and consumption of some animals is made possible by the mass extinction of many others. What is the role of literature in responding to this war against animals? How might literary criticism read for animals?
In Creaturely Forms in Contemporary Literature, Dominic O'Key develops the bold argument that deep attention to literary form enables us to rethink human-animal relations. Through chapters on W. G. Sebald, J. M. Coetzee and Mahasweta Devi, as well as close readings of works by Arundhati Roy and Richard Powers, O'Key reveals how literary forms can unsettle the fictions of human supremacy and craft alternative, creaturely forms of relation.
An intervention into both the humanism of literary theory and the representational focus of animal studies, this provocative work makes the case for a new formalism in light of our obligation to fellow creatures.
In Creaturely Forms in Contemporary Literature, Dominic O'Key develops the bold argument that deep attention to literary form enables us to rethink human-animal relations. Through chapters on W. G. Sebald, J. M. Coetzee and Mahasweta Devi, as well as close readings of works by Arundhati Roy and Richard Powers, O'Key reveals how literary forms can unsettle the fictions of human supremacy and craft alternative, creaturely forms of relation.
An intervention into both the humanism of literary theory and the representational focus of animal studies, this provocative work makes the case for a new formalism in light of our obligation to fellow creatures.
More details
Series
Edition
1. Auflage
Language
English
Place of publication
London
United Kingdom
Publishing group
Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Target group
Professional and scholarly
Illustrations
4 b/w illus
ISBN-13
978-1-350-18964-5 (9781350189645)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Other editions
Additional editions
Book
07/2023
Bloomsbury Academic
€55.89
Shipment within 15-20 days
Person
Dominic O'Ley is a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the University of Leeds, UK. He is currently working on a two-year research project, funded by the AHRC, titled 'Thinking Through Extinction'.
Content
Introduction
1 The war against animals: Reading for creaturely life
2 W. G. Sebald's creaturely melancholia
3 J. M. Coetzee's creaturely trouble
4 Mahasweta Devi's creaturely love
Conclusion: From anthropological machines to creaturely forms
1 The war against animals: Reading for creaturely life
2 W. G. Sebald's creaturely melancholia
3 J. M. Coetzee's creaturely trouble
4 Mahasweta Devi's creaturely love
Conclusion: From anthropological machines to creaturely forms
