Blackbeard and the Post-Anthropocene Humanoids. Tracing the Post/Transhuman in Margaret Atwood's <em>MaddAddam</em> Trilogy

Abstract

This paper aims to investigate the meanings and phenomenologies of the simulacrum as a materialisation of a hybrid, liminal and nomadic ontology and as the result of biotechnological experiments that have redesigned the animal/human along post-anthropocentric lines. The analysis takes its cue from the post-apocalyptic setting of Atwood’s MaddAddam trilogy, with a final focus on the last book in the series. After the world population has been decimated by a pandemic unleashed by Crake, the creatures he has generated via transgenic technology emerge as the ‘fittest’ inheritors of the Earth. Toby, one of the few human survivors, is involved in training them in the Post-Anthropocene era. Attention will be paid to the Crakers’ identity as humanoids hovering between an anthropological and a zoomorphic dimension. If capable of establishing bioegalitarian relationships with the ecosystem, such pseudo-primates also show uncanny features that progressively come to the fore through their leader Blackbeard.

Keywords

• Margaret Atwood
• MaddAddam trilogy
• Humanoid
• Posthuman ontologies
• Transhumanism