ABSTRACT
One text in which both misogynous and feminist fantasies are present, and which can be taken as an example of the interweaving of the themes of metamorphosis and identity, is 'Spider Rose', a short story published in 1982 by Bruce Sterling. Spider Rose's metamorphosis, which serves as a prelude to a potentially endless malleability of identity, could be seen as the ultimate surrender of her selfhood to the alien powers of Investors, known for 'the dumb arrogance and confidence that allowed them to cruise the stars screwing their purported inferiors'. The metaphor of metamorphosis can be read in a number of ways, all relevant to feminist perspectives. It suggests that relations of dominance and subordination are constructed contingently and are part of an illusory coherence. The idea of Nothingness has always attracted philosophers but the twentieth century appears to have been the period in which nihilism became object of a specific philosophical enquiry, particularly thanks to Heidegger and Nietzsche.
