ABSTRACT
Examining three dystopian novels, by Margaret Atwood, Octavia Butler and Kazuo Ishiguro, for the theme of human stewardship, this essay identifies the theme of “reproductive futurism.” This theme has three interrelated aspects. First, there is precarious heredity, where the future of the human race is jeopardised. Second, a stewardship of heredity is managed, in these novels, through the management of reproduction and heredity. Third, a coercive placental economy is visible in the dystopian vision of these writers, where there is potential for miscegenation between humans and alien lifeforms, men, women and surrogate mothers, and humans and “their” clones respectively.
