Delineating humanistic underpinnings in the midst of posthuman evolution: A study of Hannu Rajaniemi’s Jean le Flambeur trilogy

Indrajit Patra

doi:10.31893/multirev.2023046

Keywords:

Abstract

This research aims to delve into the intricate and multilayered connection between humans and posthumans, as depicted in Hannu Rajaniemi's Jean le Flambeur trilogy. This Finnish American author's trilogy, consisting of The Quantum Thief (2010), The Fractal Prince (2012), and The Causal Angel (2014), paints an insightful picture of this interaction. The investigation aims to illuminate the emergence of humanity in an extremely posthuman and postsingular landscape, arguing that one must understand humanity as not entirely separate from posthumanism. Instead, humanity should be considered a specific case, or limit case, of the broader posthumanist concept. The form of humanity that arises from the boundaries of an extreme posthuman state of evolution will not mirror the pre-posthuman state; instead, it will transform into a more comprehensive, inclusive entity. The analysis of these three novels will illustrate how Rajaniemi's work does not entirely dismiss human agency. Instead, it recontextualizes and reshapes it within a dramatically different posthuman setting.
References
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5. Benjamin, G. (2016). Rewriting Consciousness: Diversity, Post-Humans and Utopia in Hannu Rajaniemi’s Jean Le Flambeur Trilogy. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 121 (Diversity in World SF), 54-66. http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~garfiebr/assets/papers/rewriting-consciousness.pdf
6. Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Polity Press.
7. Brooke, K. (2011, October 25). The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi - Review. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/25/quantum-thief-hannu-rajaniemi-review
8. Chambers, B. (2021). A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Tor Books.
9. Clarke, D. B., Doel, M., Merrin, W., Smith, R. G. (Eds.). (2008). Jean Baudrillard: Fatal Theories. Routledge, Taylor & Francis.
10. Connor, S. (2003). Foreword: Coming to Be. In P. Sheehan (Ed.), Becoming Human: New Perspectives on the Inhuman Condition (pp. ix–xvi). Praeger.
11. Elitist Book Reviews. (2013, March 27). Review: The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi - Elitist Book Reviews. https://elitistbookreviews.com/2013/03/27/the-fractal-prince/
12. Gladden, M. E. (2016). Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization. Synthypnion Press LLC.
13. Guesse, C. (2019, December). Fictions and Theories of the Posthuman: From Creature to Concept. https://doi.org/http://hdl.handle.net/2268/241983
14. Halberstam, J. M., & Livingston, I. (1995). Posthuman Bodies. Indiana University Press.
15. Haraway, D. (1985). A Cyborg Manifesto.
16. Harkaway, N. (2017). Gnomon. William Heinemann Publications.
17. Hayles, N. K. (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics. University of Chicago Press.
18. Herbrechter, S. (2013). Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis. Bloomsbury Academic.
19. Künsken, D. (2019). The Quantum Garden. Rebellion Publishing Ltd.
20. Lefebvre, H. (1991). Critique of Everyday Life. Verso.
21. McGilchrist, I. (2021). The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World. Kindle edition.
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24. Morgan, R. K. (2002). Altered Carbon. Gollancz Books.
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27. Quick, A. (2021). Book Review: The Quantum Thief , by Hannu Rajaniemi. https://inverarity.livejournal.com/139121.html
28. Raets, S. (2011, April 19). The Criminal Is a Creative Artist: A Review of the Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2011/04/19/the-criminal-is-a-creative-artist-a-review-of-the-quantum-thief-by-hannu-rajaniemi/
29. Rajaniemi, H. (2010). The Quantum Thief. Tor Books.
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32. Roberts, A. (2012, September 26). The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi – Review. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/26/fractal-prince-hannu-rajaniemi-review
33. The English Student. (2017, August 15). Review: The Fractal Prince. https://englishstudens.com/2017/08/15/review-the-fractal-prince/
34. The English Student. (2019, August 29). Review: The Causal Angel. https://englishstudens.com/2019/08/29/review-the-causal-angel/amp/
35. Sanderson, B. (2021). Cytonic. Delacorte Press.
36. Sharpson, N. (2021). When the Sparrow Falls. Tom Doherty Associates.
37. Smith, R. G. (2010). The Baudrillard Dictionary. Edinburgh University Press.
38. SFBook.com. (2015, June). Book Review of the Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi. https://sfbook.com/the-causal-angel.htm
39. Taylor, R. (2021, June 26). Five Books about Being a Cog in the Dystopian Machine. Tor/Forge Blog. https://www.torforgeblog.com/2021/06/26/five-books-about-being-a-cog-in-the-dystopian-machine/
40. Thweatt-Bates, J. (2012). Cyborg Selves: A Theological Anthropology of the Posthuman. Ashgate.
41. Truslow, T. (2013, February 4). The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi. Strange Horizons. https://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/the-fractal-prince-by-hannu-rajaniemi/
42. Waldau, P. (2007). Kweli Ndugu Yanga—the Religious Horizons of ‘Humans Are Primates’ on JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43809345
43. Wolfe, C. (2010). What is Posthumanism? http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/13.-Pollock-G-2011-Issue-1-2-Whatis-Posthumanism-up-pp-235-241.pdf
44. Wolf, M. (2016). Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century. Oxford University Press.
45. Žižek, S. (2009). The Parallax View. MIT Press.
46. Žižek, S. (2009). The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology. Verso.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

