@article{ART003260653},
author={Youn-ho Oh},
title={The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures},
journal={Journal of Popular Narrative},
issn={1738-3188},
year={2025},
volume={31},
number={3},
pages={563-603}
TY - JOUR
AU - Youn-ho Oh
TI - The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures
JO - Journal of Popular Narrative
PY - 2025
VL - 31
IS - 3
PB - The Association of Popular Narrative
SP - 563
EP - 603
SN - 1738-3188
AB - The SF boom that swept through Korean literary circles in the 2020s should be understood not merely as the expansion of genre literature, but as a literary practice responding to the new reality created by the combination of 21st-century biotechnology and neoliberalism. This paper analyzes Sherryl Vint′s Biopolitical Futures in Twenty-First-Century Speculative Fiction (2021), an influential work by a critic who has established a significant position within Korean SF criticism, and introduces the critical methodology of speculative fiction and the possibilities of posthuman figures.
In this work, Vint conceptualizes the contemporary condition in which the boundaries between life and non-life, subjectivity and objectivity are dissolving as “epivitality,” and extends Marx′s concept of “real subsumption” to the biopolitical domain. She presents four 21st-century figures—the “immortal vessel,” “living tool,” “vital machine,” and “spare part”—to replace Foucault′s 19th-century biopolitical figures, critically analyzing the operational mechanisms of neoliberal biopolitics while exploring alternative posthuman possibilities through the concept of “surplus vitality.” Furthermore, through the concepts of “sociotechnical imaginaries” and “promissory futuristic discourse,” Vint redefines speculative fiction as an epistemological tool, demonstrating that speculative fiction does not simply represent reality but serves as a tool for constructing reality itself and imagining alternative futures against capitalism.
These insights not only demonstrate the possibilities of 21st-century SF criticism but also provide a significant methodological foundation for Korean SF criticism to develop beyond Western-centric perspectives, simultaneously encompassing the specificity of Korean realities and universal future prospects.
KW - speculative fiction;biopolitics;epivitality;Sherryl Vint;Korean SF;neoliberalism;posthumanism
DO -
UR -
ER -
Youn-ho Oh. (2025). The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures. Journal of Popular Narrative, 31(3), 563-603.
Youn-ho Oh. 2025, "The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures", Journal of Popular Narrative, vol.31, no.3 pp.563-603.
Youn-ho Oh "The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures" Journal of Popular Narrative 31.3 pp.563-603 (2025) : 563.
Youn-ho Oh. The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures. 2025; 31(3), 563-603.
Youn-ho Oh. "The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures" Journal of Popular Narrative 31, no.3 (2025) : 563-603.
Youn-ho Oh. The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures. Journal of Popular Narrative, 31(3), 563-603.
Youn-ho Oh. The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures. Journal of Popular Narrative. 2025; 31(3) 563-603.
Youn-ho Oh. The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures. 2025; 31(3), 563-603.
Youn-ho Oh. "The 21st Century Speculative Fiction and Posthuman Figures" Journal of Popular Narrative 31, no.3 (2025) : 563-603.
