{"product_id":"anatomy-of-a-robot-literature-cinema-and-the-cultural-work-of-artificial-people-paperback-softback-9780813562155","title":"Anatomy of a Robot; Literature, Cinema, and the Cultural Work of Artificial People (Paperback \/ softback) 9780813562155","description":"\u003cfont face=\"Georgia\"\u003e\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"6\"\u003eAnatomy of a Robot\u003c\/font\u003e\u003cbr\u003e\r\n\u003cfont size=\"5\"\u003eLiterature, Cinema, and the Cultural Work of Artificial People\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"4\"\u003eDespina Kakoudaki (Author)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e9780813562155\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003ePaperback \/ softback, published 7 July 2014\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e272 pages, 26 photographs\u003cbr\u003e22.9 x 15.2 x 2.3 cm, 0.426 kg\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cem\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\"Wide-ranging in its examples, erudite, politically relevant, and profound in its implications, this book is essential for anyone interested in our long history with created others.\"\u003cbr\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e - Sherryl Vint (University of California, Riverside) \u003cdiv\u003e\"\u003ci\u003eAnatomy of a Robot \u003c\/i\u003eoffers an insightful analysis of the cultural work artificial people perform as they elucidate what it is to be human; a refreshing intervention in the field and impressive in its breadth.\"\u003c\/div\u003e - Teresa Heffernan (Saint Mary's University) \u003cdiv\u003e\u003cp\u003e\u003ci\u003e\"\u003c\/i\u003eThis book is literary criticism that looks at the robot as a trope across media, from ancient myths to modern-day movies. The book has four overarching themes that Kakoudaki presents in separate chapters: 'The Artificial Birth,' 'The Mechanical Body,' 'The Mechanical Slave,' and 'The Existential Cyborg.' [Kakoudaki provides] a great deal of historical and cultural depth, exploring a diversity of tropes across all of recorded history. Highly recommended.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e (Choice)\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/em\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp align=\"justify\"\u003e\u003cstrong\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eWhy do we find artificial people fascinating? Drawing from a rich fictional and cinematic tradition, \u003ci\u003eAnatomy of a Robot \u003c\/i\u003eexplores 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 non-human 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eBy analyzing a wide range of literary texts and films (including episodes from \u003ci\u003eTwilight Zone\u003c\/i\u003e, the fiction of Philip K. Dick, Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel \u003ci\u003eNever Let Me Go, Metropolis, The Golem, Frankenstein, The Terminator, Iron Man, Blade Runner, and I, Robot\u003c\/i\u003e), and going back to alchemy and to Aristotle’s \u003ci\u003ePhysics\u003c\/i\u003e and \u003ci\u003eDe Anima\u003c\/i\u003e, she tracks four foundational narrative elements in this centuries-old 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.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThis 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 people’s main cultural function, which is the political and existential negotiation of what it means to be a person.\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/strong\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cfont size=\"3\"\u003e\u003cdiv\u003eAcknowledgments \u003cdiv\u003e Introduction: Robot Anatomies \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e 1 The Artificial Birth \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e 2 The Mechanical Body \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e 3 The Mechanical Slave \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e 4 The Existential Cyborg \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e Conclusion: The Ends of the Human \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e Notes \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv\u003e Index \u003c\/div\u003e\n\u003c\/div\u003e\u003c\/font\u003e\u003c\/p\u003e\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\u003c\/font\u003e","brand":"Rutgers University Press","offers":[{"title":"Brand New","offer_id":52744954478872,"sku":null,"price":0.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"url":"https:\/\/freshlyprintedbooks.co.uk\/products\/anatomy-of-a-robot-literature-cinema-and-the-cultural-work-of-artificial-people-paperback-softback-9780813562155","provider":"Freshly Printed Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}