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Generations of ‘human’ thought have assiduously constructed narratives that exude dominance over the paradigms concerning the ‘non-human’. The representation of the self through the humanist paradigms of thought has also positioned it as an autonomous, sovereign and centralised entity. It is a recurring leitmotif in the untraversable narratives of human transcendence and human exceptionalism. The need for the suspension of the sovereign self is crucial as the narratives associated with it pervade the sociological structures with malicious ignorance and a forethought of assumed superiority. However, the posthuman predicament and ethos call for the suspension of the sovereign self against high humanistic autonomy and an assumed sense of superiority. Andy Weir, in his novel Project Hail Mary, facilitates humanist decentering and replaces it with a relational and dynamic system that emphasises posthuman autopoiesis over humanist autocracy. The sovereign human self is unsettled through posthuman negotiations that challenge human autonomy and exceptionalism. The analysis ultimately reveals a mode of existence grounded in conviviality and emotional collectivity. Posthuman narratives are used in tandem with the novel to decenter human centrality, planetary exceptionalism, and human superiority.
Mr. Larin John Reid, Dr. K. Shanthi. “Suspending the Sovereign Self: A Posthumanist Reading of Andy Weir’s Project Hail Mary.” The Criterion: An International Journal in English, vol. 17, no. 4, August 2026, pp. 956-970. DOI, https://doi.org/10.66376/criterion.v17.n4.59.
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