Since the publication of Maxine Hong Kingston’s Woman Warrior, storytelling has become a major narrative device in Chinese American literature. While some critics emphasize the importance of storytelling in the articulation of identity and in the examination of acculturation and cultural dislocation, others question its limitations and unreliability which seem to be recognized by some Chinese American women writers, such as Amy Tan and Lisa See. To supplement the limited knowledge of first-person narrators, Tan employs bones as narrative devices in The Bonesetter’s Daughter and See chooses tea in The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane. In addition, these novels include written texts that supplement first person narration. A new-materialist perspective reveals that non-human things narrate or act. When both Amy Tan and Lisa See endow non-human things with narrative power, they are no longer inert objects but storied matter. Drawing on new materialism, this paper will address how non-human narratives and written texts can compensate for the limits of human narrators and play active roles in shaping the text’s narrative and aesthetic expressions.

This article argues that The Lives of Animals approaches the human and non-human relationship through narrative form, which is different from most of the narratives dealing with non-human issues by means of thematic engagements. Coetzee’s rhetorical experience in this fiction pushes novelist form to its limit, opening new possibilities for ways of discussing animality. For Coetzee, fictional narrative form possesses unique and irreplaceable advantage in representing the living conditions of the non-human entities, thereby helping readers to get into the interiority of them. Specifically, by free imagination and textual dialogism, fictional discourse presents animals as free individuals with subjectivity and constructs a kind of “ethics of otherness”, which in turn facilitates readers’ understanding of the non-human world and multiplies the chance for them to empathize. Novelistic writing then becomes an ethical action, through which the novelists are expected to fully exploit novel’s formal resources to promote the discussions of social issues.

Liu Cixin’s The Three-Body Problem (2008) not only impressively addresses the Fermi Paradox about where alien civilizations are, but also delves deeper into a more profound inquiry: How are they? Through shaping alien images, Liu offers unique nonhuman viewpoints to expose and critique the limits of human perceptions. This article examines Liu’s exploration of three fundamental questions within his science fiction: How do aliens comprehend the existence of humans? How do aliens perceive human material civilization? And how do aliens regard human spiritual civilization? By analyzing Death’s End (2010), “The Micro-Era” (2001), and “Cloud of Poems” (2003), this article contends that Liu critically reflects upon Chinese epistemology with particular features of moral epistemology, relational epistemology and onto-epistemology to grapple with human cognitive limitations from alien perspectives. Liu challenges the validity of moral epistemology in the context of unfathomable “dark forest,” yet draws insights from relational and onto-epistemology to envision pathways for advancing human civilization. This article situates Liu’s science fiction within a broader discussion of alien narratives and Chinese epistemology, highlighting his distinctive contribution to world science fiction beyond conventional discussions about his responses to the Fermi Paradox.

David Foster Wallace’s famous essay Consider the Lobster makes a meticulous analysis of the ethics of boiling a lobster alive, which also emphasizes the irresolvable dilemma between satisfying human needs and reducing animal cruelty. To be more general, it represents the dilemma about whether human should sacrifice more in exchange for the benefit of the nonhuman animal, which is also an innate dilemma that almost all animal narratives are faced with. Based on three major items of zoocriticism initiated by Anna Barcz, this article investigates three innate dilemmas between human and the nonhuman animal within animal narratives, namely (1) anthropocentric nature of narrative versus animal autonomy of the animal agent, (2) anthropomorphizing the animal agent versus restoration of its animality, and (3) the understanding versus misunderstanding of animals as the effect of reading animal narratives. The article claims that even though the above dilemmas will exist for now and future works, we can see through these dilemmas and focus on the special characteristics of animal narratives. Meanwhile, such dilemmatic traits are also the carriers of the distinctive aesthetic values of animal narratives.

As artificial intelligence(AI) continues to advance, the boundaries between human and AI are becoming increasingly blurred, raising profound questions about the nature of consciousness, emotion, and identity. Against this backdrop, Shang Biwu (2021) proposed that the narrative of artificial humans belonged to a type of nonhuman narrative, including narratives with robots, clones, and AI as protagonists, which is particularly prominent in the science fiction. Kazuo Ishiguro’s Klara and the Sun (2021) unfolds a story about love, loneliness, sacrifice, and the radiance of humanity through the perspective of an artificial intelligence girl named Klara.This study aims to elucidate the affect embodiment of Klara, an Artificial Friend ( AF) and to analyze their implications for our understanding of consciousness, empathy, and ethical considerations in a world prevalent with AI.

To be specific, this study focuses on the emotional development of the protagonist designed for human companionship.We find that Klara exhibits a profound capacity for love, loyalty, and self-sacrifice, challenging the boundaries between artificial intelligence and human emotional experiences. Furthermore, Klara demonstrates empathy and compassion, not only towards her human charge, Josie, but also towards other humans and even inanimate objects, suggesting a unique form of emotional intelligence that transcends traditional human limitations. This nuanced portrayal of posthuman emotions raises critical questions about the nature of consciousness, the potential for artificial beings to experience genuine feelings, and the ethical implications of creating emotionally capable AI.

The findings above poses challenging questions for humans to redefine the boundaries between humans and AI. These also encourage humans to reconsider questions about the rights and moral status of emotionally capable artificial beings, the potential exploitation of AI in care-giving roles.

