POSTHUMANISM IDEAS IN D. H. LAWRENCE’S SHORT STORIES

This paper examines posthumanism concepts in D. H. Lawrence’s short stories written in the 1920s which refer to the late period of the writer’s oeuvre: The Border Line (1924), The Woman Who Rode Away (1925), Sun (1926) and In Love (1927). The study contemplates the coalescence of Lawrence’s protagonists with the natural environment in the aforementioned novellas. Environmental theme in Lawrence’s short stories is regarded in the context of posthumanism aspect. The writer’s perspective of a posthuman is studied as well. Scientific works by Jeff Wallace (D. H. Lawrence, Science and the Posthuman), Cary Wolfe (What is posthumanism?) and Donna Haraway’s essay (A Cyborg Manifesto) were scrutinied as a basic tool to evidentiate the relentless curiosity to D. H. Lawrence’s oeuvre nowadays. By means of the concept ‘natural environment’ Lawrence tells about true values: harmony with oneself, harmonious relationships and mutual understanding between man and woman. In the alliance with environment, Lawrence prophesies the birth of a new, emotionally renovated human being. Posthumanism ideas help Lawrentian protaginist find contentment and a state of happiness. A change in human being’s attitude to himself/herself as well as to the society when uniting with natural environment is evident in the writer’s short stories.