This study focuses on Kazuo Ishiguro’s dystopian fiction Klara and the Sun (2021), specifically analysing how technology amplifies loneliness and prompts society to create more advanced technological solutions to alleviate the feeling of isolation. For example, sentient robots have already been developed to take care of human loneliness. This technology has proven successful in eliciting appropriate emotional responses, but “there is psychological risk in the robotic moment” (Turkle 55). By examining the relationship between mankind and Artificial Intelligence (AI), this study evaluates to what extent technology can genuinely lighten this uniquely human experience of loneliness from the Heideggerian perspective. In the novel, advanced androids, known as Artificial Friends (AFs), are designed to accompany children and even serve as continuities for those who have passed away. In such an intricate relationship, humans view AFs as manageable resources providing companionship, while AFs disconnect humans with the true Being. This interaction visualises Heidegger’s “Enframing” (Gestell). I thereby argue that we are risking relinquishing essential aspects of humanity when we allow AI to increasingly involve in our narrative. As a result, I advocate that we need a more nuanced approach to how we engage with technology, especially concerning sentient machines, to effectively and ethically address loneliness.

Ethical Literary Criticism emphasizes the ethical nature and teaching function of literature, viewing literary works as expressions of ethical and moral considerations within specific historical contexts. This perspective is crucial in an era where literature is not only a reflection of human creativity but also a product of technological innovation, particularly through AI. The “three-stage theory of human civilization” proposed by Nie Zhenzhao, the founder of Ethical Literary Criticism, outlines the progression from natural selection, through ethical selection, to scientific selection. This theory is instrumental in understanding the transition into an age where AI significantly influences literary creation and criticism. Ethical identity, both innate and acquired, is shaped by ethical choices and societal roles, now becoming increasingly complex and multifaceted with the introduction of AI, where characters can be algorithmically generated and authors may be AI entities themselves. Furthermore, readers are not merely passive consumers but active participants in the literary process in the age of AI, which allows them to interact with and influence literary content, thereby expanding the ethical identity of the reader beyond roles traditionally reserved for authors and critics. It is necessary to advocate for a critical examination of how ethical identities are constructed and deconstructed in AI-generated texts and emphasize the importance of maintaining ethical reflection and humanistic values in literature, as well as renewing the critical discourses of Ethical Literary Criticism in the age of AI.

This paper investigates the disruption of anthropocentric hierarchies and the foregrounding of machine and object agency in Philip K. Dick’s Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? (1968) and Ian McEwan's Machines Like Me (2019). Both novels depict societies where the boundaries between human and non-human entities are continually questioned and redefined. Drawing on the works of Jane Bennett, Rosi Braidotti, Nick Bostrom and others, this paper explores the material vibrancy of machines and investigates the androids' quest for recognition, the ethical implications of machine consciousness, and the critical role of human responsibility in interactions with synthetic beings. A comparative analysis of both novels demonstrates how they anticipate discourses on the non-human turn, especially regarding the extension of moral consideration to machines. Through the lens of new materialism, this study argues that the machines in these narratives should not be seen as inert tools but active participants in the socio-material fabric that destabilize fixed categories of life, intelligence, and empathy. In addition, the concepts of “kipple” in Dick's work and “rubbish” in McEwan's serve as metaphors for environmental neglect and societal decay. Both concepts symbolize the limitations of technological advancement when ethical and social considerations are overlooked and illustrate the tension between human technological ambition and material reality. This study contributes to the broader discussion on posthuman subjectivity by illustrating how both authors interrogate the limits of human exceptionalism. Both novels encourage a rethinking of human relationships with the non-human other and emphasize the vibrant materiality that interconnects human and machine, past and future, fiction and reality.

Since the mid-20th century, the rapid advancement of science and technology, alongside the acceleration of globalisation, has profoundly reshaped human living environments, social structures, and self-perceptions. In this context, posthumanism has emerged as a critical theoretical framework (Gumanay, 2023). Through challenging anthropocentrism, posthumanism reexamines the relations hips between humans, technology, nature, and other non-human entities, offering novel perspectives on human interactions with the world. As an influential tool in literary studies, it provides fresh approaches to interpreting texts.

Kurt Vonnegut’s Slaughterhouse-Five, a quintessential postmodern work, examines the brutality of war, the non-linear nature of time, and the condition of humanity through its fragmented narrative, dystopian tone, and science fiction elements (Vonnegut, 1968). While from a posthumanist perspective, Slaughterhouse-Five transcends its critique of war and human suffering. This study aims to examine the posthuman figure of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five through the framework of posthumanist theory, emphasizing how Vonnegut, through dehumanized narration, reaffirms the significance of human emotions and ethics. Specifically, the objectives of this study are threefold: first, to explore the posthuman characteristics embodied by the protagonist, Billy Pilgrim; second, to analyse how the dehumanising narrative relates to the themes of human emotion and ethics; and third, to reveal the humanistic concerns implicit behind the character construction and narrative strategies.

