Embodiment as a Performatively Posthumanist Form of Material Authorship in ‘The Lesser Bohemians’ by Eimear McBride

Abstract

The article examines the second novel of Eimear McBride (2016) The Lesser Bohemians from a viewpoint of New Materialisms, with a special emphasis on Karen Barad’s concept of “mattering” and the notion of performative matter. Apart from Barad, the article draws upon the works of N. Katherine Hayles, Donna Haraway and Rosi Braidotti, to suggest a posthumanist reading of McBride’s novel. The article examines embodiment in The Lesser Bohemians as both material and performative, arguing that its matter “authors” the text and the female body. The idiom of The Lesser Bohemians goes under scrutiny to trace analogies with modern science, especially quantum physics, which links McBride’s novel (2016) with Barad’s research.