Date of Award
2025
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Arts (MA)
Department
English
First Advisor
Sarah Alexander
Second Advisor
Randall Harp
Abstract
This thesis works to combine the thought of Ernst Bloch with contemporary posthumanism and postcritique to develop the reading methodology of Becoming-With literature. Although our current posthuman moment may initially appear to relegate Bloch’s humanist philosophy to the past, this thesis illustrates that a posthuman engagement of Bloch’s work not only reinvigorates his ideas but also grounds contemporary posthumanism within his hopeful utopian framework. Bloch’s focus on the generative potential of the works of the past (especially literature) and posthumanism’s understanding of time as a continuum are both utilized to showcase the continued potential of engaging with literature, and thus of literary studies. Contemporary postcritique and its emphasis on a move away from suspicious reading practices continually informs this project’s focus on generative reading. Through engaging with the work of thinkers such as Rosi Braidotti, Donna Haraway, and Rita Felski, alongside that of Bloch, the first half of this project begins developing the methodology of Becoming-With literature.
In the second part of this project Becoming-With literature is illustrated as a methodology focused on the virtual worldings created as part of the mutual Becomings-With that arise in any encounter with literature. It is an approach to reading that, by utilizing the ideas of the thinkers listed above, emphasizes the concrete utopian potential present in these worldings and calls for a literary studies firmly positioned in the material world and thus prepared to begin the process of actualizing the virtual.
Language
en
Number of Pages
73 p.
Recommended Citation
Phinney, Douglas C., "Becoming-With Literature: Ernst Bloch, Postcritique, and the Posthuman" (2025). Graduate College Dissertations and Theses. 2036.
https://scholarworks.uvm.edu/graddis/2036
