WEISS, Michaela. Truthiness, Collectivity, and Overlapping Subjectivities: Margaret Atwood’s Take on Current Metamodern Trends in The Heart Goes Last. SKASE Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies. 2019, vol. 1, No 2, p. 11-20. ISSN 2644-5506.
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Basic information
Original name Truthiness, Collectivity, and Overlapping Subjectivities: Margaret Atwood’s Take on Current Metamodern Trends in The Heart Goes Last
Authors WEISS, Michaela (203 Czech Republic, guarantor, belonging to the institution).
Edition SKASE Journal of Literary and Cultural Studies, 2019, 2644-5506.
Other information
Original language English
Type of outcome Article in a journal
Field of Study 60206 Specific literatures
Country of publisher Slovakia
Confidentiality degree is not subject to a state or trade secret
WWW http://www.skase.sk/Volumes/SJLCS02/pdf_doc/02.pdf
RIV identification code RIV/47813059:19240/19:A0000472
Organization unit Faculty of Philosophy and Science in Opava
Keywords in English Margaret Atwood; metamodern sensibility; modern collectivity; dystopia
Tags SGS42018, ÚCJ
Tags International impact, Reviewed
Changed by Changed by: Ing. Petra Skoumalová, učo 50554. Changed: 21/4/2020 11:08.
Abstract
The paper analyses the metamodern concepts of truthiness, collectivity and multiple identities in Margaret Atwood’s novel The Heart Goes Last (2015). The novel opens with a sweeping economic crisis that leaves most Americans without a job, home, and income. Academics and corporations have come up with a Positron Project that is designed to eliminate crime and unemployment by house and facilities sharing by two alternating families who spend one month in their home and the other as inmates in prison. The initially utopian project soon turns into a closely monitored dystopia, securing its income from selective euthanasia or illegal organ harvesting. The seeming safety and comfort of both the prison and the artificial community turn out to be fatal for interhuman relationships and the identity of the protagonists. Atwood, once again, voices her concern over the political and social manipulation that often stands behind communal utopian projects, especially the readiness of individuals to give up their freedom in exchange for a false security and their willingness to believe in the propaganda presented to them by those in power. The novel, similarly to other Atwood’s works, reflects current social, political and ecological issues, and with her sense of humor and irony, uncovers human motivations (which are not always pleasant) behind the optimistic call for collectivity, truth, and responsibility. Without resorting to sarcasm or mockery, her novels are a reminder of human failings, which she presents as natural and unavoidable.
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