The Posthumanist Critique of Cartesian Dualism in the Lyric Poetry of Alja Adam and Jana Putrle Srdić
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.3986/pkn.v44.i3.05Keywords:
contemporary Slovenian poetry, Adam, Alja, Putrle Srdić, Jana, critique of Cartesian dualism, ecofeminism, posthumanism, ecocriticismAbstract
This article examines the explicit critique of Cartesian dualism as the epitome of Western anthropocentrism as expressed in two contemporary Slovenian poetry books, Dolgo smo čakali na dež (2015) by Alja Adam (1976) and To noč bodo hrošči prilezli iz zemlje (2014) by Jana Putrle Srdić (1975). Adam and Putrle Srdić’s poetry thematizes the body, and the relationship between the human and the animal in the light of the posthumanist more-than-human identity, which is associated with non-identity, i.e. that which defies any human concept. Both poets refuse the hierarchical and any significant distinction between humans and animals, but their approaches correspond to two directions that can be distinguished within the posthumanist discourse: while Adam’s work can be categorized as the type of posthumanism that focuses on blurring the boundary between humans and non-human animals, that of Jana Putrle Srdić can be primarily classified as cyborgical posthumanism, which undermines the Enlightenment concept of man by intertwining humans and machines. While Adam’s ecofeminist ideas lead her to exemplify in her writing the practice of conscious embodied existence, which also explains the panerotic tendencies of her poetry, Putrle Srdić’s poetry, with references to posthumanist ideas of Gary Snyder and Donna Haraway, systematically deconstructs the binarism of nature and culture, and also that of body and mind, on the basis of the idea of material (i.e. technological or biological) mediation of all (human and non-human) perception.
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