"The new children of the earth": Posthuman dystopia or a lesbian's dream in Larissa Lai's Salt Fish Girl

Calvo-Pascual, Mónica (Universidad de Zaragoza)

Resumen: This article analyzes Larissa Lai''s novel Salt Fish Girl (2002) as a case of dystopian fiction marked by a concern with the dangers of the Anthropocene and the oppression of what lies beyond the scope of prescriptive definitions of humanity. Taking as point of departure Braidotti''s posthuman theory and her post-anthropocentric approach to embodied difference, I focus on the feminist and lesbian stance of Lai''s novel. For this purpose, I explore issues such as the characters'' zoe-centred, non-hierarchical fusion with nature, the link to the maternal through fish smell (traditionally associated with female genitalia, here reclaimed and embraced), together with the subversive potential of female bonding, and of alternative modes of motherhood and reproduction as opposed to hetero-patriarchal utilitarian techno-scientific control.

Idioma: Inglés

DOI: 10.1111/oli.12190

Año: 2018

Publicado en: Orbis Litterarum 73, 5 (2018), 405-417
ISSN: 0105-7510

Factor impacto SCIMAGO: 0.109 - Literature and Literary Theory (Q2)

Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/DGA-FSE/H03-17R
Financiación: info:eu-repo/grantAgreement/ES/MINECO/FFI2015-63506-P

Tipo y forma: Artículo (Versión definitiva)

Área (Departamento): Área Filología Inglesa (Dpto. Filolog.Inglesa y Alema.)