Teeming Stomachs and Infinite Spirals: Posthuman Anxiety in Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here and John Green’s Turtles All the Way Down

Abstract

The posthuman – as ontology, theory, philosophy, ethical framework – has been somewhat valorised in the cultural and critical imagination of late: heralded as the aspirational antithesis of a longstanding, yet long-critiqued humanist infrastructure based on division and exclusion. In particular, critics of young adult fiction have – through extensive posthumanist readings of fantasy, dystopia, and speculative/science fiction genres – lauded the posthuman as a powerful (if often latent) force capable of disrupting tyrannous regimes, saving the planet and generally kicking serious existential ass. But what does the posthuman mean beyond these genres? Who is excluded from these spectacular narratives of empowerment? And to what effect? Through an examination of adolescent anxiety in John Green’s Turtles All The Way Down (2017) and Patrick Ness’s The Rest of Us Just Live Here (2015), this article draws connections between the posthuman and mental health that expose the dangers of this new exceptionalism – even (or especially) when it operates under the guise of ‘butt-kicking’ empowerment and radical inclusivity.

Keywords

• posthuman
• mental health
• donna haraway
• john green
• patrick ness
• string figures