How to cite

Patra, I. (2023). Delineating humanistic underpinnings in the midst of posthuman evolution: A study of Hannu Rajaniemi’s Jean le Flambeur trilogy. Multidisciplinary Reviews, 6(4), 2023046. https://doi.org/10.31893/multirev.2023046

[1] Alexander, N. (2014, July 14). Endgame: The Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2014/07/14/book-review-the-causal-angel-hannu-rajaniemi/

[2] Baudrillard, J. (2002). Screened Out. Verso.

[3] Baudrillard, J. (2006). Cool Memories V: 2000-2004. Polity. https://www.wiley.com/en-us/Cool+Memories+V%3A+2000+2004-p-9780745636597

[4] Benjamin, G. (2016). The Cyborg Subject: Reality, Consciousness, Parallax. Palgrave Macmillan UK.

[5] Benjamin, G. (2016). Rewriting Consciousness: Diversity, Post-Humans and Utopia in Hannu Rajaniemi’s Jean Le Flambeur Trilogy. Foundation: The International Review of Science Fiction 121 (Diversity in World SF), 54-66. http://www.cs.bham.ac.uk/~garfiebr/assets/papers/rewriting-consciousness.pdf

[6] Braidotti, R. (2013). The Posthuman. Polity Press.

[7] Brooke, K. (2011, October 25). The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi - Review. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2011/oct/25/quantum-thief-hannu-rajaniemi-review

[8] Chambers, B. (2021). A Psalm for the Wild-Built. Tor Books.

[9] Clarke, D. B., Doel, M., Merrin, W., Smith, R. G. (Eds.). (2008). Jean Baudrillard: Fatal Theories. Routledge, Taylor & Francis.

[10] Connor, S. (2003). Foreword: Coming to Be. In P. Sheehan (Ed.), Becoming Human: New Perspectives on the Inhuman Condition (pp. ix–xvi). Praeger.

[11] Elitist Book Reviews. (2013, March 27). Review: The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi - Elitist Book Reviews. https://elitistbookreviews.com/2013/03/27/the-fractal-prince/

[12] Gladden, M. E. (2016). Sapient Circuits and Digitalized Flesh: The Organization as Locus of Technological Posthumanization. Synthypnion Press LLC.

[13] Guesse, C. (2019, December). Fictions and Theories of the Posthuman: From Creature to Concept. https://doi.org/http://hdl.handle.net/2268/241983

[14] Halberstam, J. M., & Livingston, I. (1995). Posthuman Bodies. Indiana University Press.

[15] Haraway, D. (1985). A Cyborg Manifesto.

[16] Harkaway, N. (2017). Gnomon. William Heinemann Publications.

