ABSTRACT
In my examination of posthumanism in Raja Rao’s novella The Cat and Shakespeare, I scrutinise the central philosophy that the text expounds, which distinctively signals a departure from humanism arising out of the excessive attention and importance accorded to the development of individualism by influential thinkers like René Descartes, Jean-Jacques Rousseau, and Georg Wilhem Friedich Hegel that has resulted in the increasing alienation of fellow humans from their natural environment. This text challenges this ideal of Renaissance humanism, instead exploring the benefits of surrendering one’s individualism to a greater, foundational Will. What complicates this philosophy, however, is that it is expounded by the extremely unconventional, highly individualistic, even eccentric, character Govindan Nair. The confusions of thought and personality that emerge from this collision compel us to redraw the boundaries of our understanding of the significance of being human.
