From Political Centrality to the Centrality of the Transhuman Body: Movements of the third dystopian turn in literature

Abstract

Much has been discussed the political character of dystopian novels of the so-called second turn (from the end of the 19th century to the 1950s), which are seen especially as forms of strong critique to totalitarian political regimes. However, a new trend of dystopian novels, over the past 30 years, have discussed the impact of the desire created by late Capitalism over the transfiguration of the body, which has been central to the construction of post-human and transhuman ideas. This paper aims at discussing the changes found in dystopian literatures in English throughout the 20^th century in order to propose a third dystopian turn in literature, from the writings of Fredric Jameson about science fiction and utopia, in the last 30 years, centering on the multiple transfigurations of the body created from the imposition of desire by late Capitalism and its impact on the post-human and transhuman modes of thought. To do so, a number of examples from novels belonging to such a trend are briefly discussed in order to create a critical panorama to support the proposal.