2026-05-31T00:38:27.685Z http://ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai

ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai:1:11428 2025-06-04T11:03:19Z 1

"The Wild Robot" by Peter Brown: “Post-Human” Discourse in Teen Literature 2025 http://ezaposleni.singidunum.ac.rs/rest/sciNaucniRezultati/oai/record/1/11428 https://izdanja.filfak.ni.ac.rs/zbornici/2025/book-of-abstracts-language-literature-future-2025--blockade V. Fedorov This paper examines two recurring themes in science fiction: 1. the intersection of advanced technology with a "wild" (pre-historic or post-apocalyptic) environment 2. the attribution of human qualities to non-human beings—through the lens of Peter Brown's The Wild Robot. While these themes are not novel in themselves, having been explored by writers such as Karel Čapek, Isaac Asimov, and the Strugatsky brothers, their appearance in a book for children represents a significant shift in discourse. Unlike earlier works, which often engaged with concepts like the Laws of Robotics and intellectually challenging reflection, The Wild Robot integrates these themes into a narrative accessible to younger readers. This inclusion transforms the "artificial" and the "natural" from oppositional forces into collaborators, blurring traditional boundaries and presenting technology as a harmonious extension of nature. Using narratology, discourse analysis, and elements of reader-response criticism, the paper argues that The Wild Robot introduces a post-human worldview in which human characteristics lose their uniqueness, and the natural world is no longer inherently superior to artificial creations. This perspective challenges anthropocentric values, proposing a "beyond-human" order that renders the traditional scope of "Menschliches, Allzumenschliches" questions obsolete and irrelevant. Keywords: post-humanism, teen literature, science fiction, anthropocentrism, narratology, discourse analysis, artificial intelligence, nature-technology relationship, The Wild Robot conferenceObject 10.46630/bjkb.2025 LANGUAGE, LITERATURE, FUTURE 2025