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Concerned with the history and future of feminist narratology and its relationship to queer approaches

This talk will attempt to sketch a model of what I call “the anthropofugal,” which relates to how the literary narrative text negotiates between anthropocentric and anti-anthropocentric impulses. On the one hand, the contemporary flourishing of fiction that is attentive to the nonhuman world in its disparate varieties, together with the attendant theoretical currency of frameworks from posthumanism to material ecocriticism, from object-oriented philosophies to animal and plant studies, leave little doubt that nonhumanity, broadly defined, and the decentering of the human perspective have long been culturally determinant in Western modernity. On the other hand, however, it hardly needs stressing that a total displacement of the human as measure of the production and reception of nonhuman-oriented fiction (or any other art form) is impossible, and would be self-defeating if successful. In this sense, anthropofugal fictions always call into question the possibility of their own interpretation, and often exhibit a certain intractability with respect to even the most intuitive and well-tested norms of literary and cultural readings. Thus, I propose the anthropofugal as a framework that is caught in this bind and aware of it, making the most out of this tension. Its scope is what we may call fictions of epistemic hunger: works that explore the modes, limits, and possibilities of knowledge in the context of the encounter between the mind and the mind-independent world.   

The talk will cover the historical and methodological positioning of the anthropofugal. It will also offer examples of the anthropofugal at work through textual examples, in particular Stanisław’s Lem’s His Master’s Voice (1968).

"This Will Be the Best Workshop That has Ever Been Given in the History of Workshops!!"

Trump’s use of social media creates participatory, exclusionary political worlds that blur the line between fiction and political reality. Relating to this, Prof. Greta Olsen argues that political attachments today are shaped less by rational argument than by felt intensities such as anger, love, loyalty, and belonging.

In this workshop participants will investigate and experience how affect, play, and platform design interact to reshape political experience, community formation, and democratic life in the digital age. Guided by Dr. Sara Polak’s concept of “play” and “worlding” we will explore and discuss how social media platforms can be used as political “playspaces” in which alternative realities are actively staged and inhabited. Dr. Polak herself will join us online from Leiden for a Q&A session during a part of the workshop.

Preparatory reading: Polak, Sara A. “Donald Trump and Truth Social: Media Platforms Making Exclusionary Worlds.” In Diversity Issues in the USA: Transnational Perspectives on the 2024 Presidential Elections, edited by Greta Olson and M. Kreitler, 137–47. Bielefeld: Transcript Verlag, 2024.