Posthuman Metamorphosis: Narrative and Systems

Index

i n d e x Abbott, H. Porter, 32–33, 200n24 Acquiring Genomes, 168, 214n58, 216n39 aliens, 3, 7, 8, 35–42, 89, 93, 162–67 passim , 177–89 passim, 195 allegory, 2, 44, 53–57, 70–75 passim, 110, 120, 132–35 passim, 142, 148, 159, 164, 171–78 passim, 183, 189, 190, 219n110; of narrative, 45–47, 139, 150, 177; of politics, 53, 89, 107–8, 115–16, 161, 163; of systems, 7, 9, 11, 36, 41–44, 71, 131, 133, 193–94 anthropocentrism, 35, 44, 170 Arabian Nights, 96–99 art, 73, 75, 106 artificial intelligence, 109, 123, 142 artificial life, 123–24 Ashby, W. Ross, 62, 111, 113, 123, 126, 211n69 Atlan, Henri, 6, 131, 198n13 autonomy, 3, 6, 7, 35, 44, 64, 119, 132, 192, 206n21; narrative, 28, 33, 64 autopoiesis, 4, 7, 15–18, 115, 157, 165, 192; biotic, 6, 11, 16–17, 100; literary , 62, 99–100; metabiotic, 6, 9, 16– 18, 23, 25, 33–34, 54, 100; psychic, 25, 34, 63, 159; social, 17–18, 25, 41, 62–63, 76, 78, 129, 137, 159, 163, 189 autopoietic systems, 4–19 passim, 23, 25, 31, 44, 61–66 passim, 71, 99, 132, 137, 194, 198n15, 207n54. See also environment 235 bacteria, 11, 37, 160–61, 168, 170–78, 195. See also mitochondria Bal, Mieke, 21–34 passim, 99–100, 107, 135, 200n45, 208n8; Narratology, 21, 29, 32, 99 Barth, John, 95; ‘‘Menelaiad,’’ 95–96, 176 Bateson, Gregory, 5, 9, 100–4, 123 Beloved, 99 biotic systems, 6, 7, 18, 61, 64, 100, 195. See also living systems blind spot, 14, 23, 25, 32, 44, 70–75 passim , 117, 119, 124, 132–38 passim, 179 Borges, Jorge Luis, 96–97, 204n8, 208n4 boundary, 2–3, 9, 35, 45, 46, 66, 72, 75– 79, 92–93, 101–6, 164–66; operational , 34, 68, 81–90 passim, 94, 104, 115, 137, 194, 196 Bremond cycle, 78–79 Butler, Octavia, 161–92 passim; Adulthood Rites, 162, 183; Dawn, 27, 162, 163, 171, 182, 189; Fledgling, 165, 166; Imago, 162, 172, 179, 180, 183, 184–92; Kindred, 161, 163; on James Lovelock, 169; on Lynn Margulis, 169; Parable of the Sower, 162–63; Parable of the Talents, 162–63; Patternist novels, 163, 165–67, 178; Wild Seed, 163,166–67, 182; on E. O. Wilson, 169; Xenogenesis trilogy, 11, 162–64, 167–92. See also sex, Oankali 236 Index Calvino, Italo, 46, 53, 105–6, 208n7 cancer, 164, 181–82, 185, 189 Challenger disaster, 169–70 character, narrative, 2, 22, 27–28, 65, 87, 97–98, 208n8; reflector, 26–28, 40, 87 Chatman, Seymour, 29 chiasmus, 73, 75–77, 110 Chuang Tzu, 153 cinema, 47, 134–35, 138, 143, 170; narration in, 135–45 passim, 150–51 circularity, 5, 64, 97, 124, 208n4 Clarke, Arthur C., 37–38, 41; Childhood’s End, 37–39 closure, 31, 36, 44, 51, 87, 100, 111–12, 155, 165; operational, 6, 16–17, 33– 34, 61–67, 71, 83, 87, 194–96, 205n21 Cobley, Paul, 33, 199n12 coevolution, 19, 122 cognition, 3, 6–7, 34–35, 66–67, 71, 142, 149; narrative, 22–23, 85–86, 114. See also blind spot Cold War, 38, 108, 139 communication, 2–9 passim, 14, 25, 36–42 passim, 57–59, 86, 178; in Bateson, 102–3, 123, 211n2; in Latour , 52–54; in Luhmann, 16, 23, 34, 41–42, 46, 62, 128–29, 139, 211n4; materiality of, 128, 130, 211n3; mysti fication of, 38–39; narrative, 7, 23– 24, 35, 63–64, 78, 81, 177, 207n24; nonhuman, 52, 203n25; in social systems , 4, 7, 10, 14, 23, 24, 30, 32, 41–42; transmission and, 129–30; in Wiener, 138–39; in the Xenogenesis trilogy, 178–79, 189, 192. See also media complexity, 14, 78, 86, 109, 176, 194, 195; from noise, 6, 131; reduction of, 34–35 computation, 5, 94, 109, 131, 195, 205n13 constructivism, 6, 109, 120, 164, 189; epistemological, 33, 34, 71, 75, 107, 114, 122–24; narrative, 29, 34, 98 control, 5, 36, 108–12, 117, 120, 126, 148, 152, 154, 166, 178, 181–87; lapse of, 133–47 passim Cronenberg, David, 10, 132–34, 138–56 passim The Crying of Lot 49, 84–85 cybernetics, 4, 5, 9, 195; first-order, 5, 10, 62, 75, 79, 108–9, 111, 113, 120–27 passim, 137, 139, 148, 179, 197n8; and physics, 123, 129; second-order, 6, 7, 10, 47, 63, 66, 113, 119–24 passim , 131, 141, 156, 198nn11...