ABSTRACT
The body is a contended space in today’s society—theories of transhumanism and posthumanism interact with new models of embedded, embodied, and extended cognition in ways which make us question the limits of the body, and the demarcation between technology and biology. Science fiction has long been interested in this space, and even the possibility of disembodied human life: consciousness as code, identity as information. Martín Felipe Castagnet is one recent author to conduct this thought experiment, imagining a futuristic society where minds can be uploaded and stored on the internet, and bodies can be inhabited and discarded. On the surface, and according to critics, this work—Los cuerpos del verano, 2012—is an exploration of teleological disembodiment, a portrait of the inevitable triumph of information over matter. Yet a methodology which integrates thematic analysis and close reading with cognitive science and linguistics opens up the text in new ways, revealing that rather than eschewing the body, Castagnet’s novel affirms the importance of the body in mind. In exploring how the digital age influences the relationship of time, bodies, and environment, Los cuerpos del verano shows both the complex influences of technology on our bodies, and the significance of the body even in a technological world.
