Focusing on three representation of posthuman bodies as cloned bodies in Kazuo Ishiguro’s Never Let Me Go (2005), toxic bodies in Indra Sinha’s Animal’s People (2007), and cyborg bodies in Justina Robson’s Natural History (2004) from the theoretical perspectives of posthuman definition of what it means to be human, this study discusses the changing concept of the body. In this context, the integral and dynamic connection between a human body and the world is of special significance, which opens up new possibilities to reconfigure the human body that is no longer conceded separate from the nonhuman world but embodied in it. Each of the novels significantly displays the in-betweenness of humans by making them interact with chemical substances, machines, and other nonhuman entities, and shows how clear-cut distinctions between the human and the nonhuman bodies have collapsed.

This collection of essays offers new perspectives from Japan on Nobel Prize–winning author Kazuo Ishiguro. It analyses the Japanese-born British author from the vantage point of his birthplace, showing how Ishiguro remains greatly indebted to Japanese culture and sensibilities. The influence of Japanese literature and film is evident in Ishiguro’s early novels as he deals with the problem of the atomic bomb and Japan’s war responsibility, yet his later works also engage with folk tales and the modern popular culture of Japan. The chapters consider a range of Japanese influences on Ishiguro and adaptations of Ishiguro’s work, including literary, cinematic and animated representations. The book makes use of newly archived drafts of Ishiguro’s manuscripts at the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas to explore the origins of his oeuvre. It also offers sharp, new examinations of Ishiguro’s work in relation to memory studies, especially in relation to Japan. ​

Examining the construction, manipulation and re-definition of life in contemporary technoscientific culture, this book aims to re-focus concern on the ethics rather than on the 'nature' of artificial life.

The notion of 'the human' is in need of urgent redefinition. At a time of radical bio-technological developments, and in light of the political and environmental imperatives of our age, the term 'posthuman' provides an alternative. The philosophical landscape which has developed as a response to the crisis of the human, includes several movements, such as: Posthumanism, Transhumanism, Antihumanism and Object Oriented Ontology. This book explains the similarities and differences between these currents and offers a detailed examination of a number of topics that fall under the “posthuman” umbrella, including the anthropocene, artificial intelligence and the deconstruction of the human. Francesca Ferrando affords particular focus to Philosophical Posthumanism, defined as a philosophy of mediation which addresses the meaning of humanity not in separation, but in relation to technology and ecology. The posthuman shift thus emerges in the global call for social change, responsible science and multispecies coexistence.

The Whitbread Prize–winning author of Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit delivers a novel that “transports us to something like the future of our own planet” (The Washington Post Book World). On the airwaves, all the talk is of the new blue planet—pristine and habitable, like our own was sixty-five million years ago, before we took it to the edge of destruction. Off the air, Billie Crusoe and the renegade Robo sapien Spike are falling in love. Along with Captain Handsome and Pink, they’re assigned to colonize the new blue planet. But when a technical maneuver intended to make it inhabitable backfires, Billie and Spike’s flight to the future becomes a surprising return to the distant past—“Everything is imprinted forever with what it once was.” What will happen when their story combines with the world’s story? Will they—and we—ever find a safe landing place? Playful, passionate, polemical, and frequently very funny, The Stone Gods will change forever the stories we tell about the earth, about love, and about stories themselves. “Scary, beautiful, witty and wistful by turns, dipping into the known past as it explores potential futures.” —The New York Times Book Review “[A book] that you don’t so much read as drink in, refuse to put down, cast inside of like a hunting dog, seeking against all odds the insight that will illuminate everything, a true answer to the fix we’re in.” —Los Angeles Times “A vivid, cautionary tale—or, more precisely, a keen lament for our irremediably incautious species.” —Ursula K. Le Guin, bestselling author of Changing Planes

As we are increasingly using new technologies to change ourselves beyond therapy and in accordance with our own desires, understanding the challenges of human enhancement has become one of the most urgent topics of the current age. This volume contributes to such an understanding by critically examining the pros and cons of our growing ability to shape human nature through technological advancements. The authors undertake careful analyses of decisive questions that will confront society as enhancement interventions using bio-, info-, neuro- and nanotechnologies become widespread in the years to come. They provide the reader with the conceptual tools necessary to address such questions fruitfully. What makes the book especially attractive is the combination of conceptual, historical and ethical approaches, rendering it highly original. In addition, the well-balanced structure allows both favourable and critical views to be voiced. Moreover, the work has a crystal clear structure. As a consequence, the book is accessible to a broad academic audience. The issues raised are of interest to a wide reflective public concerned about science and ethics, as well as to students, academics and professionals in areas such as philosophy, applied ethics, bioethics, medicine and health management.

“The author will lead you through an abbara in Mardin thousands of which connect streets, neighborhoods and houses, darkness to light, sorrow to joy and from the visible to the unknown. You’ll pass through it for one has to pass through himself to find himself. While Joseph discovers his real mother in the triangle of Houston, Matera and Mardin, you’ll journey through ages meeting queen snakes sailing through the skies, ancient prophets telling you their parables, and a living wizard who is going to discover the lost water streams under your feet..." - Dr. Hakki Öcal “Ahmet Tezcan's novel isn't just a narrative, it's a travel book about the discovery of Mesopotamia through a touching story. Especially Bahe's story... It falls like a stone on one's heart.” - Orhan Miroğlu “If Hegel had had a chance to read Ahmet Tezcan's marvellous book Abbara while explaining his famous "the real is actual" he would have absolutely had the adventure of the Spirit drop by the streets of Mardin. A novel that through beautiful design passes beyond the dialectic of the difference and the identity.” - Dr. Gülgun Türkoğlu Pagy