Posthumanism: A Study of Mark Twain's "A Dog's Tale"

Abstract

Posthumanism is a postmodernist theory which means beyond human beings. It has received attention in the last two decades of the twentieth century on. It emphasises the belief that it is not only man who monopolises the universe for his own welfare and benefits. In fact, there is no bias toward a species against the other species. According to this theory, he is no more at the center of the cosmos.The present study attempts to examine posthumanism in literature through studying its principles in Mark Twain's short story " A Dog's Tale". This paper handles the examination of certain qualities which are supposed to be confined to man but here they are granted to animals. The dog in this story is given an identity. She has humane attributes more than her master, the scientist, and his colleagues. This paper is divided into two sections. Section one is an introductory. It handles posthumanism, its characteristics and its relation with literature. In addition, it sheds the light upon the American writer Mark Twain as a posthumanist.Section two examines the features of the main characters in "A Dog's Tale" which make them having humane qualities and enable them to think and behave like intelligent creatures equivalent to humans in having the right to live decently and to be treated respectably and mercifully. The final part of the paper is the conclusion which sums up the results of the study.