Entangled Species: A Posthumanist Reading of Sara Gruen's Select Novels

Anthropocentrism situates human beings at the centre and nonhuman animals at the periphery. The advent of posthumanist thoughts and Animal Studies renewed attention on nonhuman animals and prompted scholars to analyse literary texts representing nonhuman animals with new perspectives. Sara Gruen’s novels- Riding Lessons, Flying Changes, Ape House and Water for Elephants- feature nonhuman animals living and interacting with humans. This paper attempts to understand, through a posthumanist perspective, how Gruen rejects human exceptionalism. This paper argues that Sara Gruen’s narrative provides evidence of humans “becoming with” animals dismantling human-centeredness. It attempts to prove Gruen’s objective to make readers realise the necessity of care in nonhuman animals. It locates the “contact zones” where interspecies dialogue facilitates the meaning-making process and contributes to a shared history. Through a close reading of the novels, this paper proves that humans and nonhuman animals are essentially entangled species. The research undertakes the posthumanist approach exemplified in Donna Haraway’s seminal work When Species Meet and engages in a close reading of the novels to substantiate the arguments.