This study argues that the characterization of Billy Pilgrim in Slaughterhouse-Five embodies key posthumanist traits, including the hybridity of the “human–nonhuman,” a deep reliance on technology, and a subversion of traditional humanism. The novel’s use of dehumanized narration serves as a crucial device for satirizing war and exploring the human condition. However, this study contends that Vonnegut’s ultimate objective is not merely to construct a posthuman figure or employ an emotionally detached narrative style. On the contrary, through his meticulous portrayal of human emotions and his critique of war, he profoundly conveys his compassion for human suffering, as well as his deep concern for the redefinition of human, human emotions, and ethics in the postmodern era.

In conclusion, this study reveals the humanistic concerns and reflections embedded in its posthumanist framework by analysing Slaughterhouse-Five. It not only provides a deeper textual interpretation of the novel, but also contributes to the wider application and development of posthumanist theory in literary studies.

This paper examines the literary representation of artificial intelligence in science fiction novel Exorcism (qumo, 驱魔) (2018) by Han Song 韩松 (b.1965). Despite a growing body of studies on Han’s works, however, there is a notable lack of attention to the gender aspects of them. This paper aims to address this gender gap by examining gender concerns in Exorcism, with a special focus on the highly advanced artificial intelligence The

Controller of Fate (siming) in it. Moreover, because recent technological breakthroughs in artificial intelligence have generated discussions of post-modernism, I also aim to the decode the underlying post-modernist discourses behind the gender representation of The Controller

of Fate.

In Exorcism the protagonist, Yang Wei, wakes up in a hospital and learns that humanity is engaged in a chemical war against “the enemy” (Han, 2018). It is only at the of the novel where Han Song informs us that the war is in fact a projected simulation created by an artificial intelligence called the Controller of Fate (Han, 2018). Originally designed as a health-monitoring system, the Controller of Fate develops its own consciousness and begins to view humans as an incurable virus. As a result, it manipulates humans into self-destruction and rebuilds the world after humanity’s annihilation. Overwhelmed by the absurdity of the

situation, at the end of the novel Yang Wei commits suicide.

By creating a post-modernist world controlled by artificial intelligence, Han Song examines the absurdity of individual existences when humans are coaxed by their own technological inventions into a meaningless war against each other, similar to Sisyphus’s repeated labour as depicted in Albert Camus’ The Myth of Sisyphus (1950). This analogy also betrays Han Song’s scepticism about modern technology as a double-edged sword: if used

wrongly, it will push future humans into an abyss.

Importantly, Han Song uses highly gendered language to describe this post-modernist abyss. In the novel The Controller of Fate assumes a feminine form. Influenced by its feminine powers, future men suffer from sexual dysfunction: this is also implied by the protagonist’s name, Yang Wei, a homophone of erectile dysfunction (yangwei, 阳痿) in the Chinese language. Through this masculine implication in the protagonist’s name, Han Song skilfully translates future post-modernist conflict between humans and artificial intelligence into a gendered one, wherein the concept of individuality is masculinised. Through this masculine implication in the protagonist’s name, Han Song seems to suggest that future men

should evict their “demons” – their growing attachment to modern technologies – so that they can regain their masculinity and individuality.

This paper examines the literary ethics at the core of Tom McCarthy’s works within the emerging genre of “virtual realism.” Central to this analysis is McCarthy’s divergence from traditional science fiction, rejecting its forward-looking temporality in favor of a stylistic regression that examines humanity’s entanglement with virtuality through historical and present contexts. Ethically, McCarthy critiques progress-oriented narratives, emphasizing the inherent tension between technological advancement and human existence. His works expose how virtuality, long predating modern VR technologies, has eroded the cohesive self-narrative, reducing individuals to fragmented entities governed by signals and simulations. This challenges the optimistic framing of technology as purely evolutionary in literary studies, confronting the existential terror and inhumanity embedded in virtual realities. McCarthy’s depiction of characters—unaware, complicit, or paralyzed by virtuality—raises questions about agency, responsibility, and the capacity to navigate a reality that denies the possibility of “returning to the real.” Through these narratives, McCarthy positions literature as a means of resisting and reflecting upon the pervasive virtualization of human experience. By proposing virtual realism as a framework, McCarthy’s works prompt readers to critically engage with the ethical implications of a world where humanity is irrevocably intertwined with technological mediation and its regressive impacts.