Meiji’s Transhuman Subjectivity: A Reading of Manjula Padmanabhan’ s The Island of Lost Girls

Authors

  • Nimi A.S. Research Scholar, Department of English, St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri, Aff. University of Calicut, Kozhikode- 673008 Kerala, India

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2025.v10.n9.016

Keywords:

Science Fiction, Transhuman, Identity, Manjula Padmanabhan

Abstract

Manjula Padmanabhan’s science fiction novels reimagine the complex interplay between the personal and the socio-political, emphasizing their transactional, bi-directional, interconnected, and mutually reflective nature. With the rise of posthuman scholarship, transhumanism has emerged as a speculative philosophy of existence for the future of humanity. Within this framework, The Island of Lost Girls (2015) stages a transformative quest for self-realization that foregrounds the transhuman subjectivity of its protagonist, Meiji, in a post-apocalyptic dystopian setting. This article examines the making and unmaking of Meiji’s fragmented self and her species-entangled, transcendental identity through a transhuman lens. The analysis addresses transformation and subjectivity across three key parameters of identity: continuity and coherence, uniqueness and distinctiveness, and the negotiation of agency.

Author Biography

Nimi A.S., Research Scholar, Department of English, St. Joseph’s College, Devagiri, Aff. University of Calicut, Kozhikode- 673008 Kerala, India

Nimi A.S. is currently pursuing her PhD at the PG & Research Department of English Language and Literature, St. Joseph’s College (Autonomous), Devagiri, affiliated with the University of Calicut, Kerala, India. Her research interests include poststructuralist discourses, transdisciplinary methodologies and posthumanist philosophies. She is interested in exploring the overlapping spaces where multiple peripheral voices converge to create new meanings and possible futures.

References

Bostrom, Nick. "Transhumanist Values." The Development of Transhumanism: Philosophy and Ethics, 2005. Available at . Accessed on September 21, 2025.

More, Max. “Transhumanism: Toward a Futurist Philosophy.” In: More Max and Vita-More Natasha, editors. The Transhumanist Reader: Classical and Contemporary Essays on the Science, Technology, and Philosophy of the Human Future. Wiley-Blackwell. 2013.

Padmanabhan, Manjula. Escape. Picador, 2008.

Bamberg, Michael, and Martin Dege. "Decentring Histories of Identity." In: Bamberg Michael, Demuth Carolin, and Watzlawik Meike, editors. The Cambridge Handbook of Identity. Cambridge University Press. 2022.

Padmanabhan, Manjula. The Island of Lost Girls. UK: Hachette. 2015.

Becker, Barbara. “Cyborgs, Agents, and Transhumanists: Crossing Traditional Borders of Body and Identity in the Context of new technology”. Leonardo, Vol. 33, No. 5, Eighth New York digital Salon, The MIT Press. 2000. Pp.361-365. Available at

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Published

15-09-2025

How to Cite

Nimi, A. S. (2025). Meiji’s Transhuman Subjectivity: A Reading of Manjula Padmanabhan’ s The Island of Lost Girls. RESEARCH REVIEW International Journal of Multidisciplinary, 10(9), 131–138. https://doi.org/10.31305/rrijm.2025.v10.n9.016

Issue

Vol. 10 No. 9 (2025): RESEARCH REVIEW International Journal of Multidisciplinary

Section

Articles

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This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.

This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International (CC BY-NC 4.0).