Detailed Information on Publication Record

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.