Posthumanism in the Young Adult Novel Aquamarine by Andreas Eschbach

Abstract

The paper presents an analysis of the elements of posthumanism in the science fiction young adult novel Aquamarine by Andreas Eschbach. The term posthumanism can be interpreted in multiple ways, and the starting point for the analysis is the idea that there is a need to surpass the dichotomy of human-nonhuman, as well as the attitude that mankind has a special place in the natural order. One should also pose the question: what is omitted from the anthropocentric worldview? The main focus of the analysis is the protagonist Saha, who throughout the process of physical and psychological maturation and identity formation faces the fact that she is a hybrid being, a half-human half-fish, as a result of an illegal genetic experiment. The goal of the paper is to examine the depicted problem of different forms of materiality, (post)human identity, and the social/ethical dimension of the treatment of the submarines, who were forced to exist and to hide in order not to be exploited by humans and/or removed from the world adjusted to the anthropocentric desires. The analysis has shown that the development of the protagonist leads to an acceptance of the hybridity of the body, which is an amalgam of both human and nonhuman parts, being at the same time natural and a consequence of a biotechnological manipulation, but most of all, a body that is constantly changing and thus in the process of becoming posthuman, in the sense of abandoning the proposed ideas of what a human body should be like. She also accepts a broader psychological self-image that incorporates a more authentic and balanced view of her roots and genes, which she did not choose, of her adolescent place in society, and of her role as a mediator between two worlds: the fictive, realistic world of the future Australia of the homo sapiens sapiens and the unexplored, post-anthropocentric sea bottom inhabited by the homo submarinus. Human beings are only one part of the larger natural environment, which consists of a multiplicity of species as well as organic and inorganic phenomena, inevitably entangled and in an ongoing process of co-dependence. Thus, Saha’s role becomes a crucial one in order to bridge the gap between the two distinct, but related (sub)species. The novel emphasizes the moral responsibility towards the new kind of hybrid beings instead of marginalization, fear, and genocide, as they were created by humans as their descendants or children and represent a mirror image of our attitudes towards ourselves, human and nonhuman others, and the environment, as well as both our past as a remnant of the previous deeds and our future.