Classical Literature and Posthumanism

481 Pages·2019·4.215 MB·English

by  Giulia Maria Chesi, Francesca Spiegel

CLASSICAL LITERATURE AND
POSTHUMANISM
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ii
CLASSICAL LITERATURE AND
POSTHUMANISM
Edited by G iulia Maria Chesi and Francesca Spiegel
iii
BLOOMSBURY ACADEMIC
Bloomsbury Publishing Plc
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Bloomsbury Publishing Plc

First published in Great Britain 2020

Copyright © Giulia Maria Chesi, Francesca Spiegel and Contributors, 2020

Giulia Maria Chesi and Francesca Spiegel have asserted their right under the Copyright, Designs and
Patents Act, 1988, to be identifi ed as Editors of this work.

Cover design: Terry Woodley
Cover image © Valeria Shukhova, Konstantin Korchuk

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A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

Library of Congress Cataloging-i n-Publication Data
Names: Chesi, Giulia Maria, editor. | Spiegel, Francesca, editor.
Title: Classical literature and posthumanism / edited by Giulia Maria Chesi and Francesca Spiegel.
Description: London, UK : Bloomsbury Academic, 2019. | Includes bibliographical references and index.
Identifi ers: LCCN 2019014054| ISBN 9781350069503 (hb) | ISBN 9781350069527 (epdf)
Subjects: LCSH: Classical literature—History and criticism. | Animals in
literature. | Monsters in literature. | Machinery in literature. | Machine
theory in literature. | Cyborgs in literature. | Philosophical
anthropology in literature. | Object (Philosophy) in literature.
Classifi cation: LCC PA3009 .C54 2019 | DDC 880.09—dc23 LC record available at
https://lccn.loc.gov/2019014054

ISBN: HB: 978-1-3500-6950-3
ePDF: 978-1-3500-6952-7
eBook: 978-1-3500-6951-0

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iv
to
Pat Easterling
for her fi ne mind and her gentle heart
and
Michael Silk
for his love of breaking new grounds and the care
for good writing everywhere
v
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CONTENTS
Notes on Contributors x
Th eoretical Introduction: Th e Subject of the Human Giulia Maria Chesi
and Francesca Spiegel 1
Introductions to Post/human Th eories 21
Th e Question of the Animal and the Aristotelian Human Horse
Oxana Timofeeva 23
Foucault, the Monstrous and Monstrosity Luciano Nuzzo (translated by
Giulia Maria Chesi) 31
How to Become a Cyborg Kirstin Mertlitsch (translated by Francesca Spiegel) 41
Anders, Simondon and the Becoming of the Posthuman Yuk Hui 49
Part I De/Humanization and Animals
1 Odysseus, the Boar and the Anthropogenic Machine Marianne Hopman 61
2 What Is It Like to Be a Donkey (With a Human Mind)? Pseudo-Lucian’s
Onos Tua Korhonen 73
3 Quam Soli Vidistis Equi : Focalization and Animal Subjectivity in Valerius
Flaccus Anne Tuttle Mackay 85
4 Animality, Illness and Dehumanization: Th e Phenomenology of Illness
in Sophocles’ Philoctetes Chiara Th umiger 95
5 Th e Imperial Animal: Virgil’s Georgics and the Anthropo-/Th eriomorphic
Enterprise Tom Geue 103
6 Animals, Governance and Warfare in the Iliad and Aeschylus’
Persians Manuela Giordano 111
7 Th e Sovereign and the Beast: Images of Ancient Tyranny Roland Baumgarten 123
Part II Th e Monstrous
8 Typhoeus or Cosmic Regression ( Th eogony 821–880) Jenny Strauss Clay 133
9 Demonic Disease in Greek Tragedy: Illness, Animality and Dehumanization
Giovanni Ceschi 141
10 Th e Sphinx and Another Th inking of Life Katherine Fleming 149
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Contents
11 When Rome’s Elephants Weep: Humane Monsters from Pompey’s
Th eatre to Virgil’s Trojan Horse Aaron Kachuck 157
12 Th e Monstrosity of Cato in Lucan’s Civil War 9 James McNamara 167
13 Why Can’t I Have Wings? Aristophanes’ B irds Maria Gerolemou 175
Part III Bodies and Entanglements
14 Th e Seer’s Two Bodies: Some Early Greek Histories of Technology
Martin Devecka 185
15 Fluid Cypress and Hybrid Bodies as a Cognitively Disturbing Metaphor in
Euripides’ C retans Johan Tralau 193
16 Body Politics in the Antiquitates Romanae of Dionysius of Halicarnassus
Y. N. Gershon 203
17 Th e Myth of Io and Female Cyborgic Identity Antonietta Provenza 211
18 Cosmic, Animal and Human Becomings: A Case Study in Ancient
Philosophy Laura Rosella Schluderer 217
19 Posthumanism in Seneca’s H appy Life : ‘Animalism’, Personifi cation
and Private Property in Roman Stoicism ( Epistulae Morales 113 and
De Vita Beata 5–8) Alex Dressler 227
20 Hagiography without Humans: Simeon the Stylite Virginia Burrus 237
Part IV Objects, Machines and Robotic Devices
21 Assemblages and Objects in Greek Tragedy Nancy Worman 247
22 Hybris and Hybridity in Aeschylus’ Persians : A Posthumanist Perspective
on Xerxes’ Expedition Anne-Sophie Noel 259
23 Malfunctions of Embodiment: Man/Weapon Agency and the Greek Ideology
of Masculinity Francesca Spiegel 267
24 Aeneid 12: A Cyborg Border War Elena Giusti 275
25 Th e Presence of Presents: Speaking Objects in Martial’s Xenia and
Apophoreta Katherine Wasdin 285
26 Automatopoetae Machinae : Laws of Nature and Human Invention
(Vitruvius 9.8.4–7) Mireille Courr é nt 293
27 Pandora and Robotic Technology Today Giulia Maria Chesi and
Giacomo Sclavi 301
28 Art, Life and the Creation of Automata: On Pindar, Olympian 7.50–53
Agis Marinis 309
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Contents
29 Staying Alive: Plato, Horace and the Written Text Alexander Kirichenko 315
30 Beyond the Beautiful Evil? Th e Ancient/Future History of Sex Robots
Genevieve Liveley 323
Conclusions Simon Goldhill 331
Notes 343
Bibliography 409
Index 447
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