Posthumane Selbstformungen in der Gegenwartsliteratur am Beispiel von Olga Flors <i>Ich in Gelb</i>

Abstract

This article examines the intersections between technologies of the self, posthumanism, and gender by means of a literary analysis of Olga Flor's 2015 novel Ich in Gelb. A reading of the novel shows how Flor discusses the immunotherapy practice of helminthic therapy in connection with different 'monsters' like Medusa, bearded women, and mermaids, motifs that carry certain gender representations. However, the novel not only plays on old representations but also deconstructs traditional gender divisions and dissolves the illusion of a fixed self in employing posthumanist ideas. Applying Haraway's concept of sympoiesis in the analysis of the relationship between human and worm as well as between text and worm, the examination of Flor's novel shows that there is a correspondence between the 'forming' of the self and the literary form of the novel. Therefore, literature has an epistemological function in understanding posthuman technologies of the self.