뇌이식에서 자아와 감정: 하니프 쿠레이시의 『몸』

Abstract

This article aims to explore the relationship between self, brain and body in the process of brain transplantation in Hanif Kureishi’s novel, The Body. The novel’s protagonist, an ailing and old male dramatist called Adam, is given the opportunity for his brain to be transplanted onto a beautiful and young corpse. In the process, he becomes a Newbody composed of his own brain and the young body, and names himself Leo Rafael Adams. Like other Newbodies, his brain transplantation is not merely born of a desire to live a second life as a youth, but is also based on his conviction that his self is located in the brain. This centrality of brainhood is, however, centered around the neuroscientific separation of the body and the brain. In this context, this article argues that the protagonist’s brain transplantation results in challenging and reverting Daniel Dennett’s traditional concept of “Cartesian Theater,” which highlights how Cartesian dualism is still a key aspect of modern materialist theories of mind. Accordingly, drawing on Antonio Damasio’s neuroscientific theory, this article navigates how Leo continues to be affected by the memory and emotion of the body and becomes a mutant, since he neither belongs to Adam’s brain nor Mark’s body. Additionally, Leo realizes that his new body is a desirable commodity that other new bodies may want to own and trade. Thus, this novel questions the centrality of brainhood and the consumerism of techno-capitalism, further emphasizing the stage of the body, woven with the theatre of the mind.