Analyzing Humanity’s Fate Beyond the Anthropocene in the Works of Sheri S. Tepper

Abstract

ABSTRACT: The aim of this article is to juxtapose two of Sheri S. Tepper’s works— Beauty (1991) and the Plague of Angels trilogy (1993–2014)—in order to demonstrate how her vision of humanity’s future beyond the Anthropocene evolves or devolves in the course of her literary career, from the promise of magical salvation into a disturbing scenario of scientific advancement involving passive genocide, genetic modification, and eugenics. My reading is grounded in Marek Oziewicz’s theory of planetary narratives, Donna Haraway’s concept of the Chthulucene, and Joan Gordon’s figure of the amborg, which allow one to critically evaluate the author’s perception both of interspecies relations and humanity’s position among other living creatures.