«خاله‌سوسکه» و سفر چهارم گالیور: روایاتی پسا-اومانیسمی

. Introduction
Storytelling, especially for children, has been started since the beginning of history because fiction is among the first tools human used for a better understanding of the world around; such background foregrounds the significant role storytelling has played in cultural and social life all over the world. With the emergence of the discourse of humanism and the importance this discourse put on education and the disciplining of the young generation, a utilitarian use of narratives was normalized; in other words, narratives were deployed as an efficient means to form the social and individual identity of children in desired directions while guaranteeing collective and civil life. Even though due to the child’s lack of experience and awareness, the majority of children's literature inevitably became didactic, what was conveyed through this literary genre was to institutionalize the value structures popularized by the ruling humanistic discourse as well. Through techniques of repetition and, consequently, ‘naturalization’, Children’s narratives formed an integral part of their identity. However, this instrumental use of children's literature to control and direct children’s psyches towards predetermined behavior patterns caused deeper concerns in society when those dualisms governing the humanistic discourse approximated to extreme behaviors such as racism and sexism. Therefore, it was felt that the real nature of liberal discourse, as a ‘construct’, should be revealed, and its doctrines should be open to questions. Such challenges were posed by different movements. One of these movements was post-humanism. The main axis of post-humanist thinking, as Flanagan has also pointed out, was the “redefinition and expansion of the human subject” (2014: 5), which has been associated with the challenge of the dual-centered structures of the ruling humanist discourse and the critique of ‘essentialism’.
 

Methodology

The present study has attempted to examine “Khaleh Souske” and Gulliver’s Fourth Travel from the perspective of posthumanism. It has investigated the deconstructive effect of posthumanism on children’s literature in a comparative reading. It deploys a descriptive-analytic approach to explore how children’s literature, once deployed as a means at the service of spreading the ideology of liberal humanism, can also be adopted by the counter-discourses to open up new horizons. The methodology is based on a posthumanist approach focusing on discursive hierarchies of “the self”/“the other” and human/animal. To approach the text from a post-humanistic perspective is to challenge the hierarchies and the superiority it has claimed for man to nature. Consequently, a post-humanist technique reveals the dependence of man on nature, and tries to bring nature and culture together. Such attempts depict man and nature as equal and, thus, question man’s superiority to nature; this outcome provides a different definition of man and nature.
 

Discussion

This article, as discussed above, focuses on the notions of posthumanism and its deconstructive effect on children literature in a comparative reading of Gulliver’s Fourth Travel, a work by Jonathon Swift (the British writer), and “Khale Souskeh,” a Persian folklore story. Using a posthumanist approach, the writer tries to discuss how children literature, once deployed as a means at the service of spreading the ideology of the dominant discourse (liberal humanism) to instill the discursive hierarchies of  “the self”/“the other” and human/animal, can also be adopted by the counter-discourses to open up new horizons up to the postmodern man. It is argued that through the blurring of the borders between human/animal and, thus, the breach of the hierarchical “chain of being,” an anti-narrative is formed which can redefine the concepts of gendered “identity” and “self.”
In this part, the most important humanistic elements in Gulliver’s Fourth Travel and “Khale Souskeh,” have been analyzed, and the stands of these two works on various doctrines have been compared. These works have mainly questioned liberal humanism for three major doctrines: man’s superiority to nature, essential identity, and binary of man versus nature.
3-1. Man’s Superiority to Nature
Besides its focus on the notion of ontology and its challenge of humanist binary oppositions, post-humanism tries to destroy the existential superiority of man in existence, and this sometimes approximates to the border of satire. In other words, by highlighting the capabilities of other beings in nature (animals here), the liberal human-centered view, expressed in the form of ‘man as the center of existence’, is challenged and, along with that, ‘the chain of being’, once justifying this idea. Such stand substitutes hierarchical relationships with a rhizomic one, in which a horizontal relationship replaces the former vertical structure imposed on human and animals.
3-2. Essential Identity
Satirizing human supremacy requires the creation of ‘in-between’ beings in these works. While these creatures look like animals, on the one hand, they also have the physical and behavioral characteristics of humans, and, consequently, create cultural structures which depict such ‘in-between-ness’. The heterogeneity that these creatures display questions all the essentialist doctrines, especially that of ‘fixed, essential identity’, to which liberal humanism has referred over centuries to justify its racist, sexist, and supremacist stands.
3-3. Man versus Nature
In works centered on animals, the first challenge the audience are facing is an entrance into a world where animals speak the language of the audience. This promises a different story. In fact, the ability of animals to speak is the first feature that moves animal boundaries; furthermore, it is at this time that the humanistic ‘ontology’ and the human/animal dualism are shaken. The reason lies in the fact that in the past, the most significant characteristic distinguishing humans from animals is their speaking power, and this power is drawn from one’s wisdom. Therefore, the existence of this power in animals presupposes special wisdom, which, if not higher than human wisdom, is equal to that.
 

Conclusion

Post-humanism, by providing such space of heterogeneity, makes a new sense of belonging to be formed, the outcome of which would be a challenge posed to essentialism. Accordingly, it questions liberal humanism and its discriminatory system since ‘essentialism’ is its building block. By challenging the ‘ontological" discourse of liberal humanism, blurring the boundaries of "self/other" and highlighting the concept of ‘fluidity of identity’, post-humanism can form a kind of ‘anti-narrative’ that tries to create a new culture, in which relationships are based on equality. Furthermore, it expands liberal humanism’s ontology and treats man as an entity that just coexists with nature. This expansion will later build up a better relationship between man and his environment and, thus, teaches children to act as such. Besides, by equating animals with humans, these works have tried to restore the lost balance of the universe, which has been exacerbated by the hierarchical structures of liberal humanist discourse and its efforts to conquer nature. Furthermore, they can provide some awareness to the children of the current generation about the status of man in nature, as another being rather than the only being for which the universe has been created. This knowledge modifies man’s ambition and makes him build up a kind of peaceful coexistence with nature.