The Ex-Human - by Michael Bérubé (Hardcover)

About the Book

Michael Bérubé explores the surprising insights of classic and contemporary works of SF that depict civilizational collapse and contemplate human extinction.

Book Synopsis

Facing threats like climate change and nuclear warfare, science fiction authors have conjured apocalyptic scenarios of human extinction. Can such gloomy fates help us make sense of our contemporary crises? How important is the survival of our species if we wind up battling for an Earth that has become an unhabitable hellscape? What other possible futures do narratives of the end of humanity allow us to imagine?

Michael Bérubé explores the surprising insights of classic and contemporary works of SF that depict civilizational collapse and contemplate the fate of Homo sapiens. In a lively, conversational style, he considers novels by writers including Ursula K. Le Guin, Margaret Atwood, Liu Cixin, Philip K. Dick, and Octavia Butler, as well as films that feature hostile artificial intelligence, such as 2001: A Space Odyssey, Blade Runner, and the Terminator and Matrix franchises. Bérubé argues that these works portray a future in which we have become able to see ourselves from the vantage point of something other than the human. Though framed by the possibility of human extinction, they are driven by a vision of the "ex-human"--a desire to imagine that another species is possible. For all science fiction readers worried about the fate of humanity, The Ex-Human is an entertaining yet sobering account of how key novels and films envision the world without us.

Review Quotes

For scholars engaged in the theoretical and literary analysis of science fiction, this book provides a valuable analytical lens through which to examine how sf narratives both reflect and shape society's responses to existential challenges.-- "Science Fiction Studies"

A refreshing and engaging analysis of continuing speculations on the future of humanity.-- "American Literary History"

Named a Locus recommended reading in non-fiction for 2025.-- "Locus"

It is a worthy read for anyone seeking to put into words their dissatisfaction with what the human is, and possibilities for what it might (cease to) be.-- "Supernatural Studies"

Recommended.-- "Choice Reviews"

Michael Bérubé is one of our best social and cultural critics . . . Bérubé's discussions of all these texts are subtle and insightful. . . . Above all, though, the book is concerned with how science fiction allows us to entertain non-human perspectives upon human life and existence, and specifically to imagine the end of humanity -- or rather (and better) its transformation in radical ways that exceed our capacity for imaginative projection and continued empathy.--Steven Shaviro "The Pinocchio Theory"

A thought-provoking examination of sci-fi novels and films that invite audiences to contemplate humanity's 'sorry fate from the vantage point of something other than human.' . . . Bérubé brings welcome humor to the proceedings . . . Sci-fi fanatics will appreciate Bérubé's offbeat takes.-- "Publishers Weekly"

Are human beings worth saving? Viewing that question through the lens of science fiction, The Ex-Human is one of those rare and wonderful books that will engage aficionados and general readers together. Bérubé writes with conviction, clarity, and warmth--this is literary and cinematic analysis of the highest order, presented in a personal voice that always keeps you in the story.--Leonard Cassuto, author of Academic Writing as if Readers Matter

[Bérubé's] analyses are intensive yet fluid, variegated with a range of cultural, political, and personal references. Spirited and speculative, The Ex-Human showcases science fiction for its formidable and prescient nature.--Meg Nola "Foreword Reviews"

In The Ex-Human, Michael Bérubé compellingly engages on both the personal and academic level with the question of our dystopian contemporary, and what the reading of science fiction can bring to this debate.--Roger Luckhurst, author of Gothic: An Illustrated History

A vivacious and unrelenting confrontation with the consolations and desolations of contemporary science fiction from one of literary culture's most insightful and wide-ranging polymaths, Michael Bérubé's The Ex-Human is by turns brilliant, hilarious, despairing, and refusing despair. An absolute must-read.--Gerry Canavan, author of Octavia E. Butler

About the Author

Michael Bérubé is an Edwin Erle Sparks Professor of Literature at Pennsylvania State University and a former president of the Modern Language Association. He is the author of twelve books, including Life as We Know It: A Father, a Family, and an Exceptional Child and What's Liberal About the Liberal Arts? Classroom Politics and "Bias" in Higher Education.