[17] Hayles, N. K. (1999). How We Became Posthuman: Virtual Bodies in Cybernetics, Literature and Informatics. University of Chicago Press.

[18] Herbrechter, S. (2013). Posthumanism: A Critical Analysis. Bloomsbury Academic.

[19] Künsken, D. (2019). The Quantum Garden. Rebellion Publishing Ltd.

[20] Lefebvre, H. (1991). Critique of Everyday Life. Verso.

[21] McGilchrist, I. (2021). The Matter With Things: Our Brains, Our Delusions and the Unmaking of the World. Kindle edition.

[22] McGuire, S. (2019). Middlegame. Tor Books.

[23] Mela, M. (2019, May 14). A More Human Posthumanism? | CCCB LAB. https://lab.cccb.org/en/a-more-human-posthumanism/

[24] Morgan, R. K. (2002). Altered Carbon. Gollancz Books.

[25] Nelson, S. (2011, June 16). Hannu Rajaniemi: The Quantum Thief. The A.V. Club. https://www.avclub.com/hannu-rajaniemi-the-quantum-thief-1798168561

[26] Newitz, A. (2017). Autonomous. Tom Doherty Associates.

[27] Quick, A. (2021). Book Review: The Quantum Thief , by Hannu Rajaniemi. https://inverarity.livejournal.com/139121.html

[28] Raets, S. (2011, April 19). The Criminal Is a Creative Artist: A Review of the Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi. Tor.com. https://www.tor.com/2011/04/19/the-criminal-is-a-creative-artist-a-review-of-the-quantum-thief-by-hannu-rajaniemi/

[29] Rajaniemi, H. (2010). The Quantum Thief. Tor Books.

[30] Rajaniemi, H. (2012). The Fractal Prince. Tor Books.

[31] Rajaniemi, H. (2014). The Causal Angel. Tor Books.

[32] Roberts, A. (2012, September 26). The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi – Review. The Guardian. https://www.theguardian.com/books/2012/sep/26/fractal-prince-hannu-rajaniemi-review

[33] The English Student. (2017, August 15). Review: The Fractal Prince. https://englishstudens.com/2017/08/15/review-the-fractal-prince/

[34] The English Student. (2019, August 29). Review: The Causal Angel. https://englishstudens.com/2019/08/29/review-the-causal-angel/amp/

[35] Sanderson, B. (2021). Cytonic. Delacorte Press.

[36] Sharpson, N. (2021). When the Sparrow Falls. Tom Doherty Associates.

[37] Smith, R. G. (2010). The Baudrillard Dictionary. Edinburgh University Press.

[38] SFBook.com. (2015, June). Book Review of the Causal Angel by Hannu Rajaniemi. https://sfbook.com/the-causal-angel.htm

[39] Taylor, R. (2021, June 26). Five Books about Being a Cog in the Dystopian Machine. Tor/Forge Blog. https://www.torforgeblog.com/2021/06/26/five-books-about-being-a-cog-in-the-dystopian-machine/

[40] Thweatt-Bates, J. (2012). Cyborg Selves: A Theological Anthropology of the Posthuman. Ashgate.

[41] Truslow, T. (2013, February 4). The Fractal Prince by Hannu Rajaniemi. Strange Horizons. https://strangehorizons.com/non-fiction/reviews/the-fractal-prince-by-hannu-rajaniemi/

[42] Waldau, P. (2007). Kweli Ndugu Yanga—the Religious Horizons of ‘Humans Are Primates’ on JSTOR. https://www.jstor.org/stable/43809345

[43] Wolfe, C. (2010). What is Posthumanism? http://www.criticalanimalstudies.org/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/13.-Pollock-G-2011-Issue-1-2-Whatis-Posthumanism-up-pp-235-241.pdf

[44] Wolf, M. (2016). Tales of Literacy for the 21st Century. Oxford University Press.

[45] Žižek, S. (2009). The Parallax View. MIT Press.

[46] Žižek, S. (2009). The Ticklish Subject: The Absent Centre of Political Ontology. Verso.

Abstract

References

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