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Anatomy of a Robot: Literature, Cinema, and the Cultural Work of Artificial People,Used
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Why do we find artificial people fascinating? Drawing from a rich fictional and cinematic tradition, Anatomy of a Robot explores the political and textual implications of our perennial projections of humanity onto figures such as robots, androids, cyborgs, and automata. In an engaging, sophisticated, and accessible presentation, Despina Kakoudaki argues that, in their narrative and cultural deployment, artificial people demarcate what it means to be human. They perform this function by offering us a nonhuman version of ourselves as a site of investigation. Artificial people teach us that being human, being a person or a self, is a constant process and often a matter of legal, philosophical, and political struggle.By analyzing a wide range of literary texts and films (including episodes from Twilight Zone, the fiction of Philip K. Dick, Kazuo Ishiguros novel Never Let Me Go, Metropolis, The Golem, Frankenstein, The Terminator, Iron Man, Blade Runner, and I, Robot), and going back to alchemy and to Aristotles Physics and De Anima, she tracks four foundational narrative elements in this centuriesold discourse the fantasy of the artificial birth, the fantasy of the mechanical body, the tendency to represent artificial people as slaves, and the interpretation of artificiality as an existential trope. What unifies these investigations is the return of all four elements to the question of what constitutes the human.This focused approach to the topic of the artificial, constructed, or mechanical person allows us to reconsider the creation of artificial life. By focusing on their historical provenance and textual versatility, Kakoudaki elucidates artificial peoples main cultural function, which is the political and existential negotiation of what it means to be a person.
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- Q: What is the main theme of 'Anatomy of a Robot'? A: The main theme of 'Anatomy of a Robot' is the exploration of the political and cultural implications of artificial people, such as robots and cyborgs, and how they reflect our understanding of humanity.
- Q: Who is the author of this book? A: The author of 'Anatomy of a Robot' is Despina Kakoudaki.
- Q: What types of media are analyzed in this book? A: The book analyzes a wide range of literary texts and films, including works by Philip K. Dick, Kazuo Ishiguro, and iconic films like Metropolis and Blade Runner.
- Q: How many pages does the book have? A: The book contains 272 pages.
- Q: What is the publication date of 'Anatomy of a Robot'? A: The book was published on July 7, 2014.
- Q: What genre does this book fall under? A: The book falls under the genre of Science Fiction & Fantasy.
- Q: Is this book suitable for academic use? A: Yes, 'Anatomy of a Robot' is suitable for academic use as it provides sophisticated analyses of cultural and narrative elements related to artificiality.
- Q: What condition is the book in? A: The book is in new condition.
- Q: What is the binding type of this book? A: This book is available in paperback binding.
- Q: Does the book include any illustrations or images? A: The book does not specifically mention any illustrations or images in the provided details.