Once Human
320 pages, 6 x 9
Illustrations throughout
Paperback
Release Date:31 Mar 2014
ISBN:9781573661768
A stunning new collection of stories by a master fictionist, Once Human shows the ways to go beyond standard maps of simple understanding
A manga artist who is afraid that she herself is slipping into a cartoon version of life, a lab technician who makes art with the cloning technology she uses at work, a sociologist hunting for the gene that makes some people want to take risks—these are some of the characters that populate the stories in Once Human. Exploring the spaces where life is shaped by science and the technologies we bring into being, Steve Tomasula’s characters often find that the harder they look at the world, the less they can say. The map that emerges from these stories charts the territory of human longing and the failure of poetry, science, and technology to explain the “why” of the world, if not its “how.”
A manga artist who is afraid that she herself is slipping into a cartoon version of life, a lab technician who makes art with the cloning technology she uses at work, a sociologist hunting for the gene that makes some people want to take risks—these are some of the characters that populate the stories in Once Human. Exploring the spaces where life is shaped by science and the technologies we bring into being, Steve Tomasula’s characters often find that the harder they look at the world, the less they can say. The map that emerges from these stories charts the territory of human longing and the failure of poetry, science, and technology to explain the “why” of the world, if not its “how.”
In many ways, Steve Tomasula’s fifth book, Once Human, is a very good introduction to the work of this conspicuously unconventional writer. Venturesome readers will find that his collection indeed exhibits Tomasula’s trademark assimilation of visual elements—photos, illustrations, graphs and charts, drawings—into the verbal ‘text,’ as well as the inveterate manipulation of typography and page design. But encountering these devices through a selection of stories allows the readers to contemplate Tomasula’s strategies in shorter samples, perhaps encouraging readers to appreciate that these strategies are both purposeful and ultimately accessible.’
—Kenyon Review
Tomasula creates a new postmodern, post-human realism that richly traces our infinite potential of self-production, with just enough human left to give it a beating heart.'
—Quarterly West
In Once Human, Tomasula impresses not only with his literary skills but also with the range of his knowledge.'
—The Collagist
Steve Tomasula is the author of the novels VAS: An Opera in Flatland, The Book of Portraiture, IN & OZ, and TOC: A New-Media Novel. His short stories have appeared in Bomb, McSweeneys, the Iowa Review, and many other publications. A Howard Fellow, he lives in Chicago.
Related Titles
Conceptualisms
The Anthology of Prose, Poetry, Visual, Found, E- & Hybrid Writing as Contemporary Art
Edited by Steve Tomasula
