The Fragmented Self: Posthuman Subjectivity in Cory Doctorow’s Walkaway
Year: 2025
Type: article
Abstract: In an era where digital consciousness and post-scarcity economies challenge the foundations of human identity, Cory Doctorow’s Walkaway (2017) offers a radical exploration of posthuman subjectivity. This paper argues that the novel reconfigures the self through mind uploading, digital replication, and decentralized existence, presenting subjectivity as fluid, networked, and plural rather than singular and stable. Unlike traditional cyberpunk narratives that portray fragmented identity as a dystopian crisis, Walkaway depicts the dissolution of selfhood as an act of liberation from capitalist structures that commodify labor and mortality. Drawing on posthuman theory (Haraway, Hayles, Braidotti), the analysis examines Doctorow’s representation of consciousness duplication, the erosion of individualism, and the socio-political stakes of posthuman futures. Ultimately, Walkaway functions as a utopian counter-narrative to cyberpunk’s prevailing anxieties, redefining identity in the age of digital transcendence while raising urgent ethical and philosophical questions about the politics of posthumanism.
Source: OICC Press Journals
Authors: Mohammadian Roshan, Faeze, Yaghoubi, Roya
Institution: Islamic Azad University, Tehran
Language: English
Subfield: Philosophy
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W7127919649
FWCI:
Cites:
Cited by:
Related to: