Posthuman Subjectivity And Corporate Control In Richard Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement

Abstract

Richard Powers occupies a distinctive place in American literature as a bridge between high literary modernism and science-technology fiction, merging rigorous scientific inquiry with profound humanist themes. His work resonates with posthumanist debates as it questions anthropocentrism without abandoning emotional depth. Powers’s Generosity: An Enhancement explores human enhancement through genetic variation, focusing on how enhanced individuals are commodified and objectified by market-driven agendas. The novel centers on Thassa, a woman whose natural genetic predisposition for happiness makes her a target for biotech[1] corporations. The story shows how her biological uniqueness is turned into a commodity, stripping her of autonomy. It critiques the ethical consequences of corporate intervention in human biology, questioning whether enhancement leads to liberation or further control. By blending science fiction with realism, Powers highlights the dangers of a posthuman future where human life is shaped by corporate interests.  The study titled “Posthuman subjectivity and corporate control in Richard Powers’s novel Generosity: An Enhancement” aims to analyse how Powers portrays inborn genetic traits as a form of human enhancement, and how corporations exploit these traits for profit, reducing human beings to marketable products.