By examining themes of love, identity, and self-awareness in posthuman contexts, this study demonstrates how Ishiguro's work contributes to broader discussions on the future of human-AI relationships and the evolving definition of humanity in a world with high speed development of AI. In this sense, our research provides new insights into the literary representation of posthuman emotions and offers a novel framework for analyzing emotional narratives in science fiction of posthumans, ultimately challenging us to expand our understanding of what it means to feel and to be human.

This paper explores how the creatures in Classic of Mountains and Seas (山海經) collapse the logic of human-nonhuman binaries by transgressing body boundaries, discussing to what extent Classic of Mountains and Seas reunifies the dichotomy and revivifies the archaic by magnifying ecophobia. This research also examines the creature in Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for comparison. Despite their distinct historical and national backgrounds, both texts employ similar descriptive methods in the nonhuman narrative, representing the nature of body queerness, a celebration of heterogeneity and diversity, and the rejection of human-constructed uniformity and collectivism. However, compared to Frankenstein, Classic of Mountains and Seas goes further in terms of the temporal sense of narrative, highlighting the vital difference between Gothic and ecogothic. In Classic of Mountains and Seas, the temporal sense is constructed as evolutionary rather than biographical. Overall, the research employs a comparative approach, drawing on the theories of Simon C. Estok’s ecophobia (2009) and Sigmund Freud's “uncanny.” It argues that although the creatures in Classic of Mountains and Seas follow the Gothic tradition regarding Freud’s “uncanny” effect and share some similarities in body appearance, such as “patchwork” with the creature in Frankenstein, Classic of Mountains and Seas further questions the human-knowledge-constructed logic of ecological binaries and collapses anthropocentric speciesism by evoking a deeper ecophobia. This study contributes to the ongoing questioning of human-nonhuman dualism under the anthropocentric gaze and offers new insights into how to recognize another Chinese map of cultural consciousness. In this renewed but ancient map, the “metanarratives” of the absolute dichotomy between human and nonhuman, such as the myth of Kua Fu Chases the Sun (夸父追日) and The Foolish Old Man Moves the Mountain (愚公移山), are refreshed by a healthier interaction of more openness and possibilities. From this perspective, the interpretation of Classic of Mountains and Seas could be a good starting point for reviving the archaic in modern times.

Robots and their existential space provide a platform for in-depth reflection on the relationship between humans and technology in science fiction literature. In literary works, robots are often portrayed as entities possessing human intelligence and emotions, thus triggering a series of moral and ethical challenges. Klara and the Sun is Kazuo Ishiguro’s first novel published after winning the Nobel Prize for Literature. The novel explores the proposition of “human heart” under the shell of science fiction, and the author skillfully utilizes delicate descriptions, complex narrative techniques, and surreal interpretations of daily life to construct a world of robots and human beings that is full of philosophical depth and emotional tension. The novel depicts the emotional connection between Artificial Friend Klara and Josie's family, as well as how this emotional connection reflects humanity's longing for technology and the reality of loneliness. Through the non-human character of Klara, the novel presents an objective and dispassionate perspective, making it easier for readers to glimpse and contemplate the vulnerability of the human heart. This revelation not only reveals the social phenomena brought about by technological progress, but also delves deeper into the possible mutation and struggle of human nature in the torrent of technology.

This paper explores the profound impact of technological progress on human society and its individual life from three dimensions: the redrawing of the boundary between robots and humans inside and outside the window, the substitution and continuation of human roles by robots, and the mirror of the future of human group loneliness in the age of technology. First, it analyzes the window as a symbolic boundary to explore the emerging relationship dynamics between robots and humans, revealing the essence of their interaction and the evolution of the boundary. Second, it delves into how technology gradually replaces traditional human roles and reshapes our lives and social structures in the process, while provoking profound reflections on ethics and human nature. Finally, it focuses on the growing sense of personal loneliness and social isolation in the context of technological advancement, reflecting the lack of authentic emotional connection in modern society. By systematically exploring key topics such as the symbiotic evolution of humans and technology, the expansion of the ethical boundaries of artificial intelligence, and the ethical paradoxes brought about by life sciences, Kazuo Ishiguro successfully guides readers to reflect deeply on the possible subtle impact of technological progress on human behavior patterns and values. Thus, in the framework of science fiction literature, the deep integration and dialectical dialogue between technological and humanistic concerns are realized.

David Foster Wallace’s famous essay Consider the Lobster makes a meticulous analysis of the ethics of boiling a lobster alive, which also emphasizes the irresolvable dilemma between satisfying human needs and reducing animal cruelty. To be more general, it represents the dilemma about whether human should sacrifice more in exchange for the benefit of the nonhuman animal, which is also an innate dilemma that almost all animal narratives are faced with. Based on three major items of zoocriticism initiated by Anna Barcz, this article investigates three innate dilemmas between human and the nonhuman animal within animal narratives, namely (1) anthropocentric nature of narrative versus animal autonomy of the animal agent, (2) anthropomorphizing the animal agent versus restoration of its animality, and (3) the understanding versus misunderstanding of animals as the effect of reading animal narratives. The article claims that even though the above dilemmas will exist for now and future works, we can see through these dilemmas and focus on the special characteristics of animal narratives. Meanwhile, such dilemmatic traits are also the carriers of the distinctive aesthetic values of animal narratives.