The Biologist and Area X as Posthuman Characters in Jeff VanderMeer’s Annihilation

In this thesis I examine the posthuman elements evident in Jeff VanderMeer’s novel Annihilation (2014). I explore the different techniques VanderMeer uses to blur the boundaries between human and nonhuman both in the main character, the biologist, as well as the setting of the novel, Area X. The analysis is based on Rosi Braidotti’s critical posthuman theory, with a focus on post-anthropocentrism and how posthumanism reshapes and expands our notion of humanity. Previous critics have focused on Annihilation as a piece of Anthropocene fiction, as well as how Annihilation bends the formal boundaries of a narrative, which is a characteristic of the novel’s genre of weird fiction. I discuss this bending both through the biologist’s unreliability as a narrator due to Area X affecting her, as well as how Area X is depicted as a posthuman character, not only a setting. In chapter 3 I explore the concepts of otherness and empathy related to the posthumanism of the characters, and how the biologist’s relationship with Area X is very unique compared to the rest of her expedition group whom she enters Area X with. As has happened to all expedition groups before them, the biologist’s group apart from her perishes in different ways, and as a result the area grows. They only leave remnants of themselves in the inexplicable, ever-changing landscape and its creatures, as they merge into the area, feeding it. In chapter 4 I illustrate how Area X exhibits many posthuman qualities, and how the people dying within it add to those qualities. The biologist gets infected with a spore of an unknown origin, and instead of being frightened she welcomes the infection and the change therein with interest. I explore how and why the biologist is able to survive longer in the area compared to her group, while holding on to her sanity and more parts of her humanity while being a posthuman character. My analysis demonstrates how the elements of humanity and nonhumanity meet in both the biologist as well as Area X, thus illustrating how differently posthumanism can occur in a narrative. Through Braidotti’s critical posthumanism, Annihilation can be seen as not only a part of the Anthropocene, but rather a piece of post-anthropocentric literature.

Grantor dc:publisher

Helsingin yliopisto

Year dc:date.issued

2025

Author dc:creator

• Kettunen, Caroliina

• posthumanism
• Jeff VanderMeer
• post-anthropocentrism
• horror
• weird
• literature
• Anthropocene
• Rosi Braidotti

Statement dc:rights

• CC BY-NC-ND 4.0

Language dc:language.iso

eng

Handle dc:identifier.uri

http://hdl.handle.net/10138/598290

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:helda.helsinki.fi:10